Kiki Vandeweghe was named the NBA’s new vice president in charge of basketball operations on Wednesday, and he decided to capitalize on the opportunity — literally.
Vandeweghe, who has spelled his name with only one capital letter since childhood, tripled the number of big letters in his name when the league announced its move. Now written as “VanDeWeghe,” his last name is a more accurate representation of how it would be spelled in its original Belgian.
“My grandfather passed away five days short of his 100th birthday a few years ago,” VanDeWeghe told CSN Northwest’s Dwight Jaynes. “We were extremely close. He was Ernest M. VanDeWeghe and I’m Ernest M. VanDeWeghe III. He asked my wife and me if we would continue the tradition of that spelling with our son, which we’ve done. That’s where this comes from — this is the way he spelled it when he came to this country from Belgium.”
VanDeWeghe insisted people have not been spelling his name wrong all these years, including throughout his 13-year playing career. He is simply taking the opportunity to make some slight corrections with how it is written.
As the league’s VP of basketball operations, VanDeWeghe will oversee the development of playing rules and interpretations, game analytics, disciplinary matters and policies and procedures relating to the operation of NBA games. He will work under Stu Jackson, the NBA executive vice president of basketball operations.
Photo via Flickr/djbelc01
