MAY 2017 14 | FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM Alan, 24, just finished up a season with the Phoenix Suns where he drew attention from opponents and teammates for his scoring and rebounding efficiency. Despite an impressive college career at University of California, Santa Barbara, where he became the school’s all-time leader in rebounds and second all-time leading scorer, Alan did not get drafted in the 2015 NBA draft. In 2016, the center/power forward turned a 10-day contract with the Suns into a full- time job and became a vocal leader, a fan favorite — with an all-time nickname, “Big Sauce” — and one of the league’s most productive bench players in the process. He even won the 2016-17 Majerle Hustle Award, which is given at the end of each season to the Suns player who most personified the hustle and determination that former Suns star Dan Majerle displayed as a player. “Words cannot describe from a parental standpoint just how amazing proud I think this human being is,” Jeri said. “I say to him all the time: God picked me to be his mom.” Alan has achieved the rare dream of hoops-loving boys: getting the chance to play on the home court for the team you cheered as a young fan. “It’s super humbling and it’s very special to be able to it,” he said. “To walk through the same hallways as so many great Suns players have walked through, to be in the same locker room. “And to experience it all has been truly special for me because I’ve watched those games, sat in those seats and I’ve seen it and I’ve dreamed of it and now my dream has come true.” He added that he hopes he inspires kids in arena seats all over the world so “that they one day can be that guy on the court.” Off the court, he leaves a trail of anecdotes that demonstrate his lifelong habit of thinking of others. As an eight-year-old, Alan showed flashes of being aware of and helping people in need. His father relayed a story to the sports blog Bleacher Report in which he said Alan, at Toys R Us one day, took the initiative to serve as an on-the- spot translator between a cashier and a Spanish-speaking customer. Alan, who, along with his younger brother Cody Jr. (a student at UC Santa Barbara) is fluent in Spanish, walked over to where the attempted, dual language exchange was being made, and just started translating. When it was over, his dad told Bleacher Report, he just walked away. Another time when he was a boy, Alan showed his generous side at a Suns game with his father and brother. “His dad was a city councilman as long as Alan could remember so they’ve always been in a fishbowl,” Jeri said. “So I can remember there was a time when I had to work and big Cody had both the boys and brought them to a Suns game. They used to sit in the suites and there used to be so much food leftover sometimes in some of them.” As they are walking out, she said, Alan told his father that they should have taken the leftover food to the needy people near the arena. COVER STORY CONTINUED

MAY 2017 FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM | 15 COVER STORY CONTINUED JERI: He’s got a great sense of humor and comedic timing. For example, yesterday — he used to do this to me all the time in college — he called in the middle of the day while I was in the middle of a meeting. Whenever I see Alan or Cody pop up I’ll break what I’m doing and answer the phone. So I answer the phone, ‘Hello, Alan.’ He said, ‘I gotta talk to you about something, you got a minute?’ He sounds very serious. So I get out of the meeting, walk back to my office, and he’s like, ‘I need you to sit down, you have a seat?’ So then I say, ‘Yes, I’m sitting down.’ He says, ‘You wanna go to dinner tonight? Hahahaha!’ And he is rolling because to him it’s so funny; to me I’m thinking he’s injured, something bad happened. I mean I hadn’t gotten a call from law enforcement so I knew he wasn’t in jail anyplace. He does things like that to me, which just shows me he’s still my Alan. So I can see him on the big screen, I can see him playing, Mr. Double Double, but he’s still my Alan, my little Alan. ALAN: I like to loosen her up a little bit — her job is really serious. I think a lot of time she can just be real serious so I just try to loosen her up, to keep her on her toes. We just enjoy each other and we got each other’s back. fast break 2 the jokester son Photo credit: Barry Gossage, Phoenix Suns