When Natalie Zito ( nee Gilbert ) won a competition to sing the national anthem before an NBA playoff game with Dallas, she was 13 years old.
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She rose to the microphone and began to sing audio of our song without any accompaniment. Finally, about 20 hours into the music, Natalie began to falter. She had lost all memory. The audience silently disappeared.
Therefore, NBA Hall of Famer Maurice Cheeks, the Trailblazers ‘ manager, stepped up and began to pull the terrified girl the terms.
As he led fresh Natalie through the anthem while encouraging the group to join in, his hand rests lightly on her neck.
It was a truly amazing experience. However, the account is still not over.
On Wednesday night, Natalie once more went to the Portland arena to perform the music. Maurice Cheeks, who was beaming like a parents, was present.
Before a 2003 NBA playoff activity, Maurice Cheeks when jumped in and sang Natalie Zito’s moving performance. https ://t.co/G2JSqFFjHu— HuffPost ( @ HuffPost ) March 13, 2025
She did it again this day.
Zito said,” That’s a difficult time in a young child’s life, where something like that occurs on national television.” ” That minute really stuck with me,” he said.
The second circled on Wednesday. Zito sat on the sidelines of the New York Knicks ‘ half-court and sang” The Star-Spangled Banner” while Cheeks was an assistant coach. There were no interruptions or difficulties, only pure beauty.
” I’d give it a good nine,” Zito said.
The movie table flashed to Cheeks, who was proud of himself 22 years ago, as she came to an end of her version.
For Zito, Wednesday was more of a festival of that day 22 years earlier than it was a day of closing. Cheeks likes to say that it was just a minute. But it was a time that, in her opinion, contributed to her development.
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On Wednesday, Natalie Zito performed a beautiful rendition of the country’s anthem in Portland.
It’s the same music that, without Maurice Cheeks, would have continued to plague her.
They reunited 22 years after.
✍ ️ @jwquick https ://t.co/R4jt23DQy8 pic. twitter.com/ondmOJcHlj
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic ) March 13, 2025
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She regretted hearing the song in 2003, right?
In response to her performance in 2003, she said,” This moment changed my life and I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” Zito said. ” I do not come back in time and make any changes.”
Zito said,” It made me a little stronger individual.” I am resilient to anything that comes my way. I simply push with right now because that’s probably the worst thing that can happen to you when you’re 13 and in middle school.
” Seeing [ Cheeks ] and seeing that he’s still standing today as a standup from the beginning – , amazing”!
After the 2003 anthem controversy, Natalie’s life turned to other things.
She claimed that she was hazed at West Linn High School and then at Waluga Middle School in Lake Oswego as she became a regional newscaster and appeared on federal talk shows. When she walked down the rooms, students whispered, and she claimed to be “picked on.” She would go for lunch in a toilet stall to find some rest after a long day of feeding.
” Awful, right? She claimed that the students were “brutal” and “brutal” throughout high school. ” But I don’t want to change a thing because I feel like it really made me stronger,” he said.
She moved to Southern California after graduating from high school and began taking words training. She trained as a entertainer at the McCallum Theater in Palm Desert and sang at weddings, birthday parties, and corporate events. She eventually relocated to San Francisco where she met Michael, her potential partner.
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After her company started sponsoring the staff, she frequently traveled to Portland and was able to show the Shirts who she was. When Cheeks, an assistant manager with the New York Knicks, was in town, they invited her again to sing the song on Wednesday.
If Maurice Cheeks hadn’t stepped off and assisted her in singing the hymn, where would that frightened 13-year-old woman have ended up? Fortunately, we won’t ever know.
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