Looking back at Acie Earl's road to the draft

Acie Earl’s dreams turned into reality 25 years ago when he was selected in the first round of the 1993 NBA Draft. Hawkeye Headquarters reporter Adam Rossow takes a look back at Earl’s basketball journey leading up to that special night in the first of his two-part series.

“My dad kind of pushed me from the beginning. He saw something that a lot of people did not,” said Moline alum Acie Earl.  

His father’s foresight wasn’t happenstance, because Acie Earl’s basketball destiny began with his six-week check up at the doctor’s office.

“He says, ‘I’m gonna project him to be close to 7-feet tall’,” recalled Acie Earl Sr. “And I said, ‘Really!?’. And I says, ‘hmm, there’s probably a career ahead of him’.”

Trips to local parks, open gyms and basketball camps started early in elementary school.

“He sacrificed early on to make sure I had the right tools,” Earl said.

With his father’s sacrifices came his father’s demands.

“I would tell him, ‘you know Ace, there’s a kid in California playing year-round and sure, it’s a little cold today on the Logan Grade School playground’,” Earl Sr. said. “‘but we can shovel the snow away. I’ll put the gloves on you and we’ll get some shooting in’.” 

“You don’t know how hard you have to work,” said Earl, who was bumped to Moline’s varsity during his sophomore year. “So I didn’t know how hard I had to work to get to that level, probably until my ninth or 10th grade year.” 

The big man was already being noticed by Division I schools at that point because of his size, but his play at Wharton Fieldhouse on Moline’s varsity would solidify his standing as a big-time college prospect.

“He had great hands,” said former Iowa coach Tom Davis. “When you watched him, you could see, and that’s hard to find, big guys with great hands and good touch. We liked what we saw.” 

Earl liked what he saw from Coach Tom Davis and Iowa as well. 

“Just the style, fast-break style, big guys shooting the three on the perimeter, free-flowing style…fun, pressing,” Earl remembered. 

“Earl would redshirt his first year to mature both mentally and physically for Big Ten basketball. A glimpse into his NBA potential came early in his sophomore season. Earl hung 30 points and 12 rebounds on nationally-ranked UCLA. 
 
“That was kind of my coming out moment,” Earl said. “Playing good against future pros, I was like, ‘oh okay, I can do this’.” 

His progression would continue the rest of his Hawkeyes career.

“Acie became a really, really good shot blocker,” Coach Davis said. “He was a good passer. He could shoot the ball and those things take time to develop. To his credit, he got it done.” 

Earl ended his Iowa days as the all-time leader in blocked shots and second in career points. His stellar performance put him on the path to becoming a lottery pick in the 1993 NBA Draft.

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