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STEVE KERR AND HIS MOTHER TALK ABOUT THE LEGACY OF HIS FATHER’S ASSASSINATION

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Basketball was an important constant during Steve’s early years, as he grew up in Beirut, Cairo, California, and points in between. He and Malcolm played together often. "Malcolm was quite competitive by nature," Ann said. "Steve gets it from his father." As a freshman in high school, Steve attended Cairo American College, an outpost of liberal American education where expat kids mingled in a rarefied space of leafy tranquility within the sprawling metropolis. Steve played basketball there but yearned to return to California, to play at a higher level. His parents obliged him. "He was so eager to play that we decided we’ve got to let him go back home," Ann told me. "He’s always been single-minded about basketball." More than three decades later, Ann reflected on her son’s career and success, and the international popularity of N.B.A. basketball. "People wake up in the middle of the night in Beirut to tune into his games," she said. "They are proud because he was born there."