Who Are Ty Jerome’s Parents? Meet Mark Jerome And Melanie Walker

Ty Jerome never really had a choice about basketball. His father, Mark Jerome, put a regulation ball in his crib the day he came home from the hospital, and his mother, Melanie Walker, played college ball too. The 29-year-old Memphis Grizzlies guard, who scored 40 points in Monday's overtime loss to the Pelicans, grew up between a hard-nosed coach and a very loud fan. His parents split when he was six, and that changed how he saw each of them. Both left their mark on his game.

Mark Jerome, the “crazy coach” behind his game

Mark played college basketball and later coached high school and AAU teams in New York. He coached Ty from a very young age, and Ty calls him “a crazy coach.” By two or three, Ty was dribbling two balls down the street, and he cried whenever anyone took the ball away. “Those were his temper tantrums,” Mark said.

The weekends were wild. Mark drove a van of five or six kids across the city, sometimes playing in four boroughs in a single day. Ty, only five or six, would climb out of his car seat, play against seven-, eight- and nine-year-olds, and climb back in. “I think the ACS should have brought me up on charges,” Mark joked. The courts were hot, the crowds were loud, and there was hardly any rest.

It was not easy for Ty. He says the way his dad coached made their bond “strictly basketball,” and some games got ugly. When his parents split, he felt it was probably for the best, because “after the game, I did not want to see my dad.” Today, he sees it differently. “I don't think mentally I'm as tough as I am without it,” he said. Mark still bristles when people call his son a New Rochelle kid, because he sees Ty as a New York City point guard.

Melanie Walker, the fan who knew the game

Melanie played at Brandeis University, and Ty says that made a big difference. “A lot of moms are supportive, but a lot of moms aren't able to talk about basketball with you,” he said. She could, and she gave him a calmer voice to listen to after a tough day with his father.

She was also the loudest person in the gym. “She was the craziest parent,” Ty told the “Point Forward” podcast, adding that she yelled at refs and even argued with fans. He remembers thinking, “You got to relax because I'm seven.” After the split, he went home with her after games.

Ty won the 2019 national title at Virginia, and Mark was in the stands for the kid he had driven around New York in a van. Mark's mother is Black and his father is white, while Melanie is white. Ty has four siblings, including his younger brother Kobe, who plays guard.