LeBron James’s shadow is a big one for anyone to step into. Earlier this year the NBA’s all-time leading scorer topped 40,000 points and played in a record 20th All-Star game. On Tuesday, the 39-year-old recorded another first: he played in the NBA alongside his son. Which means Bronny James, too, has achieved something unique in the history of basketball. Not bad for a 20-year-old rookie who’s played three minutes in the big leagues, against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The occasion was hyped to the max – Nike made a bespoke advert in which LeBron supposedly hazed his new teammate – and yes, it was a sentimental moment, not least because Bronny suffered a cardiac arrest in training last year. But it was also a feat of engineering, years in the making. The Lakers star had made it perfectly clear, when his son was still playing in high school, what he wanted, and what he expected his employers to do about it. “My last year will be played with my son,” James said in 2022. “Wherever Bronny is at, that’s where I’ll be.”
In June this year, the Lakers dutifully obliged by picking Bronny in the second round of the draft on a four-year $7.9m (£6.1m) contract. It is, as some have noted, a lot of money for someone with an incomplete college record. And yet few begrudge the pair their moment. The sight of any kid wanting to hang out and play a game with their parent is, after all, pretty sweet. Bronny may be over 6ft, but he’s still seven inches shorter than his old man.
Watching from the stands were two baseballing greats who knew exactly how it felt. Ken Griffey was 40 when he was released by the Cincinnati Reds in the middle of the 1990 season. Days later the Seattle Mariners offered him a place in their squad – alongside a 20-year-old Ken Griffey Jr.
That father and son duo ended up playing together for another season in 1991. But even they were outdone by ice hockey’s Gordie Howe, who came out of retirement at the age of 45 to play with his sons Mark and Marty for the Houston Aeros: Howe skated for another seven winters in the family business.
We’re used to seeing mothers and fathers share their talent down the gene pool, be it Liz and Eilish McColgan, Jos and Max Verstappen or Peter and Kasper Schmeichel. It doesn’t always work out for the kids but when it does, it makes sense – a combination of athletic DNA and a supportive sporting upbringing, not to mention the role model effect.
Sporting dynasties rarely overlap on the field of play for sound scientific reasons, the sciences being biology and maths. Andy Farrell was only 16 years old when his son Owen was born, and even they never shared a pitch as professionals, despite both being on Saracens books in 2008. The only time they played in the same game, Owen was brought on as an injury replacement for his dad.
And while professional football provides plenty of instances of fathers coaching their sons (we’re looking at you, Steve Bruce), and even commentating on them (Ian Wright), there aren’t many who have had a long enough playing career to take to the turf with them. When an injury crisis at Hereford prompted manager Ian Bowyer to lace up his boots in 1990, he and Gary Bowyer became the first father and son to play in the league since Alec and David Herd turned out for Stockport in 1951.
Hereford were 3-1 down against Scunthorpe with five minutes to play but came back to draw 3-3 – and it was Gary who secured the draw with the equaliser in the dying moments. Ian was annoyed that his son had been at fault the first goal (“I think he was the only one who didn’t come and congratulate me,” Gary recalled) but he was still proud of enough of his son to let him leave for Nottingham Forest at the end of the season. Hereford’s board immediately sacked him.
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There are sports that better lend themselves to inter-generational competition. Mary King is one of a number of equestrian greats who have found themselves competing against their own offspring. In her 50s, when she was world No 1 in eventing, the Olympian was still refusing to give an inch to her teenage daughter Emily. “She’s desperate to beat me,” said Mary, “but I am not going to let it happen.”
The early days of first-class cricket, back when standards of fielding and fitness weren’t quite so rigorous, was rife with family match-ups, from the Lillywhite clan to WG and his sons. In more recent years, Denis Streak helped his son Heath win a Zimbabwean domestic title despite being off the circuit for over a decade. And yet golf has seen surprisingly few fathers and sons competing for the highest honours, despite the game’s foundational legend of Old and Young Tom Morris. Can the nepo baby era change that? Tiger Woods caddies for his son Charlie and already plays with him in the PNC Championship.
Still, if you want a truly heartwarming story, this weekend Bianca and Cyra Webb will represent England at the Japan Karate Association World Championships in Takasaki. Bianca, who is 42, has been training alongside her 17-year-old daughter Cyra for years. They were selected to compete at the 2020 event, but it was cancelled due to the pandemic.
It will be Bianca’s last ever international – and Cyra’s first. Happily, they don’t compete in the same category, so there’s no chance of either knocking the other out.
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