Yao Ming

During his career, a major part of Yao Ming’s income came from sponsorship deals, as he endorsed for major companies like Nike, Reebok, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi. He had sued Coca-Cola in 2003 for using his image on their bottles when the company was promoting the national team; he won the case.

In 2004, he co-wrote the autobiography ‘Yao: A Life in Two Worlds.’ In the same year, a documentary film—The Year of the Yao’—was made, which focuses on his NBA rookie year. In 2005, former ‘Newsweek’ writer Brook Larmer published a book ‘Operation Yao Ming’.

He has participated in many charity events—he once organized an auction and raised US$ 965,000 for underprivileged children in China. He donated $2 million for relief work after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and developed a foundation to rebuild schools destroyed in the quake.

Yao Ming was born on September 12, 1980, in Shanghai, China, to Fang Fengdi (mother) and Yao Zhiyuan (father). His father, six feet, ten inches tall, played basketball for a local Shanghai team. His mother, six feet, two inches tall, played for the Chinese national team in the 1970s.

He was quite big at birth, and weighed ten pounds. As a child he grew quite fast, and his parents found it difficult to provide him enough food to satisfy his increasing appetite. When he was nine, he was already five feet, seven inches tall, and began playing basketball. At that time, he gained attention from the local sports officials who guided him to join a sports school in Shanghai.

Initially, he was not interested in either basketball or any other sport. He was an avid reader, and liked to read books about military history, and knew details about ancient battles of China.

When he was in the ninth grade, he was already more than six feet tall. In the same year, he signed a contract with Shanghai youth team, and when he was 17, he became Shanghai Sharks' star player.

Yao Ming played for the Shanghai Sharks junior team of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) for four years. Then, he joined the senior team of the Sharks, and scored 10 points and 8 rebounds per game during his rookie season. In his third season, the Sharks made it to the finals of CBA, but lost to Bayi Rockets.

In the following year, the Sharks won their first CBA championship. During the playoffs in his final year with the Sharks, he scored 38.9 points and 20.2 rebounds per game, and made 21 shots in one game in the finals.

He decided to enter the NBA draft in 2002. A group of advisers was formed called ‘Team Yao’, which included his negotiator, NBA agent, Chinese agent, and others. CBA was initially hesitant to let Yao play in the US; it was only on the morning of the NBA draft that CBA gave him permission to play in the US, making him the first international player to be selected without having played in the US college basketball. He was picked by Houston Rockets.

He played for China in the 2002 FIBA World Championships. He played his first NBA game against Indiana Pacers, but did not score points. He scored his first NBA basket against Denver Nuggets. In his first seven games, he scored 14 minutes and 4 points, but on the November 17 game against the Lakers, he scored 20 points on a 9-of-9 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line.

Yao was voted to start for the West over O'Neal, making him the first rookie to start the All-Star Game since Grant Hill in 1995. He finished his rookie season scoring 13.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.

In 2002, Yao Ming won FIBA World Championship. He was the gold medal winner with Team China at 2001, 2003 and 2005 FIBA Asian Championship. He also won NBA All-Star credit eight times. In 2016, he received the ultimate honor: he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.