When NBA champion Luc Longley was growing up in Fremantle, it was a starkly different town to the bustling city it is now.

The lifetime Freo supporter and former Chicago Bulls star, crafted his trade as a basketballer on local streets and courts.

“When I grew up in Freo, it wasn’t Freo as you know it now,” he said.

“A lot of it was pretty old and run down, pre-America’s Cup.

“There weren’t a lot of kids in Freo.

“I grew up in Cliff Street in the West End.

“That’s how I got good at basketball, as there weren’t other kids to play with.”

Docker TV spoke to Longley at the C-shed, where he ran laps as a child pursuing his dream of playing NBA.

“I used to run up and down this jetty with my old man, training,” he said.

“I was trying to get fit.

“It was a great place to grow up but it wasn’t a conventional upbringing.

“It was a fishing boat harbour, a lot more than it is now.

“I got to know a lot of the old fishermen.”

No matter how far around the world Longley travelled, he said Fremantle was home.

“It’s home for me,” he said.

“I’ve come back here all through my playing years.

“I come back here to get grounded and feel at home.

“I love Freo for that.”

Longley has been a supporter of the club since its formation in 1994.

“I started being a Dockers fan day one, the day they announced the name and the guernsey,” he said.

“Once there was a team from home there was no question (who I followed).”

Longley said before home games he loved to come into the café strip to absorb the atmosphere.

“It’s one of those tribal things,” he said.

“For Dockers games, I’ll get up and go into Fremantle, just to see it and feel it, have everyone wandering around in their purple.

“In Fremantle we were starved of success for so long.

 “The town loves their Dockers.”