Thumping was always a familiar sound around John Paxson`s boyhood home in Dayton, Ohio.
Most of the time, you could bet the thumping came from a basketball
(Paxson`s dad, Ken, was a former NBA star and his brother, Jim, later played for the Portland Trail Blazers and the Boston Celtics). But the year 12-year-old Johnny got his Christmas wish, it was the sound of something else. ”I always wanted to be a basketball player like my father and brother but some odd part of me wanted to be a drummer,” the Bulls` ace point guard said.
Enter Christmas 1972, made extra special by a set of new drums.
”I figured I`d get a band together, cut my hair like Keith Partridge
(played by David Cassidy in the `70s TV sitcom `The Partridge Family`) and be on `American Bandstand` in no time.
”I actually came close to mastering the drum part to the theme from (the cartoon) `Clutch Cargo.` . . . I might have gotten good, but I was always more directed toward sports and school. Still though, I managed to make a lot of noise and drive everyone around the house crazy. Last I heard, the drums were still somewhere in Dayton.”
