Steve Nash, NBA star, was born in Johannesburg and reared in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Last year he joined the Phoenix Suns for a salary close to $65.6 million over 5 years. Since returning to the franchise that drafted him in 1996, the 30-year-old Nash has led the Suns to the best record in the NBA. He is in his 9th NBA season and leads the league in assists and shooting percentage. The six-foot-three, 175-pound point guard with the unruly mop of hair is all the rage in the NBA. He is a front-runner for the league MVP award, an honour that would put him in the company of legendary point guard Magic Johnson.
Last October, he and his longtime girlfriend, Alejandra Amarilla of Paraguay, became the parents of twin daughters, Lola and Bella. His parents, John and Jean, are nearby in their winter condominium. John was a soccer player on a semi-professional league in England and a printer. He married Jean, who had been a netball player. They moved to Johannesburg when a team offered more money. The family later moved to Canada where Steve excelled in hockey, lacrosse, rugby, baseball and chess. His brother, Martin, a year younger, is a member of the Canadian soccer team and the Vancouver Whitecaps. His sister, Joanne, six years younger, was a point guard in basketball and was captain of the UVIC women's soccer team. By his senior year at St. Michaels University School, Steve was named most valuable player of the province in basketball, leading his team to the British Columbia high school championship. Steve graduated from Santa Clara University in northern California with a degree in sociology.
Steve used to dream of playing for Spurs - not the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA but Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League, his dad John's hometown soccer team. Steve's sport could as easily have been lacrosse or hockey or baseball. He could also swing a mean golf club, he won his school chess tournament, and was a provincial high school MVP in soccer. Steve has recently been working on his tennis game - much to the chagrin of his dad, who plays six days a week in Phoenix. John still plays soccer in a league in Phoenix in the winter, and in the summer, plays for the same men's league team in Victoria he's been part of for the past 22 years.
Steve is generous with his time and his money. One of the ways Steve helped to build team morale was by renting out a Phoenix cinema so his teammates could watch a movie without being bothered. As a member of the Canadian Olympic team at the Sydney Olympics, he gave his teammates a boost by giving them each $3000, anonymously, so they could go on a shopping spree in Hong Kong. The Canadian coach had arranged for him to fly first class and have his own room at the Games, but Steve chose to fly with the team and shared a room. When the Suns play in Seattle on March 6, 800 young fans from B.C.'s Lower Mainland will pile into buses to go see the game, all of them kids who play in the Steve Nash Youth League.
