Kevin "Special K" Daley (born October 7, 1976) is a Panamanian former
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
Panama City
Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...
Lakewood, California
Lakewood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 80,048 at the 2010 census. It is bordered by Long Beach on the west and south, Bellflower on the north, Cerritos on the northeast, Cypress on the east, ...
.
College career
Daley played as a freshman for
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
. However, he grew homesick and transferred to the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
(UCLA). After sitting out a year, he played as a sophomore for the Bruins in 1997–98. Unhappy with the limited playing time he received, he transferred again to
Azusa Pacific University
Azusa Pacific University (APU) is a private, evangelical Christian university in Azusa, California. The university was founded in 1899, with classes opening on March 3, 1900, in Whittier, California, and began offering degrees in 1939. The uni ...
. Daley led the
Cougars
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. I ...
to the NAIA Final Four, and earned the Conference Most Valuable Player honors in 2000.
Professional career
He played overseas in Australia, Taiwan, the Netherlands and for the Panama national team before joining the Harlem Globetrotters after they saw him play in a 2004 summer league. Kevin played with the Globetrotters for 10 years and performed shows in both Spanish and English. During the team's 2005 World Tour, Daley played as a dunker and Showman.
After basketball
In 2007, Daley became an American citizen. He also received a Sociology degree from Ashford University in 2010. Since retiring from basketball Daley has written an autobiography called “I Never Stopped Smiling”, and delivered speeches based on it, as well as working as a Sales Director for Velocity Global.
Michael Jordan's double
Daley was a
body double
In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes FOR another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...
portraying a young
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...
in the
Gatorade
Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develop ...
2002 commercial "23 vs 39", in which a Bulls-era Jordan takes on his Wizards-era counterpart in a game of 1-on-1. The spot makers interposed a CGI reproduction of a young Jordan onto Daley's body and face in post-production.