AS A TODDLER, BRIAN JONES LOVED TO hear his Uncle Keith sing the national anthem before games of the Yakima (Wash.) Sun Kings, his hometown pro basketball team. By the age of 4, he had memorized the words and was begging his parents to let him join his uncle at center court. "I don't think it works that way," said Brian's mother, Debbie. But when Keith was called out of town a year ago, and the Sun Kings, members of the Continental Basketball Association, needed a quick replacement, Brian's wish came true.
He made his star-spangled debut at the Yakima SunDome last November and left the crowd of 4,000 cheering. In January he performed at a Seattle SuperSonics game, and then he appeared again at game 4 of the NBA playoffs when the Portland Trail Blazers hosted the Chicago Bulls. "He had these 7' star athletes with tears running down their cheeks," reports Leah Wilcox of NBA Entertainment. Last month he switched sports, wowing 31,000 fans at the final Chicago While Sox home game of the season.
"Technically, he isn't that special, but I think he appeals to people on an emotional level," Brian's father, DeNard, an aerospace designer, says of his son's heartfelt (if a bit high-pitched) singing. Nor does he get special treatment at home, say his parents, who have two other children: daughters Cheree, 7, and Breanna, 6 months. DeNard and Debbie have turned down offers for Brian to appear in local commercials, resisted suggestions to hire an agent and asked Brian's teacher to make sure he doesn't get celebrity treatment at school.
So far, at least, Brian doesn't seem to be star-tripping at all. At the NBA Awards dinner, where he performed for a crowd of past and present basketball stars last September, Brian was so captivated by the novelty of self-flushing toilets in the men's room that he was nearly late getting to the dais. Says Debbie: "People expect something more, but he's basically a normal 5-year-old kid."
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