The Legend of Kon: Inside Kon Knueppel's burning desire to be great

Kon Knueppel can remember sitting in his room on Duke's campus and watching the NBA Draft last June. Before he got to Durham, there was only one question on his mind: 

What can I do this summer to show that I deserve to get minutes as a freshman at Duke? 

But that night, as he watched one-and-done freshmen Reed Sheppard, Stephon Castle and Rob Dillingham get selected in the top 10, not to mention a Duke one-and-done player in Jared McCain land in the top 20, something hit Knueppel. 

"After watching the draft, I said to myself, ‘I want that to be me next year,'" Knueppel told FOX Sports. "I started getting up at 5:30 a.m. every day during the summer except Sundays to work as hard as possible. I really, really enjoy just doing my work and getting out that extra work." 

This is Knueppel, the 60-year-old stuck in a 19-year-old's body, termed by his family as an "old soul" with maturity beyond his years. He possesses a relentless passion that matches the standards of Jon Scheyer and Duke in every way and the instincts and talent to help a team in a variety of ways when he's on the floor. 

The oldest of five boys, Knueppel comes from legendary basketball genes in the state of Wisconsin. His father, Kon I, was a four-time All-Lake Michigan Conference selection at Wisconsin Lutheran College, setting the school's record for career points with 2,064. His mother, Chari Nordgaard Knueppel, enjoyed an even more legendary career, being one of only three players in Green Bay women's basketball history to have her jersey retired as the Phoenix's all-time leading scorer with 1,964 career points.

Kon I and Chari knew they were going to get married just 11 days into their relationship, and then came Kon II, who had a special aura to him