Dwyane Tyrone Wade, Jr. (born January 17, 1982) is
an American basketball player who currently plays
for the Miami Heat in the National Basketball
Association (NBA). His nicknames include "Flash" and
"D-Wade". Wade was named 2006 Sportsman of the Year
by Sports Illustrated. Despite the unorthodox
spelling, Wade's first name is pronounced as Dwayne;
often in print media, it is misspelled as such. Wade
has established himself as one of the more
well-known and popular players in the league. He had
the top selling jersey in the NBA for nearly two
years, as he led the NBA in jersey sales from the
2005 NBA playoffs, until the mid-point of the
2006-07 NBA season.
After entering the league with little fanfare as the
fifth pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, Wade has become
one of the more accomplished young players in the
NBA today. After making the All-Rookie team in his
first season, and the All-Star team the following
two seasons, Wade led the Miami Heat to their first
NBA Championship in franchise history in his third
pro campaign. He was named the 2006 NBA Finals MVP
as he led the Heat to a 4–2 series win over the
Dallas Mavericks.
Dwyane Wade was born in the South Side of Chicago,
Illinois to Dwyane Sr. and Jolinda Wade. He cites
one of his older sisters, Tragil, as the individual
most responsible for his childhood upbringing and
for steering him in the proper direction. His
parents divorced and he lived with his father and
stepmother in Robbins, Illinois during his
childhood. As a child growing up in the Chicago area
Wade idolized former Chicago Bulls star Michael
Jordan, and has said he patterns his game after him.
Wade attended Harold L. Richards High School in Oak
Lawn. He did not see a lot of playing time his
sophomore year as his stepbrother, Demetris
McDaniel, was the star of the team. Wade grew four
inches (102 mm) in the summer before his junior year
and proceeded to average 20.7 points and 7.6
rebounds per game. Wade then averaged 27.0 points
and 11.0 rebounds his senior year, and led his team
to a 24–5 record. They advanced to the title game of
the Class AA Eisenhower Sectional, during the season
he set school records for points (676) and steals
(106) in a season.
Wade was recruited by only three schools — Marquette
University, Illinois State and DePaul University as
a result of academic problems.
