Jae Crowder: Blue collar and proud of it

Celtics' Crowder fights way to the top By: On Pro Basketball Michael Muldoon Lawrence Eagle Tribune LAWRENCE ¬— Jae Crowder was pounding nails Tuesday, repairing benches in the playground at Lawrence’s Frost Middle School. It was perfect. That’s what the Celtic forward is ... blue collar through and through. In the NBA, blue-collar is a double-edged sword. It means you are tough and driven. It also usually means you aren’t physically gifted like so many of your freakishly talented brethren. He spoke of his humble beginnings as a chunky high schooler with no major college offers to NBA star with a 5-year, $35 million contract. How humble were those beginnings? He went to Georgia Tech. Not the bigtime Georgia Tech. This was South Georgia Technical College in Americus, GA. His local paper, the Times-Georgian in Carrollton, Georgia — 50 miles outside of Atlanta — wrote back in 2010 he was “an overweight good, but not great, high school player.” Times-Georgian sports editor Corey Cusick said Tovi Bailey, who played at Charleston Southern, not Crowder was the best player on that Villa Rica High team. As a senior, Crowder was the co-MVP from the newspaper’s 11 area schools. Crowder’s biggest offer was from nearby Division 2 West Georgia. But that was for his football quarterbacking skills. “It’s a long process,” said Crowder, whose father Corey Crowder played 58 games in the NBA. “It’s all been worth it. You have to have a goal. I tried to live each day for that goal. It was a lot of sacrifice and a lot of patience. You have to sacrifice but it always pays off in the end.” That sacrifice may come into play more this season. The Celtics tap off Oct. 26, hosting Brooklyn at the TD Garden. With the addition of 6-10 free agent Al Horford from Atlanta, Crowder will likely be the third option (Isaiah Thomas is No. 1), which seems a better fit. Speaking of fit, the fact that Crowder was flabby may come as a surprise. Now 6-6, 235 pounds, he is one of the most ripped players in the NBA. When asked less than delicately if he had been fat, Crowder told me with a laugh, “Big-boned.” He takes those humble beginnings with him. With his tweets (@CJC9BOSS) he often includes the hashtag #itallstartedinthedriveway. He explained, “It’s just a reminder where it all started back a long time ago. The people back home know its for them.” His career took off in junior college, first the “other” Georgia Tech and then Howard College of Big Spring, Texas, where he led the Hawks to the Division 1 junior college national and was JUCO Player of the Year. As a senior at Marquette he was Big East MVP and second-team All-American but he still wasn’t drafted until early in the second round (No. 34 overall). He was a marginal player with Dallas and was considered a throw-in in the deal to Boston for Rajon Rondo. But he’s played anything like a throw-in, averaging 14.2 points and 5.1 rebounds last winter in addition to being able to cover everybody from shooting guards to centers. Besides his chiseled physique, Crowder is known for his shoulder-length dreadlocks and his unusual number ... No. 99. Where did that number come from? “From my wicked brain!” he said. Shown above is a photo of Jae Crowder when he played at South Georgia Technical College in Americus, GA.