Gregory Michael Newton was born September 7, 1974, in Niagara Falls, Ontario — on the Canadian side of the falls, in a country where hockey was king and basketball was an afterthought. His father had pitched in the Milwaukee Braves organization. His mother still played recreational basketball. An older brother played college basketball in Canada. The Newtons were athletic, but Niagara Falls didn’t produce basketball recruits.
At A.N. Myer Secondary School, Newton grew to 6’10” and dominated: 28 points, 15 rebounds, 4 blocks per game as a senior. He was a force at the OFSAA provincial tournament. But Canadian high school basketball existed in obscurity — American coaches rarely crossed the border.
So Newton’s father built it himself. He started an AAU team, traveled south of the border, entered Greg in elite American tournaments. Newton played in the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach — unheard-of for a Canadian kid — and made the Canadian National Team while still in high school. Duke recruited him. He was expected to be the next great Duke big man, heir to a lineage running from Alarie through Ferry, Laettner, and Cherokee Parks.