Christopher Ryan Collins was born April 19, 1974, in Northbrook, Illinois, on the north shore of Chicago. His father, Doug Collins, was a four-time NBA All-Star who played eight seasons with the 76ers and represented the United States in the controversial 1972 Olympic gold-medal basketball game. His mother, Kathy Stieger Collins, was from Cedar Rapids. His sister Kelly played basketball at Lehigh and became a teacher.
Chris’s earliest memories were basketball. When Doug coached the Bulls starting in 1986, twelve-year-old Chris became a ball boy. His first day: November 4, 1986 — Doug’s first home game, against San Antonio at Chicago Stadium. Seventh-grade Chris stood in the locker room corner when Michael Jordan arrived ninety minutes before the game.
Four years later, Chris was sixteen, walking through the bowels of Chicago Stadium after a Bulls game. Jordan walked past. "Nice earring," Chris said to him. Only someone who had grown up around Jordan would dare.
At the Spectrum in Philadelphia, where Doug had played, the players’ kids gathered in the family room. Chris and Kobe Bryant — whose father Joe had been Doug’s teammate — used to take over the mini basketball hoop, along with Mike Bibby and Mike Dunleavy Jr. Children of NBA players, playing while their fathers played.
Doug never let Chris win in the driveway. Not once. Chris pleaded. He cried after losses. Doug wouldn’t relent: "Your first instinct as a parent is to protect your son. But life’s not that way. You get bumped. You fall down. The measure of a man is how you handle hurdles." Chris finally beat his father at fourteen.
At Glenbrook North High School: 32.1 PPG, 47% from three, Class AA supersectionals. Illinois Mr. Basketball. McDonald’s All-American. Three-Point Contest champion. Every headline: Doug Collins’ Son. Chris made a promise: "I’m going to work as hard as possible to have people know me as Chris Collins." He committed to Duke.