- I'm just overcoming where I come from,
where I grew up in, the neighborhood,
in the city of Chicago, you know of the statistics
that says that only one in one million makes it.
Overcome.
To get better as result of a struggle or conflict.
(soft orchestral music)
I'm Dwayne Wade.
I'm a professional basketball player.
I'm known for playing with the Miami Heat.
That's good enough.
(film crew laughs)
- [Crewman] He doesn't want to brag too much.
(Dwayne laughs)
- For me it's just like, growing up in the city of Chicago
one of the toughest things is not seeing.
So not being able to see success.
You dream about it, maybe you can watch it on TV
but up close and personal you can't touch it.
You can't feel it.
You can't sit down and ask someone,
"What's the keys to success?"
So that's probably one of the toughest things.
You have this vision, you have this thought of
who you want to become and what you want to become,
but you really don't know how you're gonna get there.
Coming out of high school, you know,
I'm one of the best high school players in my state
but because of me not testing well,
and not being a good tester for four hours,
I'm not able to play the game of basketball
that I love at the next level.
I took the ACT test a few times,
and I remember the call that I got
to come down to the office, my test scores was in,
and it was like the longest walk ever
because I'm thinking about everything.
I'm having the excitement, the joy in me,
"Aw man, this could be it,
I could be playing basketball
next year at a division one college."
And I'm also having this
but everything will always go right for me feel neither.
So I'm talking this long walk down there
trying to get my mind wrapped around if I don't pass,
I'm trying to get my mind wrapped around it,
if I do what I'm gonna do,
and I remember grabbing the envelope
and opening it up and looking and seeing that I didn't pass.
(moody electronic music)
It's just that walk back to the classroom
was like the longest walk ever and you know,
I just got very emotional because, for me,
basketball was kind of, it was the way.
It was like my route to get out of here has been halted.
It's been stopped.
And I didn't really see the future at that moment,
I just seen what was in front of me.
What was in front of me was I couldn't play basketball.
Terrible moment, terrible experience.
My college coach at the time got me through it.
I called him right away at the school and he kept me,
I guess he kept me excited about coming to school.
He talked to me about,
everything is gonna go as planned,
everything we talked about in the home visit,
everything we talked about when he came up here,
it's gonna go as planned.
You just not gonna be playing in games,
but you gonna be doing everything else.
He was very important in me overcoming this.
He was one of the only ones to come in
and offer me a scholarship.
I think he offered me a scholarship
without even knowing if Marquette takes Prop 48s.
(Dwayne laughs)
I think he was that, like,
he was that on top of it.
Like you know, we gonna do everything we can
because we believe in you.
For a young kid that grew up the way I grew up,
for someone to come in and show that they believe in you
and they really don't know me
but you really believe me,
you gonna take a chance on me,
it means a lot,
and you feel like,
you feel some sense of like you indebted to that person.
- [Sports Commentator] People thought of him as a prospect
in high school and here we are today as one
of the premier players in college basketball.
- [Sports Commentator 2] First Team All American...
- For me, when I came in the NBA,
even though I was a fifth pick in the drive,
I had to overcome people not thinking I was good enough.
That's probably every year you gotta overcome it.
Then when you get to that point
where people think you're good,
you gotta overcome feeling it and like,
really buying into that, it's the NBA,
this is the best place to have hardship to overcome
but we do, you do have to overcome things.
You have to overcome injury, you have to overcome losing,
so you don't overcome nothing by yourself,
it definitely becomes a mindset that you have to have,
but you also have to surround yourself
with the right individuals that came help you
get to the place that you're trying to get to.
And there's gonna be a lot
that's gonna come in and out of your life.
You gotta be prepared and ready for
the right ones when you see them
and run the other way when you see the ones that's not.
But you definitely don't overcome things by yourself.
(soft orchestral music)