In a high school office 3,000 miles from Oracle Arena, Shonn Brown and Chad Fair typically begin their chats by marveling at Stephen Curry's latest feat. The exchanges quickly veer in directions unlike those of any other Curry conversations on the planet.
"Have you talked to him lately?"
"How's his state of mind?"
"That facial hair is something else."
Any commentary on Curry's physical appearance _ or his emotional state, for that matter _ is understandable. Fair and Brown knew him long before he became the baby-faced assassin.
Brown was Curry's basketball coach at Charlotte Christian School, while Fair taught a class in theater production that Curry took as a senior-year elective.
Together with Bob McKillop, who coached Curry during his three seasons at Davidson College, they form an oft-overlooked segment of Curry's inner circle _ at the ready to listen or advise, gatekeepers to his shrinking privacy, holders of his eternal trust.
That Curry has carried the relationships through his ascent to superstardom speaks not only to their values but also, reflectively, to his desire to stay centered, to keep his faith and humility and to retain the part of him that existed before the SC30 phenomenon.
"They all shaped me," Curry said after a recent practice.
"I took part of their characteristics, and added it to mine.
"You can get lost in the day-to-day grind in this league and the drama and the expectations to perform. It's kind of a bubble ... They give me a fresh perspective."
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