Zach Edey's Mom Played Basketball but Couldn't Afford a Career in the Sport

Zach Edey's mom was a skilled basketball player with a love for the sport and had the potential for a career in it, but she could not pursue it due to financial constraints as she came from a large working-class family.

Zach Edey is a young and talented 7-foot-4-inch tall basketball player born in Toronto on May 14, 2002, to Julia and Glen Edey. He plays center and is in his junior season with the Purdue Boilermakers basketball team as he attends Purdue University.

In his senior season in high school, he became one of the top five players in Canada. On getting to university, he constantly played at the top of his game and averaged 8.0 points as a freshman, one of three to achieve such points nationally.

In 2021, Zach became the only player to average 14 points, seven rebounds, one assist, and one block in under 20 minutes per game in the last three decades and one of five players to accomplish that in under 25 minutes per game. He was also part of the Canadian team that played at the U19 World Cup.

In the 2022-2023 season, he became the third high-major player, after Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley, to rank in the NCAA's top 10 in scoring and rebounds in the last two decades. He also made history as the first NCAA player with 750 points, 400 rebounds, 70 blocks, and 50 assists.

Zach Edey's Ethnicity: His Mom Is the Daughter of Chinese Immigrants

Zach is working hard at his game, but his parents were also hard workers long before he was born. His Canadian-born mother, Julia, was the fourth of five children born to Chinese immigrant parents who lived in Toronto.

Her parents owned a Chinese takeout restaurant where she worked on weekends from the time she turned 12. They believed in their food service and wanted their kids to have good grades.

By the time she went to university, she had studied mechanical engineering in the field of nuclear engineering. She became successful in her career and became a wife and mother of two boys.

Zach Edey's Mom Could Have Had a Career in Basketball

Julia built a successful engineering career, but she once played basketball and almost made a career out of the sport. By the time she was in the ninth grade, she was already 5 feet 9 inches tall, and at 17, she was trying out for Ontario provincial basketball team.

However, because she was not well-informed, she did not know that trying out for the junior national team would have been more beneficial as the provincial team had players up to 21 years, and the junior team players were about 19 years and younger.

Even though she was good, she began worrying about her future if she made the team. She was worried about how she would afford the flight ticket to Nova Scotia and how her parents would feel if she was unavailable to help at the restaurant for a month. Julia decided to let go of her love for the sport and follow another career path.

Zach Edey's Mom Comforted Her Son When He Felt Too Tall

Basketball was not Zach's first love, as he grew up playing baseball like his father and hockey like the kids in his community. When he was eight, he played competitively in youth hockey leagues as a defenseman because he was too big to be a goalkeeper.

Because of his stature, being over 6 feet at 12, many people mentioned playing basketball to him, and because of that, he never wanted to play the game, and his parents never forced him to.

Zach's height also made things difficult for him as a child. Other children made him feel differently about his height in third grade, but his mother, who understood his struggles, was there to comfort him. Julia once told him:

"People are always going to find something to pick on you. It could be curly hair. It could be glasses. So, if it wasn't you being super tall, it's going to be something else."

Julia's words changed how Zach perceived his height and made him embrace himself. The mother and son have a close bond because they respect each other, and he always knows she is there for him.

As he began his first year of college, she retired because they had a deal that she would do so if he got a D1 scholarship. Other mothers who have played basketball are Nina Westbrook, Monique James, Mary Beth Lycett, and more.