Was Prince the most complete sportsman in music history?
“You see me nodding to him, to say, ‘go on, go on’,” said Tom Petty, recalling the moment he played on stage with Prince as they covered the track ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. Prince didn’t sing during the rendition but instead simply played a guitar solo at the end.
Regardless of taking a backseat for the majority of the song, it was such a standout that it was the most memorable part of the show. “I remember I leaned out at him at one point and gave him a ‘This is going great!’ kind of look. He just burned it up. You could feel the electricity of ‘Something really big’s going down here’.”
That quote by Petty is a good representation of Prince as an artist. He isn’t renowned as a guitar player. Granted, people know that he played guitar, but when we discuss who the best guitar players in the world are, Prince doesn’t get a look in. This isn’t because of merit but rather because he is his own force as a musician. Prince isn’t judged on his ability to play guitar, sing, or write music; he is judged on his ability to be Prince, as he possesses qualities that other musicians could only aspire towards.
He was a well-rounded individual, capable of excelling in everything that he did, and it turns out this doesn’t just apply to music either. There are multiple accounts surrounding Prince and his sporting ability, as he wasn’t just a great musician, he was also an exceptional sportsperson, ready to chuck in the guitars and amps and pick up a pair of roller-skates, football boots, basketball shoes and whatever appealed to him.
One of the sports which Prince excelled at the most was basketball. He played in high school, and his teammates spoke highly of his ability. “He was a heck of a basketball player,” said James Samuel Harris, one of his old schoolmates, “A point guard who could distribute, had great handles, and could shoot the lights out. Steph Curry reminds me of the way Prince played.”
Prince wasn’t just good at basketball, though. He was also a prolific roller skater and would frequently invite people to private parties so that he could show off his skills. “I got a text from Prince’s assistant. That’s how things go in the Prince universe: You get a pre-message saying that a phone message is coming later,” recalled Questlove, “But this time, the message said something different. It said that there was going to be a roller-skating party that night, for Valentine’s Day, and that I should bring some cool people.”
After arriving at an almost empty roller skating ring, Questlove and his girlfriend at the time waited around until two in the morning for him to turn up. When Prince turned up, he took everybody’s phones off them and locked them in a security box.
“Prince had [a] briefcase out on the floor. He clicked the lock and opened it, and took out the strangest, most singular pair of roller skates I had ever seen. They were clear skates that lit up, and the wheels sent a multicoloured spark trail into your path,” recalled Questlove, “He took them out and did a big lap around the rink. Man. He could skate like he could sing. I watched him go, so transfixed that I didn’t even notice Eddie Murphy appearing at my arm. ‘I’m going to go get your phone for you’.”
Rumour has it that Prince was great at roller skating, basketball, pool, bowling, and table tennis. Lucky for us, rather than pursuing a sporting career, he opted for music, and as a result, we got to experience some of the greatest music ever made.
