Justise Jon Winslow was born March 26, 1996, in Houston, Texas, the youngest of five children. His father, Rickie Winslow, played basketball at Houston from 1983 to 1987 as part of the legendary Phi Slama Jama teams alongside Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. Rickie was drafted 28th by the Bulls in 1987 and played professionally in Europe until 2000. Sister Bianca played basketball at Houston. Brother Josh played football at Dartmouth.
But Justise didn’t cling to basketball because of his father. Rickie and his mother Robin Davis divorced when Justise was in grade school. Robin got full custody and raised all five children with an African proverb as her philosophy: It takes a village to raise a child.
Beverly Mosby was part of that village. Miss Bev was the unofficial team mom for the Houston Jaguars, Justise’s third-grade traveling team. She drove kids to practice, gave money to players who couldn’t afford food on road trips, and told Justise there were no limits. She died in 2012. When Winslow announced his Duke commitment, he choked back tears: ‘She really just found this dream inside of me. I dedicate my life in basketball to her.’
Steve and Leticia Trauber became his godparents in sixth grade. ‘If anything ever happened to me, they would be in control.’ They designated a room in their home for Justise. Steve once drove him to the movies and laughed from the back row when the gangly teenager got rejected trying to put his arm around his date.
John Lucas — former Rockets player, longtime NBA coach, Houston basketball godfather — became another mentor. At St. John’s School: four-year starter. Senior: 27.5 PPG/13.6 RPG/3.5 APG/2.1 BPG. Gatorade Texas POY. McDonald’s All-American. Jersey #42 retired.
The college decision: Robin pulled Justise from class the day before the signing period. They sat at a picnic table for three hours. On his first Durham visit at fifteen, they stopped for potato chips and onion dip at the Washington Duke Inn at 11 p.m. ‘If you want to commit now, you can,’ Robin said. Justise smiled: ‘Mom, we’ve only been here for three hours. The visit hasn’t even started yet.’ He took two more years. Then chose Duke.