Zach Edey is known as one of the tallest college basketball players, but to parents Julia and Glen Edey, he’s simply their athletic son.
Commanding the court at 7'4" and 300 pounds, the Purdue Boilermaker was born in 2002 and raised in Toronto's Leaside neighborhood, where he played baseball and hockey. Despite his height, Julia and Glen didn't push their son to pursue basketball. When Zach ultimately decided he wanted to get into the sport, though, they were right by his side.
Julia took him to tour prep schools and basketball camps around Canada and the United States (he graduated high school from IMG Academy in Florida), and she now spends part of the basketball season near Purdue, supporting her son. Glen also attends games and shows support for Zach.
"A lot of people look at their moms as kind of like their rocks in their life and I'm the same way," Zach told The Canadian Press in 2023.
Not only has Julia made Big Maple (Zach's Canada-inspired nickname) merch, she's often featured on the Jumbotron at Mackey Arena, where the Boilermakers play, and is known for her ongoing social media support of Zach.
“Honestly, of course, I’m proud of what he’s doing – it’s insane – but that’s not where the pride comes from,” she told GoldandBlack.com in 2023. "It’s how he’s doing it.”
Here's everything to know about Zach Edey’s parents, Julia and Glen Edey.
They grew up in Canada Zach Edey and his mom Julia Edey.Zach Edey Instagram
One of five children, Julia is a first-generation Chinese Canadian, born and raised in the suburbs of Toronto. She told WISHTV.com in 2022 that she came from a “working-class household” that prided itself on the restaurant they owned and the kids getting good grades. Once she turned 12, Julia helped out at the family business on weekends.
"She knows all about hard work. She knows all about working even when no one's paying attention," Zach told CBS Sports in 2023. "My mom kind of grew up learning stuff on her own and she passed that on to me.”
Glen was also raised in Canada. He earned money as a teenager pumping gas and helped raise Zach with the same strong work ethic.
They were both athletes Zach Edey and his dad Glen Edey.Zach Edey Instagram
Julia played baseball and was on the track team when she was younger — she told GoldandBlack.com that her claim to fame was breaking the city record in discus in 10th grade.
She started playing basketball in ninth grade, just like Zach. Her parents didn’t come to her games, Julia told WISHTV.com, not because they were unsupportive but because they thought it was “just this recreational thing I did on the side.” She tried out for the Ontario provincial basketball team when she was 17 but didn't understand the semi-pro space nor how to get the correct information, a fate she didn't want for Zach.
”I come from an immigrant family ... my mom didn't have any time to figure this out and it wasn't something at that time that they would have ever thought was something to aspire [for] in terms of a dream,” she told The Canadian Press.
Glen played baseball, much like Zach who excelled at the sport. The young athlete has said he even stayed away from basketball on purpose, telling The Athletic in 2019, “I felt like playing basketball would be pigeon-holing myself. It’s what every tall person does, so I don’t want to do it.”
They have two childrenGlen and Julia have two sons. Their first child is Zach, who was born 11 lb., 3 oz., on May 14, 2002. Their other son, Doug Edey, attended Leaside High School like his brother and also plays basketball.
“I truly cannot believe I can be here. That I have been given the gift of my two kids and this life,” Julia posted on X (formerly Twitter) in April 2023 after Zach earned a number of Player of the Year Awards. “The courage to feel all this and the capacity to love. I don’t understand it, and cannot imagine how I am so blessed but again, I can only say, Thankful.”
Julia stays in Indiana with her son during the basketball season Zach Edey is presented with the Naismith Men's College Player of the Year trophy during the 2023 Naismith Hall of Fame Brunch on April 02, 2023 in Houston, Texas.Logan Riely/Getty
During Zach’s freshman year of college, Julia retired from her job as a mechanical engineer. She graduated in 1990 and worked for 30 years in the nuclear sector in Toronto, also spending a few years as a nuclear theory teacher.
“That was always kind of our deal. She had said, basically, if I get a D1 scholarship then financially, she could retire,” Zach told The Canadian Press. “That kind of was a big reason why I wanted to get one of those scholarships. It's obviously been great.”
Julia added, “It meant a lot to him getting that scholarship knowing that he could help give me those options and it meant a lot to me. I was thinking, I'm not missing a second of this.” She now travels to Indiana for part of the basketball season, where she stays in Airbnbs.
The doting mom's presence at Purdue games has made her a favorite of Boilermakers fans too.
“The place I’m staying at right now, the neighbors said, and it was very sweet and it came from the heart, ‘I’ve been a Purdue fan for 20 years, and I’ve never seen a parent embraced like this,’ ” Julia told GoldandBlack.com. “It’s easy, though. The community is great. The kids on the team have been great for years. Zach allows me to be part of it."
They are very supportive of their son Zach Edey and his mom Julia Edey.Zach Edey Instagram
Julia is an enthusiastic Boilermakers fan. “You know, I have a clapping callus. So, [I’m] probably a little on the intense side,” Julia told WISHTV.com in 2023. “...You just want them to know that they’ve got some love in the audience.”
She has hosted team dinners at her Airbnb and Zach's teammate, David Jenkins Jr., even calls her "Mama Edey." While Julia regularly shows her love for the Boilermakers on social media, Glen keeps a lower profile and does not appear to have public social media accounts.
Julia's public praise includes reposts of Purdue highlights on X and sharing her own excited sentiments and photos — her pinned post on the social media platform is a photo of her and Zach under the Purdue University arch, which was captioned in part, “Dad and I love you to the [moon] and back kiddo."
Though Glen doesn’t spend as much time in the United States as Julia does, he was spotted courtside when Purdue won the Big Ten Championship against Michigan State University in March 2024.
And Purdue has embraced Zach’s Canadian roots — they played both the United States and Canada’s national anthems before a March 2024 game against the University of Wisconsin, and the team competed in Toronto against the University of Alabama in December 2023.
The whole Edey crew came out for the latter game, including Julia’s 91-year-old father. The mom-of-two posted on X that she was “touched beyond words” that her dad “got to see his grandson play live.”
Julia makes merch for her son Zach Edey is presented with a tee shirt from his mother following the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide on December 9, 2023 in Toronto, Canada.Michael Hickey/Getty
Zach is well-known as one of the best players in college basketball, but his mom also knows about the spotlight — she’s a local celebrity in West Lafayette and is often spotted on the Jumbotron.
“You’ll just randomly hear the crowd go crazy, and it’s like, ‘Oh, yup, my mom probably just got on the screen,’ ” Zach told WISHTV.com.
While the extra attention can be weird for both mother and son to comprehend, Zach is ultimately happy to have his mom by his side.
“It’s great to kind of have a friendly face out there," he told the outlet. “I’m in a different country. She’s in a different country. Kind of to have that steady presence is a great thing.”
Though there’s plenty of Zach gear available, Julia has been making merch for her son since his sophomore year and many of the designs include Zach’s nickname, “The Big Maple.”
Before a game in early 2023, Julia tossed him a T-shirt that updated one of her older designs. The crowd cheered after Zach put the new top on, which read “He ain’t just tall, eh?!," per CBS Sports. Then, during the Purdue-Alabama match-up in Toronto, Julia was spotted courtside handing an excited Zach a yellow shirt that read “Welcome to Zach’s House” with a maple leaf in the center.
Julia joined her son at the 2023 ESPY AwardsIn 2023, Zach was nominated for best male college athlete at the ESPY Awards, and he brought his mom along as his date. “We are here!!!” Julia wrote on X. “Red carpet love for Purdue.”
Though the mother-son duo enjoyed their time at the ceremony, there was an awkward realization at the end: the award wasn’t being given out live during the three-hour affair. The off-camera prize ended up going to USC quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams.
Zach took the turn of events in stride, jokingly posting on X, “First time I ever been a finalist for an award that doesn’t exist?”
Julia took up beekeeping and volunteering in her retirement Zach Edey and his mother Julia following a Discount Tire Hall of Fame Series game against the Alabama Crimson Tide on December 09, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Vaughn Ridley/Getty
Julia found a new hobby in her retirement: beekeeping. Initially, the mom-of-two was focused on gardening and she even contemplated opening a nursery, according to Leaside Life.
But, the freshly retired engineer kept coming upon the topic of bees, so one Christmas, Glen gifted her with the book Beekeeping for Dummies. From there, Julia took a beekeeping course and began pursuing it as a hobby at age 50. She now operates three beehives in Canada, sharing the honey with Zach’s team and coaches, and has a bee tattoo on her finger, where she was stung for the first time.
“[Zach is] very supportive but he doesn’t get too involved,” Julia told GoldandBlack.com “I remember him saying [after my beekeeping course], ‘You are making me want to be a beekeeper.’ He thought it was so cool.”
In Indiana, Julia also volunteers with the Food Finders Food Bank and Natalie’s Second Chance Dog Shelter in order to “give back to a community that's been really great to Zach.” For the latter organization, she walks dogs during the winter, and she adopted a pup named Natty, named for the shelter, in 2022.
