People greet him, brimming at his success and his story. The locker rooms and training facilities have recently been renovated to lure recruits, part of an investment effort to make the program more competitive. He replaced Fran Dunphy as the Owls’ head coach this spring after five years as Dunphy’s assistant. McKie recruited the New Jersey native harder than anyone, and Pierre-Louis says he turned to McKie for advice even before he committed to Temple. “My heart bleeds for this city,” McKie says. Aaron McKie Is the Man for Every Moment in Philadelphia Basketball
He laid awake at night, smiling at the thought of becoming a Philly sports hero. His connection with Jones was spiritual—Jones’s high-flying ability, combined with McKie’s steady hand, made them a fan favorite. He’s a millionaire. He’s an O.G. They’re going to be coaching, they’re going to be a father, they’re going to be a husband.
“Man, if I could get to college and get educated, man, I could take care of my aunt,” he thought.At Gratz, McKie was one of the best players in Philadelphia’s Public League.
To learn more or opt-out, read our Born and raised in Philly, McKie played for John Chaney at Temple and spent more than half of his NBA career with the Sixers. He averaged 17.9 points per game in 92 appearances and started every game.
Graduating from Temple and making the NBA marked the culmination of everything he wanted. Regardless of how the team performs this season, he’s achieved his lifelong goals. “Can I please speak to Dr. J?” Even though he never spoke with Julius Erving, he thought he had a line to the stars.McKie was like so many other kids from Philly. By that time, he had moved in with his aunt, Rose Key, who provided him with a more stable foundation. He was no longer the boy from a broken home, considering a life of hustle on Philly’s hard streets, or sweeping floors for Ellerbee in a recreation center. He breathes in deeply.
He felt like he had a home, and it gave him the motivation he didn’t previously have—starring in the NBA used to be a boyhood vision; now, he saw it as an opportunity to provide for those who laid the groundwork for him. Never was late to practice,” Chaney says.
He studied McKie off the court, and saw a coach who was engaged with kids whether he was recruiting them to Temple or not. Jul 18, 2001 - Aaron McKie signed a multi-year contract with the Philadelphia Sixers. “I matured a lot, and it left me feeling like, ‘OK, once again in society they’re telling me no.’ First, I lose Momma. His friends called him “Blue,” after Vida Blue, the six-time All-Star, MVP, and Cy Young winner. “It wouldn’t be a North Philly basketball love story.”McKie was ineligible to play his freshman season at Temple because of the NCAA’s Proposition 48, a now-defunct academic qualifying standard that required a minimum score on the SAT or ACT and at least a 2.0 GPA. Aaron McKie officially took over the program where he starred as a player under Hall of Fame head coach John Chaney and served as an assistant coach for five seasons under Fran Dunphy, assuming his new role in April of 2019.
When people ask how he’s going to recruit, he points to a whiteboard in his office with a numbered list of his priorities:He’s building his program with a nod to the men who made him. They’d play cards from Philly to L.A. some nights. Aunt Rose would sit with McKie each night, his eyes heavy, and regale him with tales about McKie’s father, her brother. He wants to bring out the fire dormant in their bellies. He empowers his team. So I said, ‘I’m not going to allow [what happened] to myself to happen to any other kids, because I don’t want society to get the wrong perception of the people that come from where I come from.
Born and raised in Philly, McKie played for John Chaney at Temple and spent more than half of … Do I get educated? I wanted to be a mailman.
Be on time. He shouts “HELL NAWLLL” when his opponents miss a shot. They saw a better life for him. He doesn’t miss a single jumper in an hour.
Do I go out on the street and hustle with some of my friends?”He found his sanctuary at the Belfield Recreation Center, where he met Bill Ellerbee, a fixture at Belfield and the basketball coach at Simon Gratz. He also excelled in baseball as a pitcher. Join Facebook to connect with Aaron Mckie and others you may know. “Obviously, you look at our team, a lot of us are African American males, so just being in this neighborhood with a lot of African Americans, just seeing people that look like us that had the same advantages and same opportunities as us, just being able to help them means a lot personally to me,” says J.P. Moorman II, a team captain.After each practice, McKie’s players huddle around him atop the cherry Temple “T” in the middle of the court at McGonigle Hall. I just wanted them as my sons.”It was the most meaningful year of McKie’s time at Temple. An “Let’s not deny a kid an opportunity because of his economic background,” Chaney said, according to Donald Hunt’s history McKie spent much of his first year at Temple alongside fellow freshman Eddie Jones, who was also ineligible due to Prop 48. Waiters dap him and salute him from afar. “Think about it. I’m playing possum with them.”McKie always fostered an atmosphere of camaraderie on the teams he played for. Before class at the crack of dawn, McKie and Jones would sit at the top of the bleachers and watch their teammates practice, occasionally nodding off. We laugh because you never know. McKie was the Atlantic 10’s Player of the Year in 1993, the same year the team made the Elite Eight.
When a player does well, he’s the biggest cheerleader in the gym, applauding a fancy finish with the enthusiasm of a boy watching a pickup game from behind a chain-link fence.