National Collegiate Athletic Association
Abbreviation	NCAA
Formation	March 31, 1906 (1906-03-31) (IAAUS)[1] 1910 (NCAA)
Legal status	Association
Headquarters	Indianapolis, Indiana
Region served	United States of America and Canada[2]
Membership	1,281 (schools, conferences or other associations)
President	Mark Emmert
Main organ	Executive Committee
Website	ncaa.org (administrative) ncaa.com (sports)

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is an association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

In August 1973, the current three-division setup of Division I, Division II, and Division III was adopted by the NCAA membership in a special convention. Under NCAA rules, Division I and Division II schools can offer scholarships to athletes for playing a sport. Division III schools may not offer any athletic scholarships. Generally, larger schools compete in Division I and smaller schools in II and III. Division I football was further divided into I-A and I-AA in 1978. Subsequently the term "Division I-AAA" was briefly added to delineate Division I schools which do not field a football program at all, but that term is no longer officially used by the NCAA.^[3] In 2006, Divisions I-A and I-AA were respectively renamed the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).

History[link]

This section requires expansion with: history between 1910 and 1980.

Inter-collegiate sports in the US began in 1852 when crews from Harvard and Yale met in a challenge race in the sport of rowing. As rowing remained the pre-eminent sport in the country into the late-1800's, many of the initial debates about collegiate athletic eligibility and purpose were settled through organizations like the Rowing Association of American Colleges and the Intercollegiate Rowing Association. As other sports emerged, notably football and basketball, many of these same concepts and standards were adopted. Football, in particular, began to emerge as a marquee sport, but the rules of the game itself were in constant flux and often had to be adapted for each contest.

The NCAA dates its formation to two White House conferences convened by President Theodore Roosevelt to "encourage reforms" to college football practices in the early 20th century, which had resulted in repeated injuries and deaths and "prompted many college and universities to discontinue the sport."^[1] Following those White House meetings, Chancellor Henry MacCracken of New York University organized a meeting of 13 colleges and universities to initiate changes; at a follow-on meeting, 62 institutions became charter members of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS).^[1] The IAAUS was officially established on March 31, 1906, and took its present name, the NCAA, in 1910.^[1]

Until the 1980s, the association did not offer women's athletics. Instead an organization named the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) governed women's collegiate sports in the United States. By 1982, however, all divisions of the NCAA offered national championship events for women's athletics and most members of the AIAW joined the NCAA.

In 2009, Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada became the NCAA's first non-US member institution.^[4][5]

Headquarters[link]

The current NCAA headquarters office in Indianapolis

The modern era of the NCAA began in July 1952 when its executive director, Kansas City, Missouri native Walter Byers, moved the organization's headquarters from the LaSalle Hotel in Chicago (where its offices were shared by the headquarters of the Big Ten Conference) to the Fairmount Building at 101 West 11th Street in Downtown Kansas City. The move was intended to separate the NCAA from direct influence of any individual conference and to keep it centrally located.

The Fairmount was a block from Municipal Auditorium which had hosted Final Four games in 1940, 1941 and 1942.

After Byers moved to Kansas City, the championships would be held in Municipal in 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1961, 1964.

The Fairmount office consisted of three rooms with no air conditioning. Byers' staff consisted of four people (an assistant, two secretaries and a bookkeeper).^[6]

In 1964 it moved three blocks away to offices in the Midland Theatre.

In 1973 it moved to 6299 Nall at Shawnee Mission Parkway in suburban Mission, Kansas in a $1.2 million building on 3.4 acres (14,000 m²).

In 1989 it moved six miles (10 km) further south into the suburbs to 6201 College Boulevard in Overland Park, Kansas. The new building was on 11.35 acres (45,900 m²) and had 130,000 square feet (12,000 m²) of space.^[7]

The NCAA was dissatisfied with its Johnson County, Kansas suburban location noting that its location on the south edges of the Kansas City suburbs was more than 40 minutes from Kansas City International Airport. They also noted that the suburban location was not drawing visitors to its new visitors' centre.^[8]

In 1997 it asked for bids for a new headquarters.

Various cities competed for a new headquarters with the two finalists being Kansas City and Indianapolis.

Kansas City proposed to relocate the NCAA back downtown near the Crown Center complex and would locate the visitors' centre in Union Station (Kansas City). However Kansas City's main sports venue Kemper Arena was nearly 30 years old.^[8]

Indianapolis argued that it was in fact more central than Kansas City in that two thirds of the members are east of the Mississippi River.^[8]

Further the 50,000-seat RCA Dome far eclipsed the 17,000-seat Kemper.

In 1999 the NCAA moved its 300 member staff to its new headquarters in the White River State Park in a four-story, 140,000-square-foot (13,000 m²) facility on the west edge of downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. Adjacent to the headquarters is the 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m²) NCAA Hall of Champions.^[9]

Structure[link]

The NCAA's legislative structure is broken down into cabinets and committees, consisting of various representatives of its member schools.^{[citation needed]} These may be broken down further into sub-committees. Legislation is then passed on, which oversees all the cabinets and committees, and also includes representatives from the schools, such as athletic directors and faculty advisors. Management Council legislation goes on to the Board of Directors, which consists of school presidents, for final approval. The NCAA staff provides support, acting as guides, liaison, research and public and media relations. The NCAA stands for the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Sports sanctioned by the NCAA include the following: basketball, baseball (men), softball (women), football (men), cross country, field hockey (women), bowling (women), golf, fencing (coeducational), lacrosse, soccer, gymnastics, rowing (women only), volleyball, ice hockey, water polo, rifle (coeducational), tennis, skiing (coeducational), track and field, swimming and diving, and wrestling (men).

Presidents of NCAA[link]

The NCAA had no full-time administrator until 1951, when Walter Byers was appointed executive director.^[1] In 1998, the title was changed to President.^[10]

• Walter Byers 1951–1988
• Dick Schultz 1988–1993
• Cedric Dempsey 1994–2002^[10]
• Myles Brand 2003–2009^[10][11]
• Jim Isch (interim) 2009–2010^[12]
• Mark A. Emmert 2010–present

Division history[link]

Championships[link]

NCAA National Championship trophies, rings, and watches won by UCLA teams

All sports[link]

The NCAA awards championships in in the following sports:

The NCAA has never sanctioned an official championship in the highest level of football, now known as Division I FBS. Instead, several outside bodies award their own titles; see below.

As of December 2011,^[13] UCLA, Stanford, and University of Southern California have the most NCAA championships; UCLA holds the most, winning a combined 108 team championships in men's and women's sports, with Stanford second, with 103, University of Southern California third with 95, Abilene Christian with 55, and then Oklahoma State with 50.

During the 2008-09 school year, the Pac-10 conference captured 11 NCAA titles, outperforming any other conference. It was followed by the ACC and Big Ten with five championships, and by the Big 12 and SEC conferences with four each.^[14]

The NCAA currently awards 87 national championships yearly; 44 women's, 40 men's, and coed championships for fencing, rifle, and skiing. For every NCAA sanctioned sport other than Division I FBS football, the NCAA awards trophies with gold, silver, and bronze plating for the first, second, and third place teams respectively.^{[citation needed]} In the case of the NCAA basketball tournaments, both semifinalists who did not make the championship game receive bronze plated trophies for third place (prior to 1982 the teams played a "consolation" game to determine third place).^{[citation needed]} Similar trophies are awarded to both semifinalists in the NCAA football tournaments (which are conducted in Division I FCS and both lower divisions), which have never had a third-place game. Winning teams maintain permanent possession of these trophies unless it is later found that they were won via serious rules violations.

Starting with the 2001 season, and again in 2008, the trophies were changed.^{[citation needed]} Starting in the 2007 basketball season, teams that make the Final Four in the Division I tournament receive bronze plated "regional championship" trophies upon winning their Regional Championship. The teams that make the National Championship game receive an additional trophy that is gold plated for the winner and silver plated for the runner-up. Starting in the mid-1990s, the National Champions in men's and women's basketball receive a very elaborate trophy sponsored by Siemens with a black marble base and crystal "neck" with a removable crystal basketball following the presentation of the standard NCAA Championship trophy.

Football Bowl Subdivision[link]

The NCAA does not hold a championship tournament for Division I FBS football. In the past, the "national championship" went to teams that placed first in any of a number of season-ending media polls, most notable the AP Poll of writers and the Coaches Poll. Currently, the Bowl Championship Series—an association of the conferences and independent schools that compete in Division I FBS and four bowl games—has arranged to place the top two teams (based on a formula blending human polls and computer rankings)^[15] into a national title game. The winner of the BCS title game must be ranked first in the final Coaches' Poll and receives the AFCA Coaches' Trophy (presently sponsored by Dr Pepper); since the NCAA awards no national championship for Division I FBS football, this trophy does not say NCAA as other NCAA college sports national championship trophies do. The AP and other organizations are still free to name as national champions other teams than the one that won the BCS championship, although all conferences (and by extension their teams) are contractually agreed to the BCS formula and champion the USA Today Coaches' poll is required to vote the winner of the “BCS National Championship Game” the #1 team in the nation in the final poll. All conferences have sanctioned this practice and championship (with various changes to the present form seen today) for the several contractual periods since 1998.^[16]

Hall of Champions[link]

NCAA 2006 championship banners hang from the ceiling of the NCAA Hall of Champions in Indianapolis

Awards[link]

See also: Academic All-America, Best Female College Athlete ESPY Award,^[17] Best Male College Athlete ESPY Award,^[17] Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, Honda Sports Award, College baseball awards, and Sports Illustrated 2009 all-decade honors (college basketball & football)

See footnote^[18]

The NCAA presents a number of different individual awards, including:

• NCAA Award of Valor (not given every year); selection is based on heroic action occurring in the academic year.
• NCAA Gerald R. Ford Award, honoring an individual who has provided significant leadership as an advocate for intercollegiate athletics.
• NCAA Inspiration Award (not given every year); selection is based on inspirational action.
• NCAA Sportsmanship Award, honoring student-athletes who have demonstrated one or more of the ideals of sportsmanship.
• NCAA Theodore Roosevelt Award, the highest honor that the NCAA confers on an individual.
• NCAA Woman of the Year Award, honoring a senior student-athlete who has distinguished herself throughout her collegiate career in academics, athletics, service and leadership.
• Elite 89 Award, honoring the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA who has reached the competition at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 89 men's and women's championships (in Divisions I, II, and III).
• Silver Anniversary Awards, honoring six distinguished former student-athletes on the 25th anniversary of their college graduation.
• The Flying Wedge Award, one of the NCAA’s highest honors exemplifying outstanding leadership and service to the NCAA.
• Today's Top VIII Award, honoring eight outstanding senior student-athletes.
• Walter Byers Scholarship, honoring the top male and female scholar-athletes.

In previous years, the NCAA has presented the following awards at its NCAA Honors event: Astronaut Salute, Business Leader Salute, Congressional Medal of Honor Salute, Governor Salute, Olympians Salute, Performing Arts Salute, Presidents Cabinet Salute, Prominent National Media Salute, Special Recognition Awards, U.S. House of Representatives Salute, U.S. Senate Salute.^[19]

Conferences[link]

See also: List of NCAA conferences and List of non-NCAA conferences

Division I conferences[link]

Note: Conferences with automatic entry to the Bowl Championship Series are denoted with an asterisk (*).

Note: Conferences within the Football Bowl Subdivision but not the BCS are denoted with a pound sign (#).

Division I FCS football-only conferences[link]

• Missouri Valley Football Conference
• Pioneer Football League

Division I hockey-only conferences[link]

• Atlantic Hockey
• Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA)
• College Hockey America
• ECAC Hockey
• Hockey East
• Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA)

Division II conferences[link]

See: List of NCAA conferences#Division II

Division III conferences[link]

See: List of NCAA conferences#Division III

Media[link]

The NCAA has current media rights contracts with CBS Sports, CBS College Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN Plus, and Turner Sports for coverage of its 88 championships. According to the official NCAA website,^[20] ESPN and its associated networks have rights to 21 championships, CBS to 67, and Turner Sports to one. The following are the most prominent championships and rightsholders:

• CBS: Men's basketball (NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, with Turner Sports, and NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Tournament), track and field, ice hockey (women's division I)
• ESPN: Women's basketball (all divisions), baseball, softball, ice hockey (men's division I), football (all divisions including Div. I FCS), soccer (division I for both sexes)
• Turner Sports: NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament with CBS

Westwood One has exclusive radio rights to the men's and women's basketball Final Fours to the men's College World Series (baseball). DirecTV has an exclusive package expanding CBS' coverage of the men's basketball tournament.

Video games based on popular NCAA sports such as football and basketball are licensed by Electronic Arts.

Football television controversy[link]

In the late 1940s there were only two colleges in the country with a national TV contract, a considerable source of revenue. In 1951, the NCAA voted to prohibit any live TV broadcast of college football games during the season. No sooner had the NCAA voted to ban television than public outcry forced it to retreat. Instead, the NCAA voted to restrict the number of televised games for each team to stop the slide in gate attendance. Harold Stassen, president of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), defied the monopoly and signed a $200,000 contract with ABC. Eventually, Penn was forced to back down when the NCAA threatened to expel the Quakers from the association.

By the 1980s, televised college football had become a much larger source of income for the NCAA. If the television contracts the NCAA had with ABC, CBS, and ESPN had remained in effect for the 1984 season, they would have generated US$73.6 million for the Association and its members. In September 1981, the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma and the University of Georgia Athletic Association filed suit against the NCAA in district court in Oklahoma. The plaintiffs stated that the NCAA's football television plan constituted price fixing, output restraints, boycott, and monopolizing, all of which were illegal under the Sherman Act. The NCAA argued that its pro-competitive and non-commercial justifications for the plan—-protection of live gate, maintenance of competitive balance among NCAA member institutions and creation of a more attractive "product" to compete with other forms of entertainment—-combined to make the plan reasonable.

In September 1982, the district court found in favor of the plaintiffs, ruling that the plan violated antitrust laws. It enjoined the Association from enforcing the contract. The NCAA appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court, but lost in 1984 in the 7-2 ruling NCAA v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Oklahoma.^[21]

Eligibility[link]

To participate in college athletics in the freshmen year the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) states that students must meet three requirements; graduate from high school, complete the minimum required academic courses, and have qualifying grade-point average (GPA) and SAT or ACT scores.^[22]

The 16 academic credits are four courses in English, two courses in math, two classes in social science, two in natural or physical science, and one additional course in English, math, natural or physical science, or another academic course such as foreign language.^[23]

To meet the requirements for grade point average and SAT scores students the lowest possible GPA a student may be eligible with is a 1.700 with an SAT score of 1400. The lowest SAT score a student may be eligible with is 700 with a GPA of 2.500.^[22]

As of 2011, a high school student may sign a letter of intent to enter and play football for a college only after the first Wednesday in February.^[24] In August 2011, the NCAA announced plans to raise academic requirements for postseason competition, including its two most prominent competitions, football's Bowl Championship Series and the Men's Division I Basketball Championship; the new requirement, which are based on an "academic progress rate" that measures retention and graduation rates, and is calculated on a four-year, rolling basis.^[25] The changes raise the rate from 900 to 930, which represents a 50% graduation rate.^[25]

Rules violations[link]

Member schools pledge to follow the rules promulgated by the NCAA. Creation of a mechanism to enforce the NCAA's legislation occurred in 1952 after careful consideration by the membership.

Allegations of rules violations are referred to the NCAA's investigative staff. A preliminary investigation is initiated to determine if an official inquiry is warranted and to categorize any resultant violations as secondary or major. If several violations are found, the NCAA may determine that the school as a whole has exhibited a "lack of institutional control." The institution involved is notified promptly and may appear in its own behalf before the NCAA Committee on Infractions.

Findings of the Committee on Infractions and the resultant sanctions in major cases are reported to the institution. Sanctions will generally include having the institution placed on "probation" for a period of time, in addition to other penalties. The institution may appeal the findings or sanctions to an appeals committee. After considering written reports and oral presentations by representatives of the Committee on Infractions and the institution, the committee acts on the appeal. Action may include accepting the infractions committee's findings and penalty, altering either, or making its own findings and imposing an appropriate penalty. The current longest running period of sanctions belongs to the University of Alabama (at Tuscaloosa). Sanctions at Alabama cover all major sports and will expire in June 2012 (extending the record for 17 years upon being penalized in 1995).

In cases of particularly egregious misconduct, the NCAA has the power to ban a school from participating in a particular sport, a penalty known as the "Death Penalty". Since 1985, any school that commits major violations during the probationary period can be banned from the sport involved for up to two years. However, when the NCAA opts not to issue a death penalty for a repeat violation, it must explain why it didn't do so. This penalty has only been imposed three times in its modern form, most notably when Southern Methodist University's football team had its 1987 season canceled due to massive rules violations dating back more than a decade. SMU opted not to field a team in 1988 as well due to the aftershocks from the sanctions, and the program has never recovered; it has only two winning seasons and one bowl appearance since then. The devastating effect the death penalty had on SMU has reportedly made the NCAA skittish about issuing another one. Since the SMU case, there are only three instances where the NCAA has seriously considered imposing it against a Division I school; it imposed it against Division II Morehouse College's men's soccer team in 2003 and Division III MacMurray College's men's tennis team in 2005.

Additionally, in particularly egregious cases of rules violations, coaches, athletic directors and athletic support staff can be barred from working for any NCAA member school without permission from the NCAA. This procedure is known as a "show-cause penalty" (not to be confused with an order to show cause in the legal sense).^[26] Theoretically, a school can hire someone with a "show cause" on their record during the time the show cause order is in effect only with permission from the NCAA Infractions Committee. The school assumes the risks and stigma of hiring such a person. It may then end up being sanctioned by the NCAA and the Infractions Committee for their choice, possibly losing athletic scholarships, revenue from schools who would not want to compete with that other school, and the ability for their games to be televised, along with restrictions on recruitment and practicing times. As a result, a show-cause order usually has the effect of blackballing individuals from being hired for the duration of the order.

Currently, Dave Bliss, former basketball coach at Baylor University, has the longest show cause order. As a result of his involvement in serious rules violations, Bliss is effectively banned from coaching at the major college level until the 2015-16 season.

Division I-FBS institutions on probation[link]

The following Division I Football Bowl Subdivision institutions are currently on probation by the NCAA in one or more sports:^{[27][Full citation needed][28]}

Division I-FCS institutions on probation[link]

The following Division I-FCS institutions are currently on probation by the NCAA in one or more sports:^[27]

Division I non-football institutions on probation[link]

The following Division I non-football institutions are currently on probation by the NCAA in one or more sports:^[27]

Division II institutions on probation[link]

The following Division II institutions are currently on probation by the NCAA in one or more sports:^[27]

Division III institutions on probation[link]

The following Division III institutions are currently on probation by the NCAA in one or more sports:^[27]

Subsidiaries[link]

The NCAA runs the officiating software company ArbiterSports, based in Sandy, Utah, a joint venture between two subsidiaries of the NCAA, Arbiter LLC and eOfficials LLC. The NCAA has said their objective is for the venture to help improve the fairness, quality and consistency of officiating across amateur athletics.^[29][30]

Sponsors[link]

• AT&T, Coca-Cola and CapitalOne are NCAA Corporate Champions. Other sponsors are NCAA Corporate Partners.^[31]

Criticisms[link]

This article's Criticism or Controversy section may compromise the article's neutral point of view of the subject. Please integrate the section's contents into the article as a whole, or rewrite the material. (August 2011)

Numerous criticisms have been lodged against the NCAA. These include:

• The creators of South Park in the episode "Crack Baby Athletic Association" (s15e05)[1]
• Several people, notably including former Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly, and NPR's Frank Deford, have criticized the NCAA for its inflexibility.^[32][33]
• Former NCAA President Walter Byers in his book Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Exploiting College Athletes refers to the NCAA's operation by stating that "Today the NCAA Presidents Commission is preoccupied with tightening a few loose bolts in a worn machine, firmly committed to the neo-plantation belief that the enormous proceeds from college games belong to the overseers (administrators) and supervisors (coaches). The plantation workers performing in the arena may only receive those benefits authorized by the overseers."
• Following losing the 1953 case The University of Denver v Nemeth, where it was found that a student and athlete was owed workers' compensation, it has been argued^{[by whom?]} that the NCAA created the term "student-athlete". This was done according to Andrew Zimbalist in his book Unpaid Professionals (1999) to prevent similar future litigation losses.
• In 2007, the case of White et al. v NCAA was brought by former NCAA student-athletes Jason White, Brian Pollack, Jovan Harris and Chris Craig as a class action lawsuit. They argued that the NCAA's current limits on a full scholarship or Grant in Aid was a violation of federal antitrust laws. Their reasoning was that in the absence of such a limit, NCAA member schools would be free to offer any financial aid packages they desired to recruit the student and athlete. The NCAA settled before a ruling by the court, by agreeing to set up the Former Student-Athlete Fund to "assist qualified candidates applying for receipt of career development expenses and/or reimbursement of educational expenses under the terms of the agreement with plaintiffs in a federal antitrust lawsuit." More information about this settlement is available at NCAA^[34]
• The National Collegiate Players Association (NCPA) is a group started by former UCLA football players with the purpose of organizing student-athletes. Their goal is to change NCAA rules they view as unjust. Today, this continues by doing the following:

1. Raising the scholarship amount
2. Holding schools responsible for their players' sports-related medical injuries
3. Increasing graduation rates.^[35]

Other collegiate athletic organizations[link]

The NCAA is the dominant, but not the only, collegiate athletic organization in the United States. Several other such organizations exist.

In the United States[link]

• National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA)
• National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA)
• National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA)
• United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA)
• Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) – disbanded in 1982, after the NCAA began sponsoring championships in women's sports

Foreign intercollegiate/interuniversity equivalents[link]

• British Universities & Colleges Sport
• Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS)
• Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA)
• National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) (NCAA) and University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) for Philippines (among other leagues)

International governing body[link]

• International University Sports Federation (FISU) (Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire)

See also[link]

• Academic Progress Rate
• College athletics
• College rivalries
• Collegiate Club Sports
• Higher education in the United States
• List of college athletic programs by U.S. state
• List of college sports team nicknames
• List of U.S. college mascots
• Prime Time League

References[link]

External links[link]

• NCAA official site
• NCAA administrative website
• NCAA student information website

v t e National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA Awards Hall of Champions Conferences Division I sports and championships Institutions Athletic directors Baseball (Championship, CWS) Basketball (Men, Women) Women's bowling Boxing Cross country (Men, Women) Fencing (Team, Individual) Women's field hockey Football (FBS / BCS, FCS) Golf (Men, Women) Gymnastics (Men, Women) Ice hockey (Men, Women) Lacrosse (Men, Women) Rifle Rowing (Women's Championship) Skiing Soccer (Men, Women) Softball (Championship, CWS) Swimming and diving (Men, Women) Tennis (Men, Women) Track and field (Men's indoor and outdoor, Women's indoor and outdoor) Volleyball (Men, Women) Water polo (Men, Women) Wrestling (Championship) Division II Institutions Baseball (CWS) Basketball (Men, Women) Football (Championship) Soccer (Men) Softball (CWS) Division III Institutions Baseball (CWS) Basketball (Men, Women) Football (Championship) Soccer (Men) Softball (CWS)

James "Boobie" Miles (born April 16, 1970 in Houston, Texas) was a high school football tail back, and was a primary subject in the book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger, and the movie inspired by the book. He attended Permian High School in Odessa, Texas.

Miles is a major figure in Bissinger's book as one of the top high school running backs in Texas. He was sought by dozens of top college football schools, but his promising career was derailed by a knee injury.

Early life[link]

Miles was born en route to St. Luke's Hospital in Houston with a police escort on April 16, 1970. He lived with his parents until he was three when his mother left him with his maternal grandmother in Houston and moved permanently to Oklahoma without him. Around the age of five Miles went to live with his father, James Sr. The elder Miles was working two jobs, as a truck driver and printing-plant laborer. His father lost custody of Boobie when he started dating a woman who, Boobie claims, physically harmed him. He was placed in a foster home in the Houston area, and eight months later he was put in the care of his uncle L.V. Miles in Odessa, Texas. The two shared the house with L.V.'s wife, Ruby, and her three daughters.^[1]

Miles started playing football for the Vikings, a Pop Warner football team that L.V. coached.^[1]

High school football career[link]

In 1987 Miles rushed for 1,385 yards. Expectations were high every year at Permian High School and in 1988 the Associated Press, in its preseason predictions, had chosen Permian to win the state title based partly on the play of Miles.^[1] From the spring through the early fall of '88 Miles was heavily recruited by numerous top football schools. Letters came from Notre Dame, Nebraska, Houston, Texas A&M, Clemson, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, LSU, SMU, UCLA and Arkansas.

However in a pre-season scrimmage against the Amarillo Palo Duro Dons, Miles' leg was caught in the artificial turf when he planted his left leg to stiff-arm a tackler; another player then fell on it from the side. The next day he was examined by a local doctor. The initial diagnoses of the injury was that is was only a sprained ligament. Four days later an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Thurston E. Dean, examined Miles and felt the injury was severe enough to require arthroscopic surgery. The surgery was performed the day before Permian's season opener against El Paso Austin.^[1] Miles had severely torn the anterior cruciate ligament. He had also torn the cartilage in his left knee. Miles was given the option of immediate reconstructive surgery, which Dean had recommended, or a program of rehabilitation. Rehab would allow Miles to play football with a knee brace. Both Boobie and L.V. opted for the brace.

Miles returned against Abilene High School, however left the game limping with a cramp after only a handful of carries. The next week against Midland Lee High School, Permian lost, with Miles threatening to quit the team at halftime for his lack of playing time.^[1] Miles spent the rest of the season on bench, and in November 1988 Dean performed reconstructive surgery on his knee. After rehabilitation from the surgery Miles lost much of the speed that had made him an effective running back.

After his injury Miles was the target of racial epithets and was told he "should be shot like an animal" after being injured.^[2] After a fight with L.V., Miles moved out and with Chris Comer taking his place at running back, Miles did not play for Permian High School again.^[1]

[edit] Friday Night Lights

In 1990 a non-fiction book written by H. G. Bissinger follows the story of the 1988 Permian High School Panthers football team from Odessa as they made a run towards the Texas state championship. Miles was a key figure in the book. In 2002, Sports Illustrated named Friday Night Lights the fourth-greatest book ever written about sports.^[3]

A movie version of Friday Night Lights was made and then released in the United States on October 6, 2004. It starred Billy Bob Thornton as Permian Coach Gary Gaines. The film was a box office and critical success and, in turn, spawned an NBC television series of the same name, which began airing in October 2006. Boobie was played by Derek Luke.

After high school[link]

Miles attended Ranger College for a year and played as a fullback before flunking out and has since had trouble holding jobs. He then spent some time playing semi-pro football in Culpepper, Virginia though he was never able to regain his high school form or confidence in his ability. He regrets trying to play on his injured knee before having surgery to repair it.^[4]

He has two children who live in Midland with their mother. As of August 2009 Miles lives in Dallas and is not working. In May 2009, he was charged with aggravated assault. Police said he struck his stepbrother repeatedly in the head with a beer bottle. He received a sentence of five years' deferred probation in district court. The charge will be dismissed if he successfully completes probation.^[5]

In 2012, Buzz Bissinger published a 34 page afterward called After Friday Night Lights^[6], which has Bissinger visiting with Miles and discussing their 25 year friendship.

References[link]

External links[link]

	Texas portal
	Biography portal
	American football portal

• Official Friday Night Lights Book Website
• Salgado blocked for famous Boobie Miles in Odessa
• West Texas Prep Hero Is Striving For New Lease On Life
• 1987 Permian vs. Arlington Video
• Friday Night Lights: Twenty Years After Their Iconic Season, Where are They Now?

Jimmer Fredette

Fredette in March 2011
No. 7 – Sacramento Kings
Guard
Personal information
Born	(1989-02-25) February 25, 1989 (age 23) Glens Falls, New York
Nationality	American
High school	Glens Falls
Listed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight	195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
College	Brigham Young
NBA Draft	2011 / Round: 1 / Pick: 10th overall
Selected by the Milwaukee Bucks
Career highlights and awards
Professional Collegiate Awards 2011 Naismith Award 2011 Oscar Robertson Trophy 2011 Adolph Rupp Trophy 2011 John R. Wooden Award 2011 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award 2011 Best Male College Athlete ESPY Award Honors 2011 National Player of the Year 2011 MWC Player of the Year 15X MWC Player of the Week[1] 4X Tournament MVP (2011 MWC Championship, 2010 South Padre Island Invitational, 2009 Las Vegas Classic, 2009 Fiesta Bowl Classic) Records BYU: Most Points Scored (game) (52 pts)[2] Most Points Scored (season) (1068) Most Points Scored (career) (2599) Most Free Throws Made (game) (23) Most Free Throws Made (season) (252) Most Free Throws Made (career) (627) Most Field Goals Made (game) (22) Most Field Goals Made (season) (346) Most Three-Point FGs Made (game) (9) Most Three-Point FGs Made (season) (124) Most Three-Point FGs Made (career) (296) Most 30-point games (career) (24) Most 40-point games (career) (6) MWC: Most Points Scored (game) (52) Most Points Scored (season) (1068) Most Points Scored (career) (2599) Most Field Goals Made (season) (346) Most Field Goals Made (career) (838) Most Three-Point FGs Made (career) (296)

James Taft "Jimmer" Fredette^[3][4] (born February 25, 1989) is an American professional basketball player with the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association. He gained national fame during his collegiate career at Brigham Young University, where he was the leading scorer in all of NCAA Division I basketball during his senior season and earned every major National Player of the Year honor, including the Wooden Award,^[5] the Naismith Award,^[6] the Adolph Rupp Trophy,^[7] and the Oscar Robertson Trophy.^[8] Fredette is a native of Glens Falls, New York.^[9]

Early life[link]

James Taft Fredette was born in Glens Falls, New York^[10] to parents Al and Kay Fredette, as the youngest of three children.^[9] His mother wanted to call him something unique and nicknamed him "Jimmer".

From his early childhood, Jimmer showed unusual dedication to athletics. His older brother TJ recalled, "He was the most determined, competitive four-year-old I had ever seen." TJ helped Jimmer train for his basketball career since before kindergarten.^[11] He regularly played with TJ, seven years older, and TJ's friends on the family's backyard court. Fredette was able to hit three-pointers at age 5, and developed moves to get around his larger opponents. TJ also remembered that his brother "willed himself to find ways to win, even if he was physically outmatched. From the time he was 10, I was telling everybody he was going to make the NBA."^[12]

Other family members assisted Fredette in his development. His father, a financial adviser, introduced Jimmer to schoolyard competition against adults at age 8. As Jimmer developed, his father took him on occasional road trips to Hartford and New York City for more intense competition, and also helped to coach his AAU teams. His mother allowed him to bounce basketballs throughout the house, and even built a dribbling studio for him in their basement. Her brother Lee Taft, a personal trainer who now operates a speed training school in Indianapolis, started him on running drills as a 5-year-old, and still works with Fredette.^[12]

Jimmer also has an older sister, Lindsay, Miss Teen New York 1998.^[13] Fredette's father became a Mormon at the age of 18 after meeting missionary Kimball Rogers—the father of Fredette's BYU teammate Stephen Rogers^[14]— while his mother is a Catholic. Fredette, along with his two older siblings, chose to become Mormon after their parents allowed them to choose their religion.^[9]

High school career[link]

Fredette was ranked among the nation's top 75 shooting guards by ESPN.com in high school. He is Section II's and Glens Falls High School's all-time leading scorer, ranking 6th on New York's all-time scoring list, with 2,404 points.^[15] Fredette was named first-team all-state by the New York State Sportswriters Association and the Times Union as a junior and senior. He had several memorable on court moments in his career at Glens Falls, including 12 different 40 point performances in his senior season,^{[citation needed]} and a shot against Voorheesville High School in the season opener of his junior year in which he banked a three pointer off the glass and in with his opposite hand to force overtime at the end of regulation^{[citation needed]}. In his senior season Fredette led his team to a 25–2 record and the Class A State Championship game which they lost 58 to 48 to a Peekskill High School team led by current Syracuse University forward Mookie Jones. He played AAU for the Albany City Rocks alongside current Penn State University point guard Talor Battle.^[16] Fredette averaged 25 points per game to help the Rocks to a third-place win over the Minnesota Magic at the 2006 AAU National Championships.^[17] He also lit up the Sportsfest Tournament at Cedar Beach in Allentown, PA during a prestigious outdoor summer tournament. His performance included four three-pointers in the first half of the championship game fighting against 10–15 mph gusts of wind.^{[citation needed]}

Despite his high school accolades, he went largely unnoticed by the traditional "basketball powers".^[12] He received offers from 12 schools^[18] and ultimately chose to attend BYU,^[18] which was sister Lindsay's alma mater and the flagship school of the LDS Church.^[12]

College career[link]

Fredette played basketball collegiately at Brigham Young University from 2007–2011. He wore jersey number 32 and was an American Studies major in college.

Freshman year[link]

Fredette played in all 35 games for the Cougars as a true freshman, helping BYU earn a 27–8 record and capture the Mountain West Conference Championship. He averaged 18.5 minutes, 7.0 points, 1.7 assists, 1.1 rebounds per game, and was the team's fifth-leading scorer.^[17]

^[19]

Sophomore year[link]

Fredette played in all 33 games of his sophomore season starting 32 of them. He was second on the team in scoring (16.2), three-point shooting percentage (.382), three-point makes (52), and free throw percentage (.847), and first in steals (1.5) and assists (4.1). He scored in double figures 29 times and had 20-plus points 8 times. Fredette led the team in scoring 10 times, assists 19 times, and was named first team all Mountain West.^[17] Fredette became BYU's first point guard to earn first-team all-conference honors since Marty Haws in 1990.

Junior year[link]

On December 28, 2009, Jimmer Fredette scored 49 points against the Arizona Wildcats, setting a new BYU record and a new McKale Center record for points scored in a single game.^[20]

On March 11, 2010, Fredette scored 45 points, shooting 10-for-23 from the field, and making 23-of-24 free throws, in his team's 95–85 win over TCU. His scoring broke the Mountain West Conference tournament and tournament single-game records. His free throw shooting broke the MWC tournament record for free throws in a single game.^[21]

On March 18, 2010, Fredette helped secure BYU's first round win in the NCAA tournament. He went on to score 37 points and hit two 3-pointers in double-overtime to seal the Cougars' 99–92 win over 10th-seeded Florida, the first time they had reached the second round of the tournament in 17 years. In doing so, he tied a BYU record for most points scored in an NCAA tournament game. (Danny Ainge, 1981) .^[22]

Fredette considered foregoing his senior year and entering the draft after his junior year, and he was expected to be picked 25th to 30th, but in the end he decided to stay at BYU and play his senior year.

Senior year[link]

Fredette was named co-captain of his team alongside Jackson Emery and Logan Magnusson.^[23] He was the top-ranked point guard in the nation according to Rivals.com^[24] and led the nation in points per game despite frequently being double- or triple-teamed, which allowed him to open up shots for his teammates.^[25]

Fredette scored a season-high 47 points in BYU's road victory over archrival Utah on January 11, 2011, scoring 32 in the first half including a 40-foot buzzer beater to end the first half. He finished with 16–28 on shooting along with 4 rebounds and 6 assists. He also scored 39 against UNLV on January 5, 2011 and 33 in a rematch against the same University of Arizona team he scored 49 against his junior season.

On December 8, 2010, he returned to his hometown of Glens Falls, in what was dubbed "The Hometown Classic," to play Vermont in the Glens Falls Civic Center, scoring 26 and attracting a crowd of 6,300, nearly half of Glens Falls' population of 14,354.

On January 26, 2011, in the Mountain West Conference's first battle of top-10 teams, which attracted a crowd of over 22,700 at BYU's Marriott Center, Jimmer scored 43 points against previously undefeated San Diego State, ending the game in a 71–58 victory. This was his third game this season to score over 40 points. When BYU played on the road in San Diego, BYU dealt SDSU its only other loss that season, with an 80–67 victory in which Fredette had 25 points, 9 assists and 3 rebounds.

He became the Mountain West Conference's all-time leading scorer on Feb 5, 2011 with a 29-point performance versus UNLV in the Marriott Center.

On March 7, 2011, Fredette was named both the Mountain West Conference's player of the year and the CBSSports.com National Player of the Year.^[26] He was among the final ten candidates for the Bob Cousy Award.^[27]

On March 11, 2011, in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Championship Tournament, Fredette broke BYU's career scoring record, passing Danny Ainge, and set the school's single game scoring record with a career-high 52 point game against New Mexico, to whom BYU had lost twice in the regular season. He also set BYU's record for most points in one half by scoring 33 points in the first half of the game.^[28]

On March 17, 2011, Fredette led 3rd-seeded BYU's scoring in the first round of the NCAA tournament with 32 points, leading the Cougars to a 74–66 victory over 14th-seeded Wofford, and the second consecutive year BYU would advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament.^[29]

On March 19, 2011, Fredette again led BYU's scoring with 34 points as they defeated 11th-seeded Gonzaga 89–67, and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament (Sweet Sixteen) for the first time since 1981, falling to the Florida Gators (in overtime) in a rematch of the game from last year.^[30]

He was picked to the First Team All-America by Fox Sports.^[31]

^[32]

For his senior year performance, Fredette was nigh unanimously named the 2011 national player of the year, being so named by the Associated Press,^[33] Basketball Times,^[34] CBSSports.com,^[35] the National Association of Basketball Coaches,^[6] SI.com,^[35] Athlon Sports,^[36] and Sporting News. He was also awarded the 2011 Best Male College Athlete ESPY Award.^[37]

Display in an Orem, Utah, Walmart promoting "Jimmermania"

After BYU's nationally televised game against San Diego State in which Fredette scored 43 points, the media attention around Jimmer became significant. Fredette gained "pop culture lore,"^[38] and his name became a verb—opponents on whom he scored large amounts of points were considered "Jimmered."^[39] His image appeared in on one of the regional covers for Sports Illustrated for the 2011 NCAA tournament preview issue.^[40]

YouTube became replete with highlight reels and tribute songs about Fredette (e.g., "Teach Me How to Jimmer");^[39] in February 2011 BYU student Michelle Peralta, who chastised people for "worshiping" Jimmer via the campus newspaper and Facebook, was inundated by comments from hundreds of Fredette supporters, the popular media declaring that "Michelle Peralta got Jimmered."^[41]

While revealing his NCAA Tournament Brackets, President Barack Obama said of Fredette: "Unbelievable. Best scorer obviously in the country. Great talent."^[42]

Professional career[link]

On June 23, 2011, Fredette was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 10th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. He was subsequently traded to the Sacramento Kings in a deal with Milwaukee and the Charlotte Bobcats involving John Salmons, Beno Udrih, Shaun Livingston, Corey Maggette, Stephen Jackson and the No. 10 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.^[43]

Fredette made his rookie debut in a preseason game against the Golden State Warriors on December 17, 2011, scoring 21 points (tied for team high) and recording 4 rebounds.^[44][45] He got his first start on January 10, 2012 against the Philadelphia 76ers.^[46] His 2011–2012 salary is $2,238,360.^[47] Fredette notched his first 20 point night on January 21, 2012, in a game against the Memphis Grizzlies. In the blowout loss, he played 33 minutes, shooting 5–13 from the field, 3–6 from the three point line, and 7–8 from the free throw line. Fredette also had 6 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal.

NBA career statistics[link]

NBA regular season[link]

Playing style and personality[link]

In a January 2011 article, Sports Illustrated writer Kelli Anderson said about Fredette's playing style,

He has even been noted by several collegiate and NBA players across the country. Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder posted on his Twitter account that "Jimmer Fredette is the greatest scorer in the world!",^[49] while Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns tweeted "Jimmer Fredette? That name's straight out of Hoosiers. No wonder he never misses."^[50] Jared Sullinger, a forward at Ohio State University, said "Jimmer is going off right now. Pure scorer."^[51]

Other facets of his personality have been noted by other college coaches. Former Utah Utes coach Jim Boylen has cited "swagger and confidence" as Fredette's biggest weapons, and Villanova's Jay Wright has also remarked favorably on Fredette's on-court aggressiveness, comparing him to Pete Maravich in that respect. However, according to Anderson, Fredette "is fiercely competitive while remaining unassuming and likable," noting that Arizona coach Sean Miller hugged Fredette after he scored 49 on the Wildcats, and the Utah fans who saw Fredette score 47 on the Utes in January 2011 gave him an ovation as he left the court.^[48]

Jimmer describes his older brother TJ as his biggest fan and supporter. TJ, whose song "Amazing" was written for his brother, said, "I see him play, and it gives me chills sometimes when he hits some of those big shots and the crowd is going crazy."^[52]

In an article published in Sports Illustrated, Marcus Morris, a forward at Kansas, noted the work ethic and moral character Fredette exhibited while at USA Basketball camp. He said, "He’s got heart. You can see he has a feel for the game, and he can shoot it from anywhere. Even if you try to box-and-one the guy, he brings it up and just pulls up from the hashmark. That’s tough to guard."^[40]

An unusual set of Fredette fans reside in the Mount McGregor Correctional Facility, a medium security prison, where he and his older brother played games with the inmates. Fredette credits these experiences as helping with his focus in rough situations.^[53][54]

Personal life[link]

On August 26, 2011, Fredette announced his engagement to BYU cheerleader Whitney Wonnacott on Twitter,^[55] and will be married on June 1, 2012 in the Denver LDS Temple.^[56]

See also[link]

• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season scoring leaders
• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career scoring leaders
• 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

References[link]