FanHouse

Lost in the recent crush of stories about players partying (or not partying), coaches getting fired (or not fired), and legends having some serious skeletons in their closets (sorry Mailman, but there's no alternative scenario to bail you out here) was an interesting sidenote about new Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra.

As it turns out, Spoelstra isn't just the youngest coach in the NBA right now, but he's also apparently the first Asian-American to crack the head-coaching ranks in any of the three major sports leagues (NBA, NFL, MLB). Wikipedia lists Spoelstra's mother as Filipino, and in a Sun-Sentinel story by Ira Winderman, the 39-year-old wunderkind refers to himself as "Dutch-Irish-Filipino."

The "first Asian-American pro coach" story angle was enthusiastically reported by the blog Rice Daddies, and their sense of pride is understandable. Prior to ex-Heat coach Pat Riley naming Spoelstra as his replacement, the only Asian-American of note in the NBA was former Heat guard Rex Walters ('93-'00), who is half-Japanese.

Asian-Americans could previously take a small sense of pride in Chinese imports like Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian succeeding in the NBA, but a big man making a pro roster just isn't the same as a skill player or a coach making it in the L. Like swine scrounging for truffles, NBA teams have historically been adept at sniffing out 7-footers from overseas (Uwe Blab and Frederic Weis come to mind). But the deck is at least slightly stacked against an outsider trying to make it as a point guard (just ask Tony Parker) or a coach, which is why, even though he's from the U.S., Spoelstra's hiring is a small breakthrough for Asian-American sports fans.