Many people know Doug Christie as the hard-nosed defender on the Sacramento Kings during their deep Playoff runs in the early 2000s.
Many people know Montell Jordan as the man behind the chart-topping hit song “This is How We Do It”.
However, what most people may not know is that both of them used to share a dorm room in their college days.
During their time at Pepperdine University, a private college in scenic Malibu, Calif., Christie and Jordan were roommates while in the early stages of their respective careers.
The former King was a standout guard on the Pepperdine basketball team before being drafted in the first round of the 1992 NBA Draft. Montell, however, served a different role on the team.
“I was tall but couldn’t play ball,” said the accomplished singer/songwriter following his halftime performance at Sacramento's first #FlashbackFriday game.
The soon-to-be hit artist was one of the equipment managers on the team, where he worked in something he called “the cage” washing the team’s uniforms and other gear. Despite the disparity in their roles, Montell said that being roommates with Christie resulted in some “pretty cool times together in college”.
When not helping out the basketball team, Jordan was back in his room working on his budding music career.
“I’d come back in the room and [Montell] would have [bed]sheets hanging up on the walls to deaden the sound,” Christie said about his former roomie. “He’d be singing and doing his thing. We had a lot of fun.”
While they eventually went their separate ways after college, Doug and Montell kept in touch a bit in the ensuing years.
“When his song first came out, “This Is How We Do It”, I took my daughter to the concert,” recalled number 13. “He signed a $100 bill for her and I framed it up.”
“Really our careers kind of took off at the same time,” said Jordan. “As [Christie] was drafted and going into the NBA, about a year or two later, I would end up signing to Def Jam Records. While I had the no. 1 record in the nation he was playing for the Sacramento Kings.”
The two reunited on Friday night before Jordan’s performance at Sleep Train Arena, reforming what Christie theorizes to be the most successful pair of roommates to ever come out of Pepperdine. With a platinum-certified song and 15-year NBA career between them, it would be hard to argue otherwise.
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