A move from basketball to real estate and then to music is not a typical one. But somehow, our Lebanese-American superstar has managed to brilliantly pull off all.
Ronald Fred Seikaly, known professionally and internationally as Rony Seikaly, was born in Beirut on May 10, 1965. At the age of 9 years old, he moved from Lebanon to Greece, where he spent the rest of his childhood and young adulthood.
He attended and graduated from the American School, also known as ACS Athens, and excelled in many different sports, including volleyball, soccer, and track & field.
He was most evidently most skilled at basketball; a skill that was obvious to the school’s coaches and teams very early on.
The beginning of Seikaly’s basketball career was marked when he was scouted by Panathinaikos player Takis Koroneos, at age 16.
He was later selected to join Panathinaikos’ men’s senior team and played with them in a tournament in Cyprus.
In 1984, just shy of his twentieth birthday, Seikaly moved to the United States and attended Syracuse University in New York, where he played college basketball.
He played center for the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team and led his Syracuse team to the 1987 NCAA Tournament championship finals against the Indiana Hoosiers during his junior year.
Seikaly is known to be one of the first internationally-born players to make an impact on American basketball.
Considered one of the top college players from the Syracuse basketball program, his offense and defense placed him among the school’s all-time sport’s leaders and earned him several nationally recognized awards and honors.
Drafted into the National Basketball Association (NBA) by the Miami Heat in 1988, and the first-ever pick for the Heat, Seikaly ranked among the team’s top offensive and defensive contributors, breaking several records which still hold true today.
Seikaly would go on to play for the Golden State Warriors, Orlando Magic and New Jersey Nets throughout his NBA career.
He was also part of the United States national basketball team during the 1986 FIBA World Championship, winning gold.
After his retirement from basketball, Seikaly became a successful real estate developer. He also worked in electronic music as a producer/DJ and hosts a radio show called Sugar Free Radio on Sirius/XM.
He has released many EPs including, House Calls (2010), East West EP (2012), East West EP Volume II (2014), Holdin’ On (2015), and The Sword EP (2016).
In 2012, he released a full mix album titled Nervous Nitelife Presents Rony Seikaly and has singles released on Suara, Yoshitoshi, Nervous, Stereo, Subliminal Records and many more.
Seikaly is involved in multiple charities that are close to his heart, such as the Miami Heat’s Corporate Education and Shoot for the Stars’ programs, as well as the Make A Wish Foundation.
He also founded the Rony Seikaly Golf Tournament to benefit cystic fibrosis research.
