In The Last Dance, the documentary about the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, Steve Kerr talks about how a phone call changed his life. He was talking about 19th January 1984, when he found out that his father had been shot dead in a targeted terrorist attack in Lebanon.
At that time, Kerr was attending the University of Arizona, while his father Malcolm Kerr was serving as the President of the American University of Beirut. Incidentally, Malcolm’s predecessor had been kidnapped by the militants a few months back, and he himself was targeted by the Shia militia in the hallway that stood outside his house.
Steve Kerr Remembers Playing For Bulls
Steve Kerr recalls how he received a phone call at 3 am in the morning. Kerr had traveled all over the Middle East before he moved to Los Angeles as a teenager. He had graduated in 1983- a few months before his father was killed. This went on to spark a massive fire in his heart as he decided to play professional basketball at the highest level.
Just a few years later, the fire intensified when he was playing for Arizona State against their rivals when the fans started chanting PLO. On the verge of tears, Kerr didn’t react to the situation and rather put out one of his best performances- hitting six out of six three-pointers in an extremely relentless first half.
Although Steve Kerr had been first drafted into the Phoenix Suns after which he later went to Cleveland and Orlando, he finally ended up with the Chicago Bulls. This resulted in him being a major part of their decorated history- which was driven quite largely by the talent of Jordan and his hunger to win.
Steve Kerr ended up winning three NBA Championship rings with the Chicago Bulls. Known for his humility, he was quite embarrassed when people focused mostly on him- and not the important players- as he considered them to be.
