Sixty - One. Chris Paul.

 

Sixty – One.  Chris Paul.

Life Lessons from Papa, On and Off the Court.  

 

Chris Paul, the basketball player, has been making history ever since he suited up for the game he loves as a young person.   In his book, Sixty-One, Paul writes about another part of his story and how it shaped him to be the successful and outspoken influencer that he is today.   Sure, he writes about his major accomplishments on the court.     For instance, at high school in Winston Salem, North Carolina, he set a record for single game scoring.   He also writes about his brief but successful time at home town school Wake Forest (along with some interesting stories of his relationship with his head coach).   Of course, the author also relates his many and vast professional level experiences in the story as well.

To find out why this book has this title, the author takes the reader back in time a bit.   He begins the story and focuses on his late grandfather throughout the book.   While it appears that he grew up in a fairly tight knit family, his patriarch (on his mother’s side) is the central focus of this book.   His ‘’papa” was clearly the most influential person of his life until the time he was tragically slain in 2002 (at the age of 61) when Paul was still playing prep ball as West Forsyth High School.     

With the passing of time and some personal growth on the authors part, Paul put together a collection of sayings at the beginning of each chapter, wrote about experiences growing up in the Winston Salem area and the impact that his grandfather had on his and his older brother’s life.  The book discusses how Papa Jones was not only a strong influence on his life but a real pillar in his community as well.   According to the author his grandfather was the guy people went to see when they needed help.  Whether it was visiting his service station that he proudly earned for many years or sought him out when he was serving as a deacon in their favorite church.    It was enough for the grandson to observe and adopt his sayings, thoughts and beliefs.   In fact, the Chris Paul mentions that he often thinks about what his grandfather would do (what would papa do) when it come time to make challenging or life altering decisions.   

One of the more intriguing experiences of the book came in the chapter titled That Mamba Mentality.   Chris Paul evidently had a pretty strong working and personal relationship with the late Kobe Bryant.   In fact, the author writes that he nearly was traded to the Lakers before it being nixed by David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA at that time, denying him a chance to play with one of his childhood idols.   Bryant was known for his ultra intense training methods throughout this career.   Paul writes how he adopted that “mentality’ during his career as well such as getting solo court time at the early hours in the morning along with other maniacal training regimens.   A standout quote attempts to explain the “mamba mentality” and how it connects to Paul’s work ethic as well: “Trying to be the best version of yourself, that’s what the mentality means.   It means every day you know you’re trying to become better.   If your job is to try to be the best basketball player you can be, you have to practice, you have to train as much as you can as often as you can.”

Another attention-grabbing chapter was the painful description of how his grandfather was brutally attacked and murdered prompting an ugly aftermath that ensued the tragedy.   Unfortunately for the Paul family, the murder was never actually resolved legally.    The author writes how it was re-opened some twenty years later due to some changes of circumstances and also due to a national influence by way of the Innocence Project.    Paul wrote about the pain his family experienced by bringing up the entire story once again in front of the public.   Enough so where Paul has sought various forms of therapy to cope with the void left by this horrific loss.  

The book is a touching tribute from grandson to his leader of the family.   The memories of their experiences are well represented and addressed.   However, the authors writing prose at times throughout the book is bit too casual and perhaps even folksy.   But it does pick up in the latter sections of the book.   Inside this memoir, one will find plenty of aphorisms in most chapters that are obviously impactful to the author but likely inspirational to the reader as well.    It is not hard to connect the meaning behind the book title and how it motivates one of this country’s top basketball players on and away from the court.    

 

·         You might like to read this book if you are a Chris Paul fan. 

·         You might like to read this book if you enjoy reading about college basketball players.

·         You might like to read this book if you seek books about professional basketball players.

·         You might like to read this book if you like stories about sports and bonding between family members.  

Read more about the author on twitter:   https://twitter.com/CP3