Chicago, IL—The doors at Macy’s State Street didn’t open until ten o’clock, but the line already snaked down the Pedway and back.
Standing at the head of the crowd inside the store, three young people from the suburbs who had left home early in the morning, and driven more than an hour, to get in line ahead of the others.
“It was worth it!” said nineteen-year-olds Ray Jurvich and Lily Darche from New Lenox. Behind them, eighteen-year-old Esme McCarthy, of Beverly, brought artwork that he created featuring Rose.
Shouts of “MVP!” began when word spread through the crowd that Rose was walking toward the bookstore. Albeit delayed, Rose didn’t disappoint. He made up for the lost time by remaining 30 minutes past his scheduled 2:00pm departure time—doing his best to sign as many books and take as many photos as he could with those who came to see him.
Rose’s new book, I’ll Show You, is a memoir that he says “represents me, my story, who I am. Let’s see what you can do. Not what you tell me you’re gonna do—what you can do.”
“It shows both sides of my personality. I’m an introvert. I didn’t understand for a long time what that meant. There’s nothing bad or wrong with that. But it can make people think different about you. That think that you think you’re all that, or something,” he writes on the first page. “That’s not me; it’s never been me.”
That, and his genuine appreciation for his fans, is evident in the way that he interacts with people at the bookstore. Quiet and unassuming, Rose took the time to exchange a few words with each person who bought his book.
After growing up in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood, Rose achieved an improbable childhood dream: being selected first overall in the NBA draft by his hometown Chicago Bulls. The point guard known to his family as “Pooh” was a phenom, winning the Rookie of the Year award and electrifying fans around the world. In 2011 he bacame the youngest MVP in league history.
