Aaron Durley
Aaron Durley (born July 21, 1993 in Houston, Texas) is a former Little League World Series baseball player known for his exceptional size, and current all-state high school basketball player.
He first became the object of media attention in 2005 (though garnered much more in 2006 when he had grown 4 more inches to 6' 8"),[1] when he played first base[2][3] and pitched[4] and batted fifth[1] in the Little League World Series for the Arabian American team from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, which is largely composed of the children of foreign petroleum workers, many from the United States.[5][6][7][8][9] In 2006, he made his second consecutive series appearance for Dhahran.[10] At 6' 9", 245, Durley is the biggest player in Little League World Series history.[11][12] He was taller than the average NBA player.[13]
He had previously played for the Arabian American team in the 2005 Little League World Series. By 2008, Durley was 6-foot-10 and 265 pounds with a size-19 shoe.[10][14] Durley is slimmer after going through a summer workout for basketball in Houston, where he is living with grandparents, said his father, James Durley, coach of this year's team. In August 2009, Durley was 6' 11" tall, weighed 250 lbs.,[12] and takes a size 20½ shoe.[citation needed]
Aaron received some of his shoes from big time basketball players such as Rockets star Yao Ming, and University of Texas center Dexter Pittman.[citation needed] For five years, Durley has lived with his parents in Saudi Arabia, where his 6' 8" father works for Saudi Aramco and coached his Dahran team.[15] His mother, Dana, is just under 6 feet tall.[1][15] Previous to that, he lived in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where his father had moved from Texas.[16]
Aaron is attending high school in Houston at St. Thomas High School, and living with his grandparents.[17][18] As of 2008 and 2009 he was concentrating on basketball, but said he might give baseball a try because former Houston Astro Craig Biggio would be his coach.[10][19][20] Described by the Houston Chronicle in November 2008 as a "freshman phenom", at 6' 10", 265 he was impressive in his debut, amassing 16 points.[17] In 2010, he was honored by the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools on its postseason second-team Class 5A All-State Boys Basketball Team.[21]
His brother Cameron Durley participated in the 2008 Little League World Series, also as a member of the Dhahran, Saudi Arabia team. Cameron was 6' 2" and 228 lbs. at 12 years of age.[22] His maternal grandfather, Wilson Graham, was an All State guard in Ohio, and his father played basketball at East Texas State.[16] His aunt is former WNBA player Margo Graham.[23]
On October 26, 2011, Durley committed to play basketball at Marquette University in Milwaukee starting in the 2012 season.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Dhahran's first baseman casts long shadow at LLWS". ESPN. August 24, 2006. http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/llws06/news/story?id=2555788. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ Steve Rushin (September 18, 2006). "The Absurdity Of Height". Sports Illustrated. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1112851/index.htm. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ Rusty Bryan. "Saudi Arabia gets off to quick start in Little League tourney". Stars and Stripes. http://www.stripes.com/sports/saudi-arabia-gets-off-to-quick-start-in-little-league-tourney-1.52386. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ Rusty Bryan. "Little League baseball: Naples, Ramstein on brink of elimination". Stars and Stripes. http://www.stripes.com/sports/little-league-baseball-naples-ramstein-on-brink-of-elimination-1.52394. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ .. Time. http://books.google.com/books?id=jFHuAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Aaron+Durley%22&dq=%22Aaron+Durley%22&hl=en&ei=Dd-sTKGBDYOKlwfjopGKCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAQ. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
- ^ "Saudi Arabia has Tower of Power," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- ^ "Little big man; Durley, 13, stands above LLWS competition", Chicago Tribune
- ^ "JAPAN TOPS SAUDI ARABIA, 4-1", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- ^ "Durley Can Play With the Big Boys", The Washington Post
- ^ a b c "WORLD SERIES NOTEBOOK; Saturday's attendance sets record at 30,443". Patriot-News. August 18, 2008. http://www.pennlive.com/sports/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/1219024511193570.xml&coll=1. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ "Big, friendly giant". SignOnSanDiego.com. August 20, 2009. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/aug/20/big-friendly-giant/?sports. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ a b Don Norcross (August 25, 2009). ""The 6-foot-2 Little Brother" by Chasing the Dream". Signonsandiego.com. http://www.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/chasing-the-dream-park-view-little-league-team-world-series/2009/aug/25/6-foot-2-little-brother/. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ "2-minute drill". Recordnet.com. August 19, 2006. http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060819/SPORTS/608190304/1004. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ "CNMI All-Stars falls to KSA, 9-1". Saipan Tribune. August 22, 2006. http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=2&newsID=60407. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ a b "Japan beats Saudis to advance in Little League World Series". The China Post. August 26, 2006. http://www.chinapost.com.tw/Sports/detail.asp?ID=88897&GRP=F. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ a b "Arabia's biggest export". Yahoo! Sports. October 3, 2010. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-durley082206. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ a b Jenkins, Jeff (November 18, 2008). "Boys basketball: Hopes high at St. Thomas". Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/memorial/sports/6119152.html. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ "LLWS notes: Staten Island team reprimanded for on-air obscenities". USA Today. August 21, 2006. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/llws/2006-08-21-notes_x.htm. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ Jenkins, Jeff (November 3, 2009). "Boys basketball: New coach leads St. Thomas". Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/heights/sports/6701063.html. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ Jenkins, Jeff (February 5, 2010). "St. John's girls battling adversity; St. Pius moves on". Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/heights/sports/6853206.html. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ Jenkins, Jeff (March 12, 2010). "Defense, pitching hurt Spartans | Heights news". Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/heights/news/6910261.html. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ "Arabian American Little League; Dhahran, Saudi Arabia". Littleleague.org. http://www.littleleague.org/series/2008divisions/llbb/teams/mea/camerondurley.htm. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
- ^ Rose, Derek (August 22, 2006). "6-FEET-8 & ON TOP OF WORLD". NY Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2006/08/22/2006-08-22_6-feet-8___on_top_of_world.html. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
[edit] Sources
- Armas, Genaro (August 21, 2006). "6-foot-8 Little Leaguer towers over foes". Associated Press. Archived from the original on August 22, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060822050623/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060821/ap_on_sp_ot/bby_little_league. Retrieved August 23, 2006.
- Valade, Jodie (August 22, 2006). "Little League's big product". Cleveland Plain Dealer. http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/sports/1156235909207600.xml&coll=2. Retrieved August 23, 2006.
