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I am one of five boys and the proud father of 20 month-old, Keaton Duke.
I grew up on a farm in Dodge City, Kansas that had seven acres of everything from ostriches to pigs to chickens, and even a few emus. I learned from my father, who is the hardest working man alive, that "Bubba, you gotta do, what you gotta do" which, coming from a man with very little education, was a pretty wise statement.
My mother, Kathleen, and father, Boyce, have been happily married for 30 years, which I see as a great honor. God couldn't have blessed me with anything better than the love I receive from my family, the greatest gift anyone could ever have. My family taught me two very important lessons in life: never take anything for granted, and always live in the now. I owe everything I've accomplished at such a young age to my family.
As number four out of five, growing up was easy for me because I learned through the mistakes my brothers made. It was almost as if I wasn't able to make mistakes. I grew up a good listener, learning at a very young age that people older than me have already experienced everything I was about to encounter, which has helped me a great deal.
I grew up loving sports: football, basketball, and baseball were the main three. In high school I decided to limit those three to just one, so I concentrated on basketball and had a pretty good run at it. Basketball has taught me a lot about life and its lessons: hard work really does pay off, and to learn to be coach-able, which is a very key tool in the real world. I was always extremely competitive, with three older brothers whom I wanted to beat on everything. I have taken that mindset into the real world, figuring "I might as well try my best at everything I do or it's not worth doing."
My little boy has taught me there is life outside of basketball, and life is too short to stress over the everyday curveballs thrown at you. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. We all learn from our mistakes. Remember, life's a test: the struggles we go through and the ups and downs we have in our lives make us the people we are today. Nothing is ever as bad as it seems. To live is to change.
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