Swen Nater Talks Early Years

Former UCLA National Champion and ABA Rookie of the Year Swen Nater joins The Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano to talk about the early years with the San Antonio Spurs and his life before basketball.

Swen spent his early childhood in the Netherlands where he was born. His mother, step father and his little brother left for the United States to start a new life, leaving Swen and his sister in an orphanage. After struggling for a few years bouncing from place to place a television program, “It Could Be You,” discovered the situation and brought the two siblings to America to be reunited with their parents and brother on national television.

When he got to the United States Swen spent a lot of time in school and playing basketball. He moved his way up at Cypress Community College and eventually earned a scholarship to UCLA. With hard work and lots of determination Swen made it to the big leagues in San Antonio.

“I got traded after one month to San Antonio and it was really exciting. Especially there because those fans hadn’t seen a lot of basketball before and they were nuts, they got so excited”.

Swen spent his early years in San Antonio building the basketball culture in the area, which made it what it is today. They wanted to do things right to show everyone that they were all strong players with a great organization and staff backing them.

With the stress of his early childhood behind him, Swen looks back at all the bad times and knows that without those issues he would not be the person he is today. The staff and players for the teams he was with gave him the confidence to do great things with his life. One statement has always stuck with him and he will stick to it for as long as he lives.

“Coach Wooden taught us the three steps to rebounding, first assume every shot is missed, two get your hands up, and three go get the basketball. I’ve applied those to rebounding in life. I think you got to expect to miss; I think you need to prepare for other options. If one door closes another one is going to open”.

To listen to the full interview click below