GROWING UP
Brendan was born on November 27, 1979, in New York, NY, to Barbara Haywood. He lived in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Kew Gardens and then to Greensboro, NC. He attended high school at Dudley High in Greensboro. Barbara says "Brendan had a Southern accent in two days after moving from NY to NC!" I'm sure he didn't want the other kids to tease him because he sounded different. In two or three days, he fit right in. The adjustment was no problem." Brendan was always taller than other kids - when he was just six months old, he was getting mistaken for a 1 year old!
Brendan developed a love for music very early. He played the saxophone from the seventh to the ninth grade. He went to music camp at UNC-Greensboro.
Brendan also played baseball and football growing up. He started with T-ball and was gifted at hitting homeruns and then got into football in high school. He was a natural at tight end! Basketball proved to really be his sport though. Magic Johnson was his man! When he heard that Magic had HIV, Ms. Haywood said he came home and she thought someone close had passed away, because he was so upset. Brendan is an only child and got involved with basketball when he was in junior high. He wasn't graceful or fast and was cut from the team.
Annoyed with Brendan being cut, Ms. Haywood took Brendan to the YMCA in Greensboro, in a predominantly black neighborhood. They taught him the game and he played with them for about two years.
Brendan went on to play basketball in high school and helped lead Dudley to a state 4A championship during his junior year by averaging 10 points and 10 rebounds (and was able to play at the Smith Center for the first time!) He set a single-season state record that year with 182 blocked shots. Brendan went to Nike camp and had the chance to meet and play with other future NBA players like Ron Artest, Larry Hughes and Elton Brand.
As a senior, Brendan averaged 14.8 points, 11.7 rebounds and 6.7 blocks and shot 78% from the floor. He was a two time all-county selection, News & Record Guilford Player of the Year, and the MVP of the 1996 Little Four Christmas Tournament. When Brendan was named as a McDonald's All-American, Dudley High surprised him with a special assembly to honor him. As a senior at Dudley, Brendan won the Gatorade North Carolina Basketball Player of the Year Award, and he even received a key to the city!
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