'I felt like early on that was my life, and I always wanted to be,' Rudy said with a smile when reminded of his mom's memories. It turns out she was right - Rudy Gay is as different as they come.

He would literally sleep with a basketball.' 'I would wake him up in the morning for school and pull the covers back, and there would be a basketball. 'Once he acquired the interest, he slept with a basketball,' Rae said of her son. So when Rae Gay noticed her six-year-old son sleeping with a basketball, she didn't know if he was ever going to make it big. Baltimore is known as a dog-eat-dog world where you either make it big or don't make it at all. While it's always cute to hear kids say those words, sometimes the universe has different plans - especially when growing up in Baltimore, Maryland. When most kids are growing up, they're often asked what they want to be when they're older - and you get the typical answers of astronaut, fireman, and professional athlete. 'He was the blessing that we always wanted.'