Fred VanVleet has always been clear about where he came from, and a recent conversation reaffirmed that perspective. The Houston Rockets guard has been on the sidelines this season after tearing his ACL in September, watching as his team secured 52 wins and made it to the 2026 playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers.
While he continues his recovery, VanVleet recently appeared on the “Out The Mud” podcast and shared a deeply personal story that goes beyond basketball. He spoke about losing his father at just five years old. His father, Fredderick Manning, was killed, and VanVleet grew up in Rockford, Illinois, a city known for its challenges. In such an environment, losing a parent wasn’t uncommon. Many of his friends also faced similar losses, and getting out of that situation required more than just talent.
“I’m grown now, so I could look back on it, but at the time, you don’t really know. Now, I got kids. So, it’s like, they don’t even really, wouldn’t even know. I was five. My dad got killed, and I just remember my mom and them coming and telling me, and they like, ‘Dad ain’t coming home.’ I’m like, ‘all right, cool.’ But it didn’t hit me,” VanVleet said.
Now that he’s a father himself, he understands just how young five really is and how little a child can process such a permanent loss. This realization has deepened his connection to his own children and given him a new perspective on his past.
Fred VanVleet reveals what fueled his rise beyond the court
VanVleet’s early years were marked by constant change. He lived with his mother, Susan, on one side of town, then moved to a more challenging neighborhood where the absence of a father was not unusual. Many of the kids around him had similar experiences, and it wasn’t something that stood out in the community.
Things changed when his mother married Joe Danforth, a police officer who brought stability into their lives. Financially and structurally, life looked different after that. VanVleet has often said that compared to what others around him went through, he still feels like he had a solid upbringing, even if the path to get there wasn’t straightforward.
“You go to the tournaments and you see the kids with their dads and [expletive] like that. And it’s like, ‘[expletive], I wish I had that. But I just felt like it just gave me a different hunger and it was just more so like I knew not to play too close to the streets,” he said.
That hunger is a big part of how VanVleet reached the NBA. His mother, stepfather, and siblings helped keep him grounded when nothing was guaranteed. He leaned on his own instincts and backed himself when most people wouldn’t have.
That mindset carried him to the NBA, and it’s the same one driving him now as he works his way back from injury and builds toward the future he’s creating for his own family.
