Colin Kaepernick names which NBA superstar he looked up to as a kid - “So unapologetically Black”
Colin Kaepernick grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin not having anyone to truly look up to, as no one looked like him growing up. However, the quarterback noted that he did find one person as a kid, but not in the world of either baseball or football.
In a conversation with NPR, he mentioned that former NBA superstar Allen Iverson was an athlete he idolized. Kaepernick explained that Iverson was "unapologetically Black", making him proud to be Black growing up:
"He was someone that I looked up to, and I saw him be so unapologetically Black and unapologetically himself. It was something that I aspired to, and I looked at that as an opportunity for me to be able to really take hold of my Blackness and do it in a way that I was proud of and I was excited about."
He continued:
"And the difficulty with that is being in white culture with Eurocentric beauty standards, navigating what their response to that was. At 15 years old, it took me, I think, about 14 years before I grew my hair back out."
Colin Kaepernick defined blackness through Allen Iverson. This guide might come in handy if you want to identify as black for the San Fran reparations. https://t.co/zFt5gBAyho
Colin Kaepernick embraced a look similar to his role model growing up while playing in the NFL:
The former San Francisco 49ers star also didn't shy away from issues close to the Black community. He began kneeling in 2016 during the national anthem as a form of protest against the police treatment of Black people.
There are some who feel that this move caused him to be blacklisted by those in the league, while others saw the move as a sign of using his platform of standing up for a noteworthy cause.
It garnered national attention, including from former President Donald Trump wanting him out of the league.
What was Colin Kaepernick's record in the NFL and how did his career end?
Kaepernick started 58 of the 69 regular-season games he appeared in throughout his six seasons in the NFL. He had a record of 28 - 30 in those starts, but his playoff record is different. The quarterback started six playoff games and had a 4 -2 record, leading the 49ers to the Super Bowl in the 2012 season.
The former University of Nevada star's final season in the NFL didn't have the greatest ending. He started 11 games in the 2016 season for San Francisco and had a record of 1 - 11 in those starts.
Following the end of that season, he decided to turn down a $16.9 million player option, making him a free agent. No team signed him in that offseason and he remains a free agent.