Prince may be a music legend, but he also showed promise as a basketball player when he was in middle school, according to new unearthed photos from his youth.

Prince Played Basketball In Middle School

An editor of Minneapolis’ Star Tribune newspaper, Libor Jany, tweeted old photos from the archives showing Prince in his middle school basketball uniform on Wednesday. The clip, according to Jany, was from the paper’s old archives.

In the photo, a young teenage Prince poses down on one knee, rocking an impressive Afro along with knee socks and Bryant Junior High basketball uniform. The clipping appears to come from an old profile of Prince after the musician became famous. In fact, on March 3, Jany had posted a photo of an excerpt from the profile that described Prince’s basketball background.

“Prince was an excellent player; he was like the sixth or seventh man. He was an excellent ball handler, a good shooter and very short (5 foot 2). Probably with a different group of people he would have been a starter,” his basketball coach Richard Robinson was quoted as saying at the time.

The revelation of Prince’s old basketball photos is especially amusing for fans of Dave Chappelle’s Chappelle’s Show. Chappelle and Charlie Murphy performed a skit where Prince played basketball in the blouses that were a part of his signature look.

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.