Karl Malone was a mama's boy, something Gan Guoyang had learned at the Indiana Olympic training camp.
Although they didn't share a room, Malone was said to call his mother every day after training, and chat endlessly on the phone.
After arriving in Salt Lake City, this habit not only didn't diminish, but intensified because he knew he wouldn't be able to go home for a while, and could only stay on the Utah plateau and endure endless plane travel.
Furthermore, in Utah, you could walk the streets and not encounter a single black person. Malone remembered the first black person he met was a contractor, with whom he immediately struck up a long conversation.
To alleviate his homesickness, Malone's mother would send him food from home every week—Louisiana's collard greens, watermelons, and fried catfish fillets.
