Clyde the Glide
Clyde Austin Drexler was born on June 22, 1962, in New Orleans and grew up in the South Park neighborhood of Houston, where his family moved when he was young. But New Orleans claims him — born at a charity hospital in the city, carrying the Crescent City's creative athleticism in his DNA. Drexler became one of the greatest basketball players in NBA history, a ten-time All-Star, an Olympic gold medalist, and a Hall of Famer whose playing style was so smooth and effortless that he earned the nickname "Clyde the Glide."
The University of Houston
Drexler attended the University of Houston, where he was part of Phi Slama Jama — the legendary early-1980s Houston Cougars basketball team that played an above-the-rim, high-flying style of basketball that changed the college game. Alongside Hakeem Olajuwon, Drexler led the Cougars to the 1983 and 1984 NCAA championship games. The team didn't win a title — Georgetown and N.C. State claimed those — but Phi Slama Jama's athletic, entertaining style of play anticipated where basketball was heading and made Drexler a national star.
Portland
The Portland Trail Blazers drafted Drexler 14th overall in 1983, and he spent the next eleven and a half seasons becoming the greatest player in franchise history. He was a complete player — a scorer, a passer, a rebounder, and a defender who could dominate a game in every phase. His signature move was the gliding baseline drive — a swooping, seemingly effortless journey from the perimeter to the basket that looked like the laws of physics had been temporarily suspended.
In 1992, Drexler led the Blazers to the NBA Finals against Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. The series became famous for Jordan's "Shrug Game" — Game 1, where Jordan hit six three-pointers in the first half and shrugged at the broadcast table — but Drexler's performance throughout the series was superb. Portland lost in six games, but Drexler had established himself as one of the two best shooting guards in the world, the only player mentioned in the same conversation as Jordan.
The Championship
In February 1995, Drexler was traded to the Houston Rockets, reuniting him with his college teammate Hakeem Olajuwon. The reunion produced what Drexler had been chasing his entire career — an NBA championship. The Rockets swept the Orlando Magic in the 1995 Finals, and Drexler finally had the ring that had eluded him in Portland.
The Legacy
Drexler retired in 1998 with 22,195 career points, 6,677 rebounds, and 6,125 assists — one of only three players in NBA history at the time to record 20,000 points, 6,000 rebounds, and 6,000 assists. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004 and named one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players.
He was born in New Orleans and raised in Houston, and both cities shaped his game — the creativity, the flair, the effortless cool of a player who made the extraordinary look ordinary. Clyde the Glide glided because that's what New Orleans athletes do. They make it look easy, even when it's anything but.
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