Glenn Robinson

While basketball may have been Robinson's ticket to a more posh life, the sport did not come easy to the player now known as "Big Dog." In seventh grade, he refused to try out for the team, and with good reason, according to his future high school coach Ron Hefflin. "He wasn't very good," Hefflin told Sports Illustrated. "People don't understand how hard that kid worked. He hasn't always been a good ballplayer."

The hard work paid off; in his freshman year at Gary's Roosevelt High School, Robinson made the junior varsity team and he made varsity the following year. By his senior season in 1991, Robinson was averaging 25.6 points and 14.6 rebounds per game, statistics good enough to lead his team to a 30-1 record and a state championship. That year he was named Indiana's Mr. Basketball and shared National High School Player of the Year honors with the Sacramento Kings' Chris Webber, who attended Detroit Country Day High School in Michigan.