SeattleTimes<\/a>.<\/p>\nDuring his sophomore year, Payton was suspended from the basketball team for half a season because of poor grades and attitude. After consecutive one-day suspensions for clowning around in class didn't elicit a desired effect, a Skyline teacher finally put in a call to Mr. Mean.<\/p>\n
Enraged, Al Payton stormed into his son's math class and humiliated Gary into submission.<\/p>\n
``Gary wanted to go to class and be a comedian,'' Al recalls. ``Because he was a basketball player, he didn't think he had to do anything else. I went in there and told his classmates, `I'm going to show you all that he's not a little man, he's a little baby.' And I kind of spanked him in front of everyone. That was that. Even in college, all anyone had to do was say, `I'm going to call your father,' and Gary would straighten right up.''<\/p>\n
This wasn't the only instance when Al visited the school to teach his son a hard knock lesson.<\/p>\n
Gary started a fight. Bad move. Mr. Mean came to school and clocked him in front of his friends, in front of the girls he wanted to impress, in front of the whole class.<\/p>\n
\"I said, 'I'm going to show you what kind of man he is,' \" Al said. 'You're not a real man. I'm the man.' \"<\/p>\n
\"Everybody knew who he was,\" said Oakland friend and former NBA player\/coach Brian Shaw. \"Everybody was kind of intimidated by him.\"<\/p>\n
Intimidating as he was to everybody, he was also a father and coach to them and helped bodies like Jason Kidd, Antonio Davis and Greg Foster get into college and the league.<\/p>\n
\"He was always the father for everybody,\" Gary said. \"Not just me and my brothers and my sisters, he was the father for everybody in the 'hood.\"<\/p>\n
WE ARE FAMILY<\/h3>\n
On September 2nd of 2015, the father of youth basketball in the Bay Area and creator of the \"We Are Family\" team passed away.<\/p>\n
The Ballislife family would like to send our condolences to Gary and his family.<\/p>\n
RIP Mr Mean - you can finally smile.<\/p>\n
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