Nolan Derek Smith was born July 25, 1988, in Louisville, Kentucky. Named after Nolan Ryan. His mother Monica had a law degree from Louisville. His father was Derek Smith.
Derek arrived at Louisville in 1979 as a sixteen-year-old from Hogansville, Georgia — population barely a thousand — with his wardrobe in a brown paper sack. He was a starting forward on Louisville’s 1980 NCAA championship team. He outscored Michael Jordan 33–20 in a famous 1984 game. He played nine NBA years. Many credit him with helping popularize the high five. He became an assistant coach for the Washington Bullets, and little Nolan set screens on NBA paint as a toddler. “The first person to put a ball in my hands was my dad. I felt like it was at birth.”
On August 9, 1996, while on a family cruise near Bermuda, Derek suffered a fatal heart attack on deck. He was thirty-four. Nolan was eight. Their last conversation was about attitude: “If this is the sport you choose to play the rest of your life, it’s all going to come down to your attitude. Atttiiiituuuude. You hear me?”
After Derek’s death, the Bullets made Nolan a fixture at home games. Derek’s former teammate and Duke alumnus Johnny Dawkins became “Uncle Johnny” — the father figure. At thirteen, Nolan met Michael Beasley on a court. Beasley had his own problems at home. Nolan’s mother and stepfather Curtis Malone took him in. By eighth grade, Beasley had moved in permanently. “It was like the brother he never had.”
At Oak Hill Academy, Nolan played alongside Beasley and Ty Lawson. McDonald’s All-American. He considered Louisville — his father’s school — but knew the weight would be unbearable. Uncle Johnny, now at Duke, arranged a camp visit. Coach K saw the boy’s huge feet. Nolan committed January 12, 2006. He would write his own chapters while still being his father’s little shadow.