Although his “little” brother is nearly two years younger than him, Bailey Leonard has to literally look up to his younger brother, Meyers Leonard. Meyers is a 7-foot-tall center for the Miami Heat, but he says that he’s the emotional one in the family, not his older brother Bailey. But brothers will always be brothers, and one thing Bailey Leonard loves to do is surprise his younger brother. Over eight years ago, Bailey had the chance to give his little brother a huge surprise. Bailey was serving as a United States Marine at the time and had done two tours in Afghanistan.
It had been nearly two years since the brothers had seen each other, and Meyers wasn’t expecting his older brother to show up at his basketball practice. Because of that, when Bailey walked in and said Meyers’ name, the big guy broke down into tears right there on the basketball court. Most brothers are close, but these two share a special bone. Their dad died when they were young and the older brother always looked out for his little brother and was the strong one in the family. When the boys’ father died in a bicycle accident, they and their mother huddled up on the living room floor to sleep most nights.
My brother joined the @USMC because of 9/11. When he left for the first time, I remember feeling scared & lost because he was like a father figure to me. Our father’s birthday was 9/11. He passed when I was 6. This day is never easy. God Bless America❤️🇺🇸 https://t.co/7MX0GAuoMS
— Meyers Leonard (@MeyersLeonard) September 11, 2020
It’s how they got through it, being together as much as possible. As it turns out, the boys’ dad’s birthday was September 11th, so when the World Trade Center was bombed on 9/11/2001, it was a double whammy for the family. Bailey said that he decided that day that he would join the military someday and he kept true to his word, joining the Marines eight years later. In his mind, if he could in some small way through service to his country do his part to serve and try to make things better, he wanted to do it. Here’s the original video of Bailey surprising Meyers at practice eight years ago.
Because he likes to surprise Meyers, Bailey popped up again to surprise his younger brother recently when Meyers was on NBA on TNT with Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, and Kenny Smith. Watch that video below.
