Isaiah Thomas tried to grow taller as a kid by hanging upside down
Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas, 5'9", dreamt of growing to be over 6-feet tall when he was younger, and he got creative in trying to reach his goal faster.
In Tim Layden's feature story on Thomas for The Crossover, he recounts a story from Thomas's mother about the method her son used to use to encourage his body to stretch to new heights.
"Thomas has always been short. He was not one of those kids who matured young and became dominant in sports, only to stall out and watch other boys catch up and pass him. In the third-grade class picture from Naches Trail Elementary School in -Tacoma, Wash., he is smack in the middle of the second row, wearing a billowing, yellow Lakers’ baseball jersey that falls nearly to the floor, flanked by two girls taller than he is.
"Thomas’s father is 5' 6". His grandfather was 5' 6". Upon reaching adolescence and still awaiting a growth spurt, Thomas tried to accelerate the process. “In my basement, he had one machine that was supposed to stretch him out and another machine so he could hang upside down,” says Thomas’s mother, Tina Baldtrip (5' 7"). Thomas would tell everyone that he was going to be 6 feet someday, but he is 27 years old and that day is not coming."
Click here to read Layden's full story about Thomas.
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