Reggie King, son of former Sixers GM Billy King, took his talents to baseball to star at Episcopal Academy

It seemed inescapable. The images were everywhere. There was little Reggie in an overgrown Nets jersey with a ball tucked under his arm. There would be another of little Reggie clad in 76ers gear looking spry, with a beaming smile toward the camera lens.

There would be little Reggie in a Duke basketball jersey, being pulled here and there by his dad’s old Blue Devils teammates regaling him with stories about his pop’s tenacious defense.

Reggie did not fully grasp who his father, Billy King, was until he was around 9 or 10 years old.

By then, it was too late.

His mom, Melanie, a former softball player at La Salle, got to him first.

Reggie King has made a name for himself as a baseball player, a two-time all-Inter-Academic League selection for Episcopal Academy, where he’s started for three years.

Reggie, the 6-foot-3, 180-pound son of former 76ers and Nets general manager and former Duke star Billy King, is also a talented basketball player, like his dad. But Billy never told Reggie how he once broke the hearts of Temple fans everywhere by shutting down the legendary Mark Macon during the Elite Eight round of the 1988 NCAA Tournament.

Reggie found out through family friends and relatives. He did not know his dad was the former general manager of the Sixers and then the Nets, too young to understand what dad did, until later.

Maybe it’s why Reggie says he never felt the pressure of stepping out of his father’s shadow, since there was no shadow to emerge from.

Reggie has made his own mark in a different game.

As a three-year starter at Episcopal, Reggie has been perfect defensively. At the time of this report, he’s had 49 chances and 49 putouts. He watched his batting average soar as a junior to .383, with a .988 OPS, seven doubles, and 11 RBIs. He’s scored 13 runs and struck out just 10 times.

He has a sharp eye at the plate, and his success last season led to greater respect from pitchers this season. They’ve thrown him him more breaking balls, causing his average to slip to .260 this season though he has a solid 20 hits, 14 RBIs, 16 runs, and 14 stolen bases.

Episcopal is 20-9, with 20 wins being a single-season record for the program. Tom Grandieri, the Churchmen’s eighth-year coach, can relate to his star center fielder.

Grandieri, also from a basketball family, was also bitten by the baseball bug. His older brother Brian was a two-time all-Ivy League basketball player at Penn. Tom followed Brian at Penn and did him one better, as the 2010 Ivy League Player of the Year — in baseball.

“I know that tug of war, because I dealt with that a little myself, and I would argue Reggie got bit by the right bug,” said Grandieri, a standout basketball and baseball player at Malvern Prep. “I loved basketball growing up, playing with my brothers. My parents allowed us to play different sports. There was no specialization when I was growing up. My older brothers all quit baseball after Little League. Me and my youngest brother stayed with it.

“I’m sure Reggie was going through that same conflict a little. First off, Reggie has great parents who are supportive in everything he does. They’re at every game, and they encourage him. We spoke one time about the baseball-basketball debate. Reggie has a great head on his shoulders, and when I spoke to him, I wanted him to play as many sports as he could. But he knew he would have to eventually commit to one sport full-time over the other.”

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It’s what Reggie broke — following in his dad’s footsteps into basketball.

“I’m very proud of Reggie, and he is a far better athlete than I was at 18, though I wouldn’t admit that to him,” Billy said with a laugh. “My biggest thing with Reggie, my biggest thing with all of my kids, is to get out and have fun. If it’s baseball, he chose, go out and have fun. You have too much specialization today. It’s why I supported Reggie in anything he wanted to do.

“My wife and I let our kids pick and choose any sport they wanted to play. Melanie played softball and baseball in Little League, and that’s where Reggie gravitated. That became his passion, and basketball he picked up later. He did grow up with basketball around him, but baseball was his choice. He was incredibly committed to both for a while there. But we knew, eventually, he would have to make a decision where he wanted to lean in terms of what he wanted to do in college.

“If Reggie wanted to pick up a lacrosse stick, he would be good at that, too. He’s just that kind of athlete. When I was his age, I was a basketball player who ran track. I wouldn’t be able to do all of the things he does.”

Billy, who works for the executive search firm TurnkeyZRG, found out it was beginning to be too much after Reggie’s freshman year. Episcopal competes in the highly competitive Inter-Ac, probably the best baseball league in the state with Episcopal, Malvern Prep, Penn Charter, and Haverford School.

It’s a league that produces future major leaguers and it’s where Reggie landed as a starter his sophomore year.

“I remember it,” Reggie recalls not so fondly. “I didn’t get a hit, not one hit, my sophomore year. I learned a lot. That year was a big wake-up call to me. That was a whole new world to me. I told myself to reset and keep trying my best, and it helped not to have many expectations.

“I think the big thing my dad instilled was always remember that I am a part of a team and do whatever it takes to win. My mom always wanted me to be aggressive, because I would take a lot of pitches growing up.”

The one enduring quality that Billy received under legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski that he has passed on to his son is that “you are part of something bigger than you. It’s what Coach K imparted to me, and to all of his players, and what I impart to my kids. That’s why Duke has that brotherhood.”

In August, Reggie will be attending the highly academic Hill School for a year, where he plans on playing both basketball and baseball. He may be facing another dilemma— a problem most athletes wish they had: being proficient in two sports. Reggie has never been on a consistent weight-training program, nor has he ever spent an entire year focusing solely on one sport.

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He gave up summer basketball after his freshman year at EA, though the grind continued for two years when he would practice and play games with a travel baseball team and run right from there to summer Episcopal basketball workouts.

“It’s why I think Reggie’s best baseball is ahead of him,” Grandieri said. “He knew that he would have to focus more on one sport than the other. He’s had some good baseball days, but his best days are ahead of him because he’s always been a little behind kids who have only been doing baseball the last six or seven years — and Reggie is very good now.

“You can kind of say he is cursed by being such a good athlete. He starts for the baseball and basketball teams in a highly competitive league. He was always running from one sport to the other, without concentrating fully on one sport. Wait until he gets bigger and stronger.”

Billy found out early that Reggie, who is named after basketball Hall of Famer Reggie Miller, was leaning toward baseball during a Phillies youth camp at Episcopal Academy when Reggie was 9. Billy recalls the temperature was around 100 degrees during the weeklong summer camp.

“Reggie went every day to that camp and never once complained,” Billy said. “I could tell then Reggie loved the game. I will say this: As for basketball, Reggie is a far better three-point shooter than I ever was. People still ask me where he gets that from. The main thing is having fun and being a good teammate. I think that’s what I see in Reggie that reminds me of myself, he’s a great teammate.”

And a better baseball player.

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