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- 1948 BAA Draft
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1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same year since 1924, and place them in alternating even-numbered years, beginning in 1994. The 1992 Summer Games were the last to be staged in the same year as the Winter Games. Due to the end of the Cold War, these games were the first without boycotts since 1972.
Barcelona, the birthplace of then-IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, was selected over Amsterdam, Belgrade, Birmingham, Brisbane and Paris in Lausanne, Switzerland, on October 17, 1986, during the 91st IOC Session. It had bid for the 1936 Summer Olympics, losing out to Berlin.
See the medal winners, ordered by sport:
169 nations sent athletes to compete in these Games (the number of competitors for each country below is given in brackets). With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, twelve states formed a Unified Team, while the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had their own teams. For the first time, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina competed as independent nations after separation from Socialist Yugoslavia. Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was banned due to UN sanctions, but individual Yugoslav athletes were allowed to take part as Independent Olympic Participants. It was also the first Olympics since 1964 that a unified Germany competed at the Olympics. This was the Olympic debut for Namibia and the unified team of Yemen, after several separate participations of North and South Yemen. South Africa returned to the Games after 32 years. Four National Olympic Committees didn't send their athletes to compete: Afghanistan, Brunei, Liberia and Somalia.
wn.com/1992_Summer_Olympics -
Seoul
Seoul (Korean pronunciation: [sʌ.ul] (
listen), English /soʊl/), officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world. The Seoul National Capital Area is the world's second largest metropolitan area with over 25 million inhabitants, which includes the surrounding Incheon metropolis and Gyeonggi province. Almost a quarter of South Koreans live in Seoul, half of South Koreans live in the metropolitan area, along with over 275,000 international residents.
Located in the Han River, Seoul has been a major settlement for over 2,000 years, with its foundation dating back to 18 B.C. when Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, established its capital in what is now south-east Seoul. It continued as the capital of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty and the Korean Empire. The Seoul National Capital Area is home to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeokgung, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty.
wn.com/Seoul -
Slovenia
Slovenia (
i/sloʊˈviːniə/ sloh-VEE-nee-ə, Slovene: Slovenija), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija, 
[reˈpublika sloˈveːnija]) is a Slavic nation state, situated in South-Central Europe, at the crossroad of main European cultural and trade routes. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south and southeast, and Hungary to the northeast. It covers 20,273 square kilometres (7,827 sq mi) and has a population of 2.05 million. It is a parliamentary republic, member of the European Union and NATO. Relative to its geography, history, economy, culture, and language, it is a very diverse country distinguished by a transitional character. It is characterised by a high economic and social level. Its capital and largest city is Ljubljana.
The territory of Slovenia is mainly hilly or mountainous and has an exceptionally high landscape and biological diversity and a mosaic structure, which are a result of natural attributes and the long-lasting presence of humans. Four major European geographic units interweave here: the Alps, the Dinaric Alps, the Mediterranean, with a small portion of coastline along the Adriatic Sea, and the Pannonian Plain. The climate is temperate and significantly influenced by the variety of territory, with a strong interaction of the continental climate, the sub-Mediterranean climate and Alpine climate across most of the country. The country is one of the water-richest in Europe, with a dense river network, a rich aquifer system, and significant karstic underground watercourses. Over half of the territory is covered by forest.
wn.com/Slovenia -
Stanford University
Coordinates: 37°26′N 122°10′W / 37.43°N 122.17°W / 37.43; -122.17
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is an American private research university located in Stanford, California on an 8,180-acre (3,310 ha) campus near Palo Alto, California, United States. It is situated in the northwestern Silicon Valley, approximately 20 miles (32 km) northwest of San Jose and 37 miles (60 km) southeast of San Francisco.
Leland Stanford, a Californian railroad tycoon and politician, and his wife Jane Lathrop Stanford founded the university in 1891 in honor of their son, Leland Stanford, Jr., who died of typhoid two months before his 16th birthday. The university was established as a coeducational and nondenominational institution, but struggled financially after the senior Stanford's 1893 death and after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Following World War II, Provost Frederick Terman supported faculty and graduates' entrepreneurialism to build self-sufficient local industry in what would become known as Silicon Valley. By 1970, Stanford was home to a linear accelerator, was one of the original four ARPANET nodes, and had transformed itself into a major research university in computer science, mathematics, natural sciences, and social sciences.
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United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
wn.com/United_States -
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical style. It has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he (with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe) expanded the building outward, creating two colonnades that were meant to conceal stables and storage.
In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior. Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed house in October 1817. Construction continued with the addition of the South Portico in 1824 and the North in 1829. Because of crowding within the executive mansion itself, President Theodore Roosevelt had all work offices relocated to the newly constructed West Wing in 1901. Eight years later, President William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing and created the first Oval Office which was eventually moved as the section was expanded. The third-floor attic was converted to living quarters in 1927 by augmenting the existing hip roof with long shed dormers. A newly constructed East Wing was used as a reception area for social events; Jefferson's colonnades connected the new wings. East Wing alterations were completed in 1946, creating additional office space. By 1948, the house's load-bearing exterior walls and internal wood beams were found to be close to failure. Under Harry S. Truman, the interior rooms were completely dismantled and a new internal load-bearing steel frame constructed inside the walls. Once this work was completed, the interior rooms were rebuilt.
wn.com/White_House
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Acie Law
Acie Law IV (born January 25, 1985) is an American professional basketball player who plays for Olympiacos in Greece. In his four seasons at Texas A&M University, Law scored 1,653 points and was credited with 540 assists. Nicknamed "Captain Clutch" for his ability to take over the game late, Law is well known among Aggie basketball fans for "The Shot," his buzzer-beating 3-pointer to beat the arch-rival Texas Longhorns at Reed Arena on March 1, 2006, as well as for his play in the Aggies' stunning 69–66 upset win against Kansas on February 3, 2007. Due to his contributions to Texas A&M, the Texas A&M athletic department decided to hang Law's No. 1 jersey on the rafters in Reed Arena. He became the first Aggie in any sport to have the honor.
Acie Law IV was born in Dallas, Texas to Acie and Dolores Law. He was named for his great-grandfather (Acie Law, Sr.), whom he never met; his grandfather (Acie Law, Jr.), who died in 1997 after suffering a heart attack from the excitement of watching a boxing match with young Acie IV; and his father, Acie III, who played point guard at Xavier University. Law has an older brother and two younger sisters. Law is the great-nephew of Chicago Cubs great Ernie Banks. Law has a tattoo on his right arm that reads "Lord's Favorite Lawman," and one on his left arm that is from Psalms 91 and 93.
wn.com/Acie_Law -
Adam Morrison
Adam John Morrison (born July 19, 1984) is an American basketball player who last played for Beşiktaş Milangaz in Turkey.
Morrison played for three years at Gonzaga University and was considered to be one of the top college basketball players in 2005–06. He was a finalist for the Naismith and the Wooden Award. He was named Co-Player of the Year with Duke University's J. J. Redick by the United States Basketball Writers Association and won the 2006 Chevrolet Player of the Year award.
Morrison's father John is a basketball coach, and the family moved with his coaching career: Casper College in Northwest Casper, Wyoming, Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, South Dakota, and Dawson Community College in Glendive, Montana. When Morrison was in the fourth grade, his father left coaching and the family moved to Spokane, Washington. Adam became the Gonzaga men's team's ball boy.
When he was in the eighth grade, he lost 30 pounds (14 kg), and while attending a basketball camp at Gonzaga during this time, he felt sick, later saying about his experience at the camp, "I think I made one shot the whole three days. I was sicker than a dog. I didn't want to play. I couldn't do anything." Shortly after this, Morrison was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He took his diagnosis surprisingly well; the second time a nurse came to administer insulin, he stopped her, telling her, "Since I'm going to be doing this the rest of my life, you might as well show me how to do it." However, his illness did not keep him from becoming a star at Mead Senior High School in Spokane. In his senior year he broke single-season and career scoring records in his high school conference, and led Mead to the finals of the state tournament. Despite playing in the final game with hypoglycemia so severe that he nearly suffered a seizure, he scored 37 points in a losing effort. It was Mead's only loss that season. Morrison was not heavily recruited out of high school.
wn.com/Adam_Morrison -
Adonal Foyle
Adonal David Foyle (born March 9, 1975) is a retired Vincentian-American former professional basketball center. He was selected by the Golden State Warriors with the eighth overall selection of the 1997 NBA Draft. He played ten seasons with the team until the team bought out his contract on August 13, 2007. At the time, he had been the Warriors' longest-tenured player. He then played two seasons with the Orlando Magic and part of the 2008–09 season with the Memphis Grizzlies, sat out the next season due to knee surgery, and retired.
Foyle was born in Canouan, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. At the age of 15, Foyle was adopted by Joan and Jay Mandle, professors at Colgate University. He first attended high school at Cardinal O'Hara Catholic High in Springfield, Pennsylvania. He transferred after sophomore year and attended high school at Hamilton Central School (Hamilton, New York), where he helped the HCS Emerald Knights gain their first two state championships.
In his official biography, Foyle explained that he enrolled at Colgate University because "he wanted the opportunity to learn the principles of the game in a slower paced setting, where the coach would be able to give him the attention he desired." With the Colgate Raiders, where he was the school's all-time leading rebounder and 2nd all-time leading scorer. He left as the NCAA's all-time leader in blocked shots with 492, despite playing only three college seasons (his record was broken by Wojciech Myrda in 2002). He now ranks third all-time, behind Myrda and Jarvis Varnado.
wn.com/Adonal_Foyle -
Adrian Dantley
Adrian Delano Dantley (born February 28, 1956 in Washington, D.C.) is a retired American basketball player who played 15 seasons in the NBA, including seven as a member of the Utah Jazz. A forward/guard and six-time NBA All-Star, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2010, he was appointed acting head coach of the Denver Nuggets in the absence of stricken head coach George Karl.
Dantley attended basketball powerhouse DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland where he played under legendary basketball coach Morgan Wootten.
Dantley was a forward at Notre Dame from 1973-76. He was a consensus first team All-American in 1974-75 and 1975–76 and was named 1976 National Player of the Year. He ranks second on the Notre Dame career scoring list with 2,223 points and holds the school record for free throws made (615) and free throws attempted (769).
Dantley had a stellar collegiate career for the Fighting Irish. As a freshman, he played an important role in one of the biggest games in college basketball history, Notre Dame's stunning 1974 upset to end UCLA's record 88-game winning streak. That UCLA team, coached by the legendary John Wooden, featured Bill Walton, Jamaal Wilkes (then known as Keith Wilkes), and Dave Meyer.
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Alain Digbeu
Alain Digbeu (born November 13, 1975 in Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire) is a French professional basketball player. He was drafted by the NBA pro club the Atlanta Hawks with the 49th pick in the 1997 NBA Draft. He is 6'6" (1.98 m) in height and 220 lbs. (100 kg) in weight. He can play at both the shooting guard and small forward positions.
At the pro club level, Digbeu played in the French League with ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne from 1993-99. With ASVEL he won the French Cup in the years 1996 and 1997, and he was the French League MVP in the year 1998. He was also the French League Rookie of the Year in 1996, and a 3 time French League All-Star (1997, 1998, 1999) with ASVEL. He played in the Spanish League with FC Barcelona from 1999–2002 and he won the Spanish League championship and the Spanish Cup championship with Barcelona in the year 2001.
Digbeu has also played with the Spanish club Real Madrid in the 2002-03 season, with the Spanish club Joventut Badalona in the 2003-04 season, and with the Spanish Club CB Lucentum Alicante in the 2005-06 season. He also played in the Italian League with Casti Group Varese in the 2004-05 season and with Climamio Bologna in the 2006-07 season. Digbeu returned to the Spanish team CB Lucentum Alicante for the 2007-08 season.
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Alex English
Alexander English (born January 5, 1954 in Columbia, South Carolina) is a retired American basketball player who played at the forward position. He is currently an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association. He played at the University of South Carolina and most notably with the National Basketball Association's Denver Nuggets.
He averaged 21.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game during his NBA career and was the NBA's most prolific scorer during the 1980s. He was named to eight NBA All-Star teams, his #2 jersey was retired by the Nuggets, and he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997.
English spent the majority of his career with the Nuggets, but also played briefly with the Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers and Dallas Mavericks. He was drafted in 1976 by the Bucks, and was part of a rookie class that includes fellow Hall of Famers Robert Parish, Adrian Dantley and Dennis Johnson.
Most of his time in Milwaukee was spent as a back-up on a rebuilding team that lost Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. However, it was not until he was sent to Indiana in 1978 that he began his reputation as a scorer, averaging 16 points there on another subpar team before being traded to Denver.
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Allen Iverson
Allen Ezail Iverson (born June 7, 1975) is an American professional basketball player, playing both the point guard and shooting guard positions. Iverson attended Bethel High School and was a dual-sport athlete; he earned The Associated Press High School Player of the Year award in both football and basketball, and won the Division AAA Virginia State Championship in both sports. After high school, Iverson attended Georgetown University for two years, where he set the school record for career scoring average (22.9 points per game) and won Big East Defensive Player of the Year awards both years.
Following two successful years at Georgetown, Iverson declared eligibility for the 1996 NBA Draft, and was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the number one pick. He was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in the 1996–97 season. Iverson is an eleven-time NBA All-Star which includes winning the All-Star MVP award in 2001 and 2005.
Winning the NBA scoring title during the 1998–99, 2000–01, 2001–02 and 2004–05 seasons, Iverson was one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history, despite his small stature (listed at 6 feet, 0 inches). His regular season career scoring average of 26.7 points per game ranks sixth all-time, and his playoff career scoring average of 29.7 points per game is second only to Michael Jordan. Iverson was also the NBA Most Valuable Player of the 2000–01 season and led his team to the 2001 NBA Finals the same season. Iverson represented the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics, winning the bronze medal. He also played for the Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons and the Memphis Grizzlies, before returning to the 76ers for part of the 2009–10 season.
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Alonzo Mourning
Alonzo Harding Mourning, Jr. (born February 8, 1970) is a former American professional basketball player, who played most of his 15-year NBA career for the Miami Heat.
Nicknamed "Zo", Mourning played at center. His tenacity on defense twice earned him NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award and perennially placed him on the NBA All-Defensive Team. He made a comeback after undergoing a kidney transplant and later won his only NBA Championship with the Heat. He has also played for the Charlotte Hornets and New Jersey Nets. On March 30, 2009, Mourning became the first Miami Heat player to have his number retired.
During his time at Indian River High School in Chesapeake, Virginia, he led the team to 51 straight victories and a state title his junior year (1987). As a senior he averaged 25 points, 15 rebounds and 12 blocked shots a game. He was named Player of the Year by USA Today, Parade, Gatorade, and Naismith. Mourning played college basketball for the Georgetown University Hoyas. He led the nation in blocked shots his freshman year and was an All American his last year there.
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Alvan Adams
Alvan Leigh Adams (born July 19, 1954 in Lawrence, Kansas) is a retired American professional basketball player. After starring at the University of Oklahoma, the 6'9" (2.06 m) power forward/center was selected by the Phoenix Suns with the 4th pick of the 1975 NBA Draft. Adams was a rookie on a Suns team whose season included an improbable playoff run that took them all the way to the 1976 NBA Finals. In the same year, he was selected to play in the All-Star Game and won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award as well as being named to the All-NBA Rookie Team. Adams spent his entire career with the Suns and retired in 1988 as the second all-time Suns scorer with 13,910 career points.
During 26 games of the 1973–74 season Adams tied an Oklahoma school record with 21 double-doubles for a season by a Sooner (Garfield Heard, 1969–70 also had 21 in 27 games). That record stood until it was broken by Blake Griffin on February 14, 2009.
Adams is one of only three players in the history of the University of Oklahoma men's basketball program to score at least 40 points and get 20 rebounds in a game along with Wayman Tisdale (61 points, 22 rebounds against Texas–San Antonio in 1983) and Blake Griffin (40 points, 23 rebounds against Texas Tech on February 14, 2009).
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Alvin Williams
Alvin Leon Williams (born August 6, 1974 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a retired American professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association, and current Director of Player Development of the Toronto Raptors.
Williams played college basketball at Villanova University. The Portland Trail Blazers drafted him in the second round of the 1997 NBA Draft, and Williams began his career there before going on to join the Toronto Raptors in 1998. He appeared in all 82 games for two straight seasons, 2001–02 and 2002-03. After missing a third of the 2003-04 and the entire 2004-05 season with a knee injury, Williams re-joined the lineup at the start of the 2005-06 season. Unfortunately, the injured knee forced Williams back on the injured list after playing just one game that season.
On July 26, 2006, Williams was waived by the Raptors to make room for free agent guard Fred Jones. Reports said both the team and Williams had reached an agreement that resulted in the Raptors only having to pay half of Williams' remaining salary. Interestingly, Jones was assigned Williams' #20 jersey number the next day.
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Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( /ˈɑːndreɪ ˈæɡəsi/; born April 29, 1970) is a retired American professional tennis player and former world no. 1. Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Agassi has been called the best service returner in the history of the game. Described by the BBC upon his retirement as "perhaps the biggest worldwide star in the sport's history", Agassi's performances, along with his unorthodox apparel and attitude, have seen him cited as one of the most charismatic players in the history of the game, and credited for helping revive the popularity of tennis during the 1990s.
In singles tennis, Agassi is an eight-time Grand Slam champion who competed in 15 Grand Slam finals, and an Olympic gold medalist. A multi-surface specialist, he is the first of two male players to have achieved a singles Career Golden Slam, and one of four to have achieved a singles Career Grand Slam in the Open Era (one of seven in history). He was the first male player to win all four Grand Slams on three different surfaces (hard, clay and grass), and is the last American male to win the French Open (1999) and the Australian Open (2003). Agassi also won 17 ATP Masters Series titles, the 1990 ATP Tour World Championships, and was part of a winning Davis Cup team in 1990 and 1992. He is the only male singles player in history to have won all four Grand Slam tournaments, the Olympic gold medal and the ATP Tour World Championships: a distinction dubbed as a "Career Super Slam" by Sports Illustrated.
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Andrea Bargnani
Andrea Bargnani Italian pronunciation: [anˈdrɛa barˈɲani], nicknamed "Il Mago" (translated to "The Magician"), (born October 26, 1985 in Rome, Italy) is an Italian professional basketball player with the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association. He was selected first overall in the 2006 NBA Draft. He is a power forward/center standing at 213 cm (7 ft 0 in) and weighing 113.4 kg (250 lbs). Prior to his NBA career, Bargnani played for Benetton Treviso in the Italian Lega A and the Euroleague. In his first two seasons with the Raptors, he helped the team reach the NBA Playoffs, including the Atlantic Division title in 2006–07.
Bargnani began his career in 2002–03 with Stella Azzurra Roma in Italy's Serie B2 division, averaging 13.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 23 games. He then signed with Lega A side Benetton Treviso for the 2003–04 season and played there until 2006.
In 2003–04, he posted averages of 4.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in 10 games in his first Lega A season with Benetton. He made eight appearances in Euroleague action, recording 2.4 points and 1.5 rebounds an outing. Incidentally, Bargnani faced his future team, the Toronto Raptors, on 20 October 2003 in a pre-season game at the Air Canada Centre. He tallied 13 points, five rebounds, one steal and two blocks in 22 minutes in an 86–83 defeat to the Raptors.
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Andrew Bogut
Andrew Michael Bogut (born 28 November 1984) is an Australian professional basketball player who plays for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Bogut was selected first overall by the Bucks in the 2005 NBA Draft. The 7-foot (2.13m), 260-pound (118 kg) center was a star at the University of Utah for two years before declaring for the draft. Bogut is the first Australian player to be drafted number one overall. He was also the second Utah player to be drafted number one overall.
Bogut was born to Croatian immigrants Mišo and Ankica (née Jurišić) Bogut in the Melbourne suburb of Endeavour Hills. His father is from Osijek and his mother was a native of Karlovac. Bogut grew up playing Australian rules football and tennis in addition to basketball. In his childhood, he patterned his basketball game after Toni Kukoc. As a 15-year-old, he was cut from the Victoria junior state representative team. That experience apparently drove him to improve; he later went on to attend the Australian Institute of Sport, with whom he would tour the United States in 2001 and 2002. In his last season at AIS, he averaged 29 points, 14.5 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game while competing in the SEABL. He went on to lead the Australian team that won the 2003 FIBA Junior World Championships, and was named the tournament MVP.
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Andrew Bynum
Andrew Bynum (born October 27, 1987) is an American professional basketball center who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has won two NBA Championships with the Lakers, and he was a first-time All-Star in 2012. Bynum was drafted with the 10th overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft by the Lakers. He became the youngest player ever to play an NBA game later that year. Amidst the 2007–08 season, he suffered an injury on his left kneecap and eventually missed the rest of the season and all of the playoffs. He made a successful return at the beginning of the 2008–09 season. In January 2009, however, he suffered another injury, this time to his right knee. He was able to come back before the playoffs started and was part of the Lakers squad that won the 2009 NBA championship. In the 2010 post-season, Bynum played in every single playoff game with a torn meniscus and strained Achilles tendon and the Lakers repeated as NBA champions against the Boston Celtics.
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Andrew Gaze
Andrew Barry Casson Gaze (born 24 July 1965) is Australia's best known basketball player, and one of its most successful. He is considered as the greatest player in the history of the NBL.
Son of Australian basketball player and coach, Lindsay Gaze, Andrew began his career in the NBL at age 18, being named Rookie of the year in 1984. He was the top scorer in the league for a total of 14 seasons. Not an outstanding athlete, Gaze's heavy scoring was due to exceptional shooting, including from three-point range. A crowd favourite, one of Gaze's trademark plays for the Tigers was a pass to American import Lanard Copeland for an alley oop. Playing under his father with the Tigers, Gaze led the team to two titles and were perpetual finalists.
Gaze also excelled at the international arena, and in 2000 became (jointly with American Teresa Edwards) the third basketball player to compete at five Olympics, after Puerto Rican Teófilo Cruz and Brazilian Oscar Schmidt. He led the Boomers to their best performance, fourth at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. (The Boomers also came fourth in 1988 and 2000.) He was selected as flag-bearer for the Australian team at the opening ceremony at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He is the scoring record holder in Olympic competition, and second-highest scorer of all-time in World Championship play.
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Andy Phillip
Andrew Michael "Handy Andy" Phillip (March 7, 1922 – April 29, 2001) was a guard/forward who had an 11 year career professional basketball career from 1948 to 1958. Born in Granite City, Illinois, Andy Phillip played for the Chicago Stags of the Basketball Association of America and the Philadelphia Warriors, Fort Wayne Pistons and Boston Celtics, all of the National Basketball Association.
Phillip led his high school, Granite City, to the Illinois state championship in 1940. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he earned renown for his talents and for the Fighting Illini's success during war-interrupted, non-consecutive seasons, 1941–1943 and 1946–1947, . He was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. Phillip served as a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in World War II at Iwo Jima.
Phillip played in the first five NBA All-Star Games, and was twice named to the All-NBA Second Team. He was the first player to record 500 assists in a season, and led the NBA in assists during the 1950-51 and 1950-52 seasons. Phillip's teams made it to the NBA Finals during his final four seasons — twice with Fort Wayne and twice with Boston. The 1957 Boston team won the NBA Championship.
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Andy Tonkovich
Andrew Edward "Andy" Tonkovich (November 1, 1922 - September 2, 2006) was selected first in the 1948 NBA draft by the Providence Steamrollers. He attended Marshall College.
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Antawn Jamison
Antawn Cortez Jamison ( /ˈæntwɑːn/; born June 12, 1976) is an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He currently plays power forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers and was a member of the USA National Team for the 2006 FIBA World Championships
Jamison was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. His name was accidentally printed as "Antawn" instead of "Antwan" on his birth certificate. However, his family decided to keep the misspelling as they felt it would be more distinctive. His first name is still pronounced as though it were spelled "Antwan" or "Antoine". Jamison played middle school basketball and was a quarterback in football at Quail Hollow Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jamison played high school basketball at Providence High School in Charlotte, North Carolina and was named a McDonald's All-American after his senior season.
Jamison played college basketball at University of North Carolina for three seasons, averaging 19.0 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. In his junior year, he was awarded both the Naismith and Wooden Awards as the most outstanding men's college basketball player for the 1997–98 season. Jamison decided to forgo his senior year of eligibility and enter the NBA draft in 1998 thus ending his college career. On March 1, 2000 Jamison's #33 was retired at the Dean E. Smith Center. He became only the seventh North Carolina basketball player to have his number retired.
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Anthony Bonner
Anthony Bonner (born June 8, 1968 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Sacramento Kings in the 1st round (23rd overall pick) of the 1990 NBA Draft. He played six seasons in the NBA for the Kings, New York Knicks, and Orlando Magic averaging 6.9 ppg in his career. He also played in Europe for several notable teams, including PAOK BC in Greece and Virtus Bologna Italy.
In 2002, at the age of 34, he attempted a comeback with the Utah Jazz. He was cut after playing in 4 pre-season games.
Bonner played college basketball at Saint Louis University. He is the Billikens' all-time leading scorer with 1,972 points.
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Anthony Parker
Anthony Michael Parker (born June 19, 1975) is an American professional basketball player who plays with the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
After graduating from Bradley University with a major in liberal arts, he entered the 1997 NBA Draft and played briefly in the NBA before plying his trade in Europe. There, Parker spent five seasons with the Israeli Super League basketball club Maccabi Tel Aviv and one season with the Italian Lega A club Lottomatica Roma. With Maccabi he won five Israeli Super League national championships, five Israeli National Cups, three European titles (2 ULEB Euroleague titles and the FIBA SuproLeague title in 2001), and was voted two consecutive times Euroleague MVP.
After returning to the NBA as a free agent in 2006, Parker established himself as the Toronto Raptors' starting shooting guard, as well as one of the best three point shooters and perimeter defenders in the league. In his first season with the Raptors, Parker helped the team clinch their first ever division title, first NBA Playoffs berth in five years, and best regular season record in franchise history. He helped the Raptors reach the playoffs again in the 2007–08 season, before becoming a free agent in 2009.
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Antonio Daniels
Antonio Robert Daniels (born March 19, 1975 in Columbus, Ohio) is an American professional basketball player.
After playing college basketball at Bowling Green, Daniels was selected by the Vancouver Grizzlies with the fourth overall pick of the 1997 NBA Draft. Over his career, he has played for the Grizzlies, the San Antonio Spurs (Daniels was on the 1999 team that won the NBA Championship), the Portland Trail Blazers, the Seattle SuperSonics, the Washington Wizards and the New Orleans Hornets. He arrived in New Orleans in a three-team trade with the Washington Wizards and the Memphis Grizzlies on December 10, 2008.
On September 9, 2009, he was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves along with a 2014 second round pick in exchange for Bobby Brown and Darius Songaila. On September 24, 2009, Daniels agreed to a contract buyout. On November 1, 2010 Daniels was selected by the Texas Legends of the NBA Development League in the second round (pick 13) of the 2010 NBA Development League Draft.
On April 3, 2011, Daniels was signed to a 10-day contract by the Philadelphia 76ers.
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Antonio McDyess
Antonio Keithflen McDyess (born September 7, 1974) is a retired American professional basketball player. Listed at 6'9" (2.06 m) and 245 lbs. (111 kg), McDyess played as a power forward.
As a prep, McDyess was one of the top 30 players nationally, and made the Magic Johnson Roundball Classic. McDyess played college basketball at the University of Alabama. In 1995 he was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers as the second pick in the NBA Draft and was traded to the Denver Nuggets before the season began for fellow power forward Rodney Rogers and a mid-first round pick that turned out to be Brent Barry. McDyess's explosive leaping and power dunking ability allowed him to average 17.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game over his first six seasons. In 1997, before his third year, McDyess was traded to the Phoenix Suns. He returned to the Nuggets as a free agent the next season. However, his return was not without controversy. During the NBA lockout in the winter of 1999, he was negotiating with both the Suns and Nuggets. He and the Nuggets had a verbal agreement for Antonio to return to Denver. However, he had second thoughts, and considered re-signing with the Suns. According to Sports Illustrated, McDyess invited Jason Kidd, Rex Chapman, and George McCloud to Denver to talk things over. While attending an Avalanche hockey game at McNichols Arena, Dan Issel told security to not let the three Suns players into the building. Without any further consultation, he re-signed with the Nuggets. In 1999, McDyess became just the third Nugget to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds for a season, after Dan Issel in 1977–78 and George McGinnis in 1978–79. Considered an up and comer, the quiet McDyess was selected to be a part of the gold-winning U.S. Olympic men's basketball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics (as a replacement for injured Tim Duncan).
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Arnold Palmer
Arnold Daniel Palmer (born September 10, 1929) is an American professional golfer, who is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men's professional golf. He has won numerous events on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour, dating back to 1955. Nicknamed "The King," he is one of golf's most popular stars and its most important trailblazer, because he was the first superstar of the sport's television age, which began in the 1950s. He is part of "The Big Three" in golf, along with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, who are widely credited with popularizing and commercialising the sport around the world.
Palmer won the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998, and in 1974 was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Palmer was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He learned golf from his father, Deacon Palmer, who was head professional and greenskeeper at Latrobe Country Club, allowing young Arnold to accompany his father as he maintained the course. He attended Wake Forest University, on a golf scholarship. He left upon the death of close friend Bud Worsham and enlisted in the United States Coast Guard, where he served for three years and had some time to continue to hone his golf skills. Palmer returned to college and competitive golf. His win in the 1954 U.S. Amateur made him decide to try the pro tour for a while, and he and new bride Winifred Walzer (whom he had met at a Pennsylvania tournament) traveled the circuit for 1955.
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Art Heyman
Arthur Bruce "Art" Heyman (born June 24, 1941) is an American former professional basketball player.
Heyman, who was Jewish,[2] was born in New York City, New York. A 6' 5" guard/forward, after attending Oceanside High School in New York, Heyman was heavily recruited by many schools, and originally signed a letter of intent to play for the North Carolina Tar Heels. At the last moment, however, Heyman changed his mind and agreed to play for the Tar Heels greatest rivals, the Duke Blue Devils.
Due to NCAA eligibility rules that prohibited freshmen from playing varsity sports, Heyman played his first year at Duke with the Freshman team, which compiled a record of 10–5, including three victories over the Tar Heels. During one of the Duke-North Carolina freshman games, North Carolina freshman Dieter Krause attacked Heyman, leading to a melee where the two coaches had to be restrained from attacking each other. Heyman needed five stitches after the attack.
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Art Quimby
Arthur R. "Art" Quimby (July 1, 1933 – December 6, 2010) was an American college basketball standout from the University of Connecticut. He played for the Huskies from 1951–52 to 1954–55 and is still the program's all-time leader in rebounds for a single game (40), single season (611) and career (1,716). He also owns the single season and career rebounding averages (24.4 and 21.5 per game, respectively). Quimby's combined career point and rebound totals (3,114) are more than any other Connecticut player.
A native of New London, Connecticut, Quimby attended the Bulkeley School, which was a small all-boys school whose basketball program was generally very good. He led the team to undefeated state and New England championships as a senior and was heavily recruited by college teams. Quimby was initially going to attend the University of Kentucky (UK) to play for Adolph Rupp, but due to a scandal at UK he decided to attend Connecticut.
During Quimby's career as a Huskie he compiled an 80–19 overall record. He led them to four Yankee Conference championships and was a three-time First Team All-Conference selection. During his junior and senior seasons, Quimby led the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in total rebounds. As a junior, he led the nation in rebounding average. In 1954, Connecticut earned a berth in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, and in 1955 they earned their first-ever National Invitation Tournament (NIT) bid. They lost the opening round games of each tournament.
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Arthur Ashe
Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was a former World No. 1 professional tennis player, born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. During his career, he won three Grand Slam titles, putting him among the best ever from the United States. Ashe, an African American, was the first black player ever selected to the United States Davis Cup team and the only black man to ever win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, or Australian Open. He is also remembered for his efforts to further social causes.
Born in Gum Spring, Virginia, to parents Arthur Ashe Sr. and Mattie Cordell Cunningham Ashe, Arthur and his younger brother, Johnnie, suffered a tragic loss when their mother died suddenly from heart related complications during routine surgery. Arthur Ashe first attended Maggie L. Walker High School, being coached by Ronald Charity, and later coached by Robert Walter Johnson. Tired of having to travel great distances to play Caucasian youths in segregated Richmond, Ashe accepted an offer from a St. Louis tennis official to move there and attend Sumner High School. Young Ashe was recognized by Sports Illustrated for his playing.
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Artis Gilmore
Artis Gilmore (born September 21, 1949) is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). Artis was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on August 12, 2011. A star center during his two collegiate years at Jacksonville University, in Jacksonville, Florida, Gilmore led the Dolphins to the NCAA Division I championship game in 1970, where his team was beaten 80-69 by the UCLA Bruins. Gilmore remains the top player in rebounds per game in the history of NCAA Division I basketball.
Gilmore followed 5 All-Star seasons with the Kentucky Colonels of the ABA by becoming the 1st overall pick of the 1976 NBA dispersal draft, which was held after the ABA was disbanded, as four teams transferred to the NBA. In Gilmore's complete pro basketball career, he was an eleven-time All-Star, the ABA Rookie of the Year, and an ABA MVP, and he remains the NBA career leader for field goal percentage.
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Artsiom Parakhouski
Artsiom "Art" Parakhouski (born October 6, 1987 in Minsk, Belarus) is a Belarusian basketball player who recently finished his American college career in 2010 with the Radford University Highlanders, located in Radford, Virginia. A 6'11" (2.11 m) center, Parakhouski led NCAA Division I in rebounds in 2009–10 at 13.4 per game. He was named the Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 2009 and 2010, becoming the fifth multiple player of the year winner in Big South history.
Born and raised in Minsk, Belarus by parents who both coach national Belarusian team sports, Parakhouski grew up playing football (soccer) until age 16. He was forced to switch to basketball, a sport he had never even played, when his body grew too large for any realistic football aspirations. After an introduction to the game and lots of practice on fundamentals, he began to play competitively.
Parakhouski was spotted by Ali Ton, then a Binghamton University men's basketball assistant coach, at the Junior European Championships. Seeing his potential, Ton persuaded Parkhouski to first attend a junior college in the United States before enrolling at a major university to progress in basketball and to simultaneously learn English. At College of Southern Idaho, Parakhouski struggled to grasp the language, admitting "It was hard for me. The first five-to-six months I couldn't speak at all. I couldn't understand anyone around me. I was basically in a jungle with nobody."
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Austin Carr
Austin George Carr (born March 10, 1948) is a retired American professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association. He is known by Cleveland basketball fans as "Mr. Cavalier".
Carr grew up in Washington D.C., and attended Holy Redeemer School, and later Mackin Catholic High School. At Mackin, Carr teamed with All-City guard Tom Little, who made some national All-American teams before starring at the University of Seattle. As a Junior All Met, Carr scored 475 points in 24 games. During Carr's All Met senior season, he scored 600 points and along with Sterling Savoy, led the Paul Furlong coached Trojans to the Catholic League title over DeMatha. Carr was named Parade All-American along with other 1967 seniors such as Artis Gilmore, Howard Porter, Jim McDaniels, and Curtis Rowe, all of whom became major college stars.
The 6-foot 4-inch (1.93 m), 200 lb (91 kg) shooting guard first came to prominence as a highly-recruited player for the University of Notre Dame, arriving after having scored more than 2,000 points during his high school career. Carr lived up to his lofty billing by ending his three-year career at Notre Dame with 2,560 points (an average of 34.5 points per game), ranking him fifth all-time in college basketball history at the time of his departure. During his final two seasons, Carr became only the second college player ever to tally more than 1,000 points in a season, joining Pete Maravich in that select group. Carr holds NCAA tournament records for most points in one game (61 vs. Ohio in 1970), most field goals in one game (25), and most field goals attempted in one game (44). His record scoring average of 50 points per game in seven NCAA playoff games may never be broken. Recently, ESPN named Carr the 22nd greatest college basketball player of all time.
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Austin Croshere
Austin Nathan Croshere (born May 1, 1975) is a retired American professional basketball player and current analyst for Fox Sports Indiana broadcasts of Indiana Pacers games.
He went to Palms Middle School and Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California, and graduated from Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island.
Croshere was the 12th pick of the 1997 NBA Draft, selected by the Indiana Pacers.
A 6'10", hard-nosed player who can play the power forward and small forward positions, Croshere has shot 33.9% from three-point range over the course of his ten-year career. In the 1999–2000 NBA season, he had peaked at just the right time as he helped the Pacers advance to the 2000 NBA Finals, marking the Pacers' first Finals appearance since the ABA-NBA merger.
He was rewarded for his performance in the regular season and particularly the playoffs with a hefty contract, which the Pacers soon learned to regret as lamentably, Austin never fully lived up to the promise he had shown. In fairness to him, Pacers coach Isiah Thomas seldom used him during the three seasons he coached the team. Croshere played 49 games in 2002-03, averaging a career-low 12.9 minutes per game that season as he fell out of the rotation.
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Avery Johnson
Avery Johnson (born March 25, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player and current head coach of the National Basketball Association (NBA) team Brooklyn Nets. He has also coached the Dallas Mavericks, leading them to their first NBA Finals appearance and four consecutive 50+ win seasons. During his playing days, Johnson was known as the "Little General" for his small (by NBA standards) stature, his leadership skills as a point guard and floor general, and his close friendship with former San Antonio Spurs teammate David "The Admiral" Robinson.
As a high school senior in 1983, Johnson led New Orleans' St. Augustine High School to a 35–0 record and the Class 4A Louisiana State Championship. Johnson matriculated at New Mexico Junior College before moving on to Cameron University, and finally Southern University, with whom in his senior season in 1988 he led the NCAA with 13.3 assists per game, a senior and all-time record that still stands. Upon graduation in 1988 Johnson was not selected in the NBA Draft. After a summer season with the USBL's Palm Beach Stingrays, however, Johnson was signed by the Seattle SuperSonics and managed to spend the next 16 years playing in the NBA, including stints with the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors, and Dallas Mavericks. A true journeyman as a player, occasionally being traded, or even waived, mid-season, Johnson is best known for his time with the San Antonio Spurs (1991, 1992–1993, 1994–2001), particularly his integral role on the 1999 Spurs team that won the NBA championship against the New York Knicks in which he hit the championship-winning shot in Game 5. The San Antonio Spurs retired Johnson's number 6 on December 22, 2007 in a home game against the Los Angeles Clippers. He was also inducted into the "San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame" on February 20, 2009.
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Barry Parkhill
Barry Parkhill (born May 11, 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a retired American professional basketball player who was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1st round (15th overall) of the 1973 NBA Draft but elected to play in the American Basketball Association instead. A 6' 4" (1.93 m) guard-forward from the University of Virginia, Parkhill played in three ABA seasons for 2 different teams. He played for the Virginia Squires and the Spirits of St. Louis.
In his ABA career, Parkhill played in 173 games and scored a total of 970 points. His best year as a professional came during the 1975 season with the Virginia Squires appearing in 78 games and scoring 607 points.
Parkhill was named the ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year and the ACC Athlete of the Year for the 1971-1972 season when he averaged 21.6 points per game and led the Cavaliers to their second postseason appearance in school history. His number 40 was retired at the end of his senior season. In 2002, Parkhill was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team as one of the fifty greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history.
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Ben Pepper
Ben Pepper (born 15 July 1975 in Geraldton, Western Australia) is an Australian basketball player, who played for the twelve seasons in the National Basketball League.
Ben Pepper, a 7'0" (213 cm) tall centre began his pro career in the NBL with the Newcastle Falcons in the 1996 NBL season. After an impressive debut season he would go on to win the NBL's Most Improved Player and the NBL's Sixth Man of the Year awards in 1997.
Pepper then decided to try his luck with the NBA and entered into the 1997 NBA Draft. He was selected by the Boston Celtics with the 56th overall pick in the draft, one of four Australians drafted that year. Interestingly, Pepper was one of three 7'0" tall Australian centres selected in the 1997 draft, the others being Chris Anstey and Paul Rogers. A fourth Australian, CJ Bruton, was also selected in the draft.
The Celtics unfortunately never signed Pepper and he came back to the NBL and played for the North Melbourne Giants in the 1998 season. After the season the Giants merged with cross-Melbourne rivals the South East Melbourne Magic to become the Victorian Titans where he became one of the most dominant centers in the competition. He narrowly missed out on an NBL Championship when the Titans were defeated 2-1 in the 1998-99 NBL Grand Final Series by the Adelaide 36ers.
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Ben Wallace
Ben Camey Wallace (born September 10, 1974) is an American basketball center for the Detroit Pistons of the NBA. A native of Alabama, Wallace attended Cuyahoga Community College and Virginia Union University and signed with the Washington Bullets (later Wizards) as an undrafted free agent in 1996. In his NBA career, Wallace has also played the power forward position and with the Washington Bullets/Wizards, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, and Cleveland Cavaliers teams.
He has won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award four times, a record he shares with Dikembe Mutombo. In six seasons with the Pistons (2000–2006), Wallace made two NBA Finals appearances (2004 and 2005) and won a championship with the Pistons in 2004.
Ben Wallace was born in White Hall, Alabama, a small town in Lowndes County, and is the tenth of eleven children. He later attended Central High School in Hayneville where he received all-state honors in basketball, baseball, and football (as a linebacker). Former basketball player Charles Oakley is Wallace's mentor, having discovered Wallace at a 1991 basketball camp, and later recommended Wallace to his previous college, Virginia Union.
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Beno Udrih
Beno Udrih (born July 5, 1982 in Celje, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Slovenian professional basketball player for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks. He was traded to the Bucks on June 23, 2011 after spending four seasons in Sacramento.
Beno Udrih is left-handed, and comes from a family of basketball players. His father Silvo played for Rudar Trbovlje. Udrih made his professional debut with a brief stint in the Slovenian secondary league in 1997, followed by three seasons in that country's premier league, the UPC Telemach League. He was named the 2000 Slovenian League Rookie of the Year, and has played for the Slovenian national team since that same year. He played for Olimpija Ljubljana in 2000–2002 season where he made great improvement and played in Euroleague for the first time. Udrih played for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 2002–2003 season, and split the 2003–2004 season among Avtodor Saratov (Russia) and Breil Milano (Italy). From 2004 to 2007 he played with the NBA's San Antonio Spurs.
Prior to his NBA debut, he appeared in the Southern California Summer Pro League for the Spurs, and also appeared in three games with the Spurs squad in the 2004 Reebok Rocky Mountain Revue while averaging 10.3 PPG, 5 APG, 4.7 RPG, 1.33 SPG, 24.7 MPG, and shooting .542 (13–24).
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Bill Bradley
William Warren "Bill" Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, and former three-term Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in the 2000 election.
Bradley was born and raised in a suburb of St. Louis and excelled at basketball from an early age. He was a member of the Boy Scouts, did well academically and was an all-county and all-state basketball player in high school. He was offered 75 college scholarships, but declined them all to attend Princeton University. He earned a gold medal as a member of the 1964 Olympic basketball team and was the NCAA Player of the Year in 1965. After graduating in 1965, he attended Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, delaying a decision for two years on whether or not to play in the NBA.
While at Oxford, Bradley played one season of professional basketball in Europe, and eventually decided to join the New York Knicks in the 1967–68 season, after serving six months in the Air Force Reserve. He spent his entire ten-year professional basketball career playing for the Knicks, winning two championship titles. Retiring in 1977, he ran for a seat in the United States Senate the following year, from his adopted home state of New Jersey. He was re-elected in 1984 and 1990, left the Senate in 1997, and was an unsuccessful candidate for the 2000 Democratic presidential nomination.
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Bill Hannon
Bill Hannon (August 29, 1932) was an American college basketball player for Army from 1951 to 1954.
Hannon played basketball at West Point during his sophomore, junior, and senior years. In his sophomore year of 1951-52, he set an Army record with 277 points, beating Dale Hall's mark of 273. Hannon also led the nation in rebounding with 20.9 per game.
In his senior year, Hannon scored 44 points in a game against New Mexico, which set a school record. He also pulled down 27 rebounds against Pittsburgh on February 22, 1954; this is still a school record.
Overall, Hannon led Army in scoring and rebounding each of his three years. He finished his college career with 1,155 points and 1,101 rebounds, and both totals were school records at that time. His 19.0 career rebounding average in 58 games is still the highest in Army history.
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Bill McGill
Bill "The Hill" McGill (born September 16, 1939, in San Angelo, Texas) is a retired American basketball player.
A 6'9" center/forward from the University of Utah, he was the NCAA scoring leader in the 1961-1962 season with 1,009 points in 26 games (38.8 points per game), a higher one-season average than any previous player except Frank Selvy in the 1953-1954 season. McGill was honored in 2008 as a member of the University of Utah All-Century team.
McGill was selected by the Chicago Zephyrs with the first pick of the 1962 NBA Draft. He played three seasons (1962–65) in the NBA and 2 seasons (1968–70) in the ABA. In his ABA/NBA career, he scored a combined 3,094 points.
His pro basketball career did not bring him wealth or security. By the early 1970s, he was in debt and living on the streets before sportswriter Brad Pye Jr. arranged for McGill to be employed by Hughes Aircraft; that job ended in 1995.
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Bill Russell
William Felton "Bill" Russell (born February 12, 1934) is a retired American professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A five-time winner of the NBA Most Valuable Player Award and a twelve-time All-Star, Russell was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty that won eleven NBA Championships during Russell's thirteen-year career. Along with Henri Richard of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens, Russell holds the record for the most championships won by an athlete in a North American sports league. Before his professional career, Russell led the University of San Francisco to two consecutive NCAA championships (1955, 1956). He also won a gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics as captain of the U.S. national basketball team.
Russell is widely considered one of the best players in NBA history. Listed as between 6'9" (2.06 m) and 6'10" (2.08 m), Russell's shot-blocking and man-to-man defense were major reasons for the Celtics' success. He also inspired his teammates to elevate their own defensive play. Russell was equally notable for his rebounding abilities. He led the NBA in rebounds four times, and remains second all-time in both total rebounds and rebounds per game. He is one of just two NBA players (the other being prominent rival Wilt Chamberlain) to have grabbed more than fifty rebounds in a game. Though never the focal point of the Celtics' offense, Russell also scored 14,522 career points and provided effective passing.
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Bill Sharman
William Walton "Bill" Sharman (born May 25, 1926 in Abilene, Texas) is a former professional basketball player and coach. Sharman completed high school in the rural city of Porterville, California and is mostly known for his time with the Boston Celtics in the 1950s, partnering with Bob Cousy in what some consider the greatest backcourt duo of all time. While Cousy was primarily the playmaker, Sharman was the shooter.
From 1950 to 1955 Sharman played professional baseball in the Brooklyn Dodgers minor league system. He was called up to the Dodgers late in the 1951 season but did not appear in a game; as a result of a September 27 game in which the entire Brooklyn bench was ejected from the game for arguing with the umpire, Sharman holds the distinction of being the only player to have ever been ejected from a major league game without ever appearing in one.
Sharman was one of the first guards to shoot better than .400 from the field. He led the NBA in free throw percentage seven times, and his mark of 93.2% in the 1958–59 season remained the NBA record until Ernie DiGregorio topped it in 1976–77. Sharman still holds the record for consecutive free throws in the playoffs with 56. Sharman was named to the All-NBA First Team from 1956 through 1959, and was an All-NBA Second Team member in 1953, 1955, and 1960. Sharman played in eight NBA All-Star games, and was named the 1955 NBA All-Star Game MVP. Sharman ended his career after 11 seasons in 1961.
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Bill Walton
William Theodore "Bill" Walton III (born November 5, 1952) is a retired American basketball player and television sportscaster. The "Big Red-Head", as he was called, achieved superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s, winning three straight College Player of the Year Awards, while leading the Bruins to two Division I national titles. He then went on to have a prominent career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) where he was a league Most Valuable Player (MVP) and won two NBA championships. His professional career was significantly hampered by multiple foot injuries. Walton was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on May 10, 1993 and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame that same year. He is the father of current Cleveland Cavaliers forward Luke Walton.
Walton was born in La Mesa, California, the son of Gloria Anne (née Hickey) and William Theodore "Ted" Walton. His listed adult playing height was 6 feet 11 inches; it has been reported that Walton was actually taller (7 feet 2 inches, or more), but did not like being categorized as a seven-footer.
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Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society. She won "The Battle of the Sexes" in 1973, in which she defeated Bobby Riggs, a former Wimbledon men's singles champion, for $100,000, winner take all. She completed a career tour all surfaces win-loss performance of 81.76% (696-165). Her win-loss performance in all Grand Slam singles tournaments was 82.00% (190-39), at the French Open 77.77% (21-6), at Wimbledon 86.36% (95-15), at the US Open 80.55% (58–14), and at the Australian Open 80.00% (16-4).
King is the founder of the Women's Tennis Association, the Women's Sports Foundation, and owner of World Team Tennis, which was founded by her former husband, Larry King, Dennis Murphy, Frank Barman, and Jordan Kaiser.
Billie Jean Moffit was born in Long Beach, California, into a conservative Methodist family, the daughter of a fireman father and housewife mother. Her younger brother Randy Moffitt grew up to become a professional baseball player, pitching for 12 years in the major leagues for the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and Toronto Blue Jays.
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Billy Cunningham
William John "Billy" Cunningham (born June 3, 1943) is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who was nicknamed the Kangaroo Kid.
Billy Cunningham was born in Brooklyn, New York. His fame began while he was playing at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, where he was the MVP in the Brooklyn League in 1961. That year, he was the First-Team All-New York City, and a member of the Parade Magazine All-America Team.
Cunningham then went to the University of North Carolina, where he excelled. He once grabbed a record 27 rebounds in a game vs. Clemson on February 16, 1963. Cunningham also set a single-game North Carolina record with 48 points against Tulane on December 10, 1964. In his UNC career, he scored 1,709 points (24.8 points per game), and grabbed 1,062 rebounds (15.4 rebounds per game). Upon graduation, his 1,062 rebounds were the best in North Carolina history and he held seasonal records for most rebounds (379 in 1964) and rebound average (16.1 in 1963).
In 1965, Cunningham joined the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association as a sixth man and played well enough to be named to the NBA All-Rookie Team.
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Billy King
Billy King (born January 23, 1966) is the general manager of the New Jersey Nets, and former general manager and team president of the Philadelphia 76ers. King grew up in Sterling, Virginia where he played basketball at Park View High School, and received a scholarship to play at Duke University. He was known primarily for his tough defense. In his senior season, he served as a captain of Duke's 1988 Final Four team. King joined the 76ers on June 2, 1997, as Vice-President of basketball administration. On May 19, 1998, he was promoted to General Manager, and on April 5, 2000, he signed a new year contract to stay with the team for an extended term. On May 26, 2003 he was named President along with General Manager. He married Melanie Lynn Frantz on August 27, 2005.
In 2005, King and other individuals became prominent investors in a Foxwoods slots casino proposed for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In September 2008, facing massive opposition at the originally proposed waterfront location, backers for the slots casino decided to seek a new location in the Center City area, next to Philadelphia's Chinatown community. As of January, 2009, the casino still does not have a building permit.
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Blake Griffin
Blake Austin Griffin (born March 16, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Griffin had a renowned high school career at Oklahoma Christian School, winning state titles each of his four years under his father, Tommy Griffin, who was the head coach. He played college basketball for the University of Oklahoma Sooners and was awarded numerous accolades in his second year including the Naismith College Player of the Year, Oscar Robertson Trophy and the John Wooden Award.
Griffin left college after two seasons to enter the 2009 NBA Draft where he was selected first overall by the Clippers. In his first season, he broke his left kneecap, which he injured during the final pre-season game, and underwent surgery missing the entire 2009–10 season. He made his NBA debut as a rookie the following season and was selected as an All-Star, won the 2011 NBA Slam Dunk Contest and was named the NBA Rookie of the Year. In 2011, Sports Illustrated ranked him as one of the NBA's 15 Greatest Rookies of All Time.
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Bob Boozer
Robert Louis "Bob" Boozer (April 26, 1937 – May 19, 2012) was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He won a gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics and won an NBA Championship as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971.
Boozer was born and raised in North Omaha, Nebraska, and graduated from Tech High in Omaha. He attended Kansas State University, where he helped lead the Wildcats to the 1958 Final Four and where he received All-America honors in 1958 and 1959. A versatile 6’ 8” forward, he was selected by the Cincinnati Royals with the first non-territorial pick of the 1959 NBA Draft, but he postponed his NBA career for one year so that he could remain eligible to play in the 1960 Summer Olympics. During that year he played with the Peoria Caterpillars, where he won the National AAU Tournament title and earned MVP honors for the tournament.
He won a gold medal with the Olympic team after they won eight games by an average of 42.4 points. The team was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
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Bob Bourne
Robert Glen Bourne (born June 21, 1954) is a retired professional ice hockey centre who played for the New York Islanders and the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL between 1974 and 1988.
Bourne was drafted 38th overall by the Kansas City Scouts in the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft, though he would never play for the organization. On September 13, 1974, he was traded to the Islanders for Bart Crashley and the rights to Larry Hornung.
Bourne spent the entire 1974–75 season with the Islanders but found himself in the minor leagues the following year. He returned to the Islanders for the 1976–77 season, and spent the next ten seasons on Long Island, recording at least thirty goals three times and between twenty and thirty goals three others. He won the Stanley Cup 4 times — 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983. He led the Islanders in playoff scoring en route to their fourth Stanley Cup in 1983.
Bourne's career ended on a high note. He was claimed by the Los Angeles Kings on waivers in October 1986 and played 2 seasons with the Kings. In his final year in the NHL he was awarded the Bill Masterton Trophy for perseverance. He was also honored by Sports Illustrated as one of several Sportsmen of the Year in 1987, as one of eight "Athletes Who Care" for their work in humanitarian causes. Bourne was singled out for his work with a school for disabled children.
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Bob Cousy
Robert Joseph "Bob" Cousy (born August 9, 1928) is a retired American professional basketball player. Cousy played point guard with the Boston Celtics from 1950 to 1963 and briefly with the Cincinnati Royals in the 1969-70 season. Cousy first demonstrated his basketball abilities while playing for his high school varsity team in his junior year. He obtained a scholarship to the College of the Holy Cross, where he led the Crusaders to berths in the 1948 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and 1950 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and was named an NCAA All-American for 3 seasons. Cousy was initially drafted as the third overall pick in the first round of the 1950 NBA Draft by the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, but after he refused to report, he was picked up by Boston. Cousy had a very successful career with the Celtics, playing on six championship teams, being voted into 13 NBA All-Star Games and 12 All-NBA First and Second Teams and winning the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 1957.
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Bob Kurland
Robert Albert "Bob" Kurland (born December 23, 1924 in St. Louis, Missouri) was a 7 feet (2.1 m) basketball center, who played for Henry Iba's Oklahoma A&M Aggies (now Oklahoma State Cowboys) basketball team. He was an integral part of the team's consecutive NCAA titles in 1945 and 1946.
Because Kurland often leaped above the rim to grab opponents' shots, the NCAA banned defensive goaltending in 1945. Kurland was also the first person to regularly dunk during games. The rivalry between him and De Paul's George Mikan would foreshadow similar matchups, especially those of "Big Men".
Kurland never played professional basketball, passing up the newly formed Basketball Association of America and National Basketball League (which would merge, forming the National Basketball Association), to play for Phillips Petroleum's A.A.U. team, the 66 Oilers. Kurland played for six years with Phillips, winning three championships. Since he never played professionally, he was eligible as an amateur for the 1948 and 1952 Olympics.
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Bob McAdoo
Robert Allen 'Bob' McAdoo (born September 25, 1951) is a retired American professional basketball player who spent a fourteen-year career playing the center and power forward positions in the National Basketball Association. McAdoo is currently an assistant coach for the Miami Heat.
Drafted in the first round of the 1972 NBA Draft by the Buffalo Braves (now the Los Angeles Clippers) following two seasons at Vincennes Junior College, and one season at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, McAdoo soon became one of the NBA's premier players. McAdoo won the 1973 NBA Rookie of the Year Award in his first season, and earned the first of three consecutive NBA scoring titles in only his second season. His 2nd season (1973–74) remains the last time an NBA player has averaged both 30.0 points per game and 15.0 rebounds per game over the course of a season. McAdoo also led the NBA in field goal percentage in 1973-74, shooting 54.7 percent. That year he enjoyed his first of five All-Star selections. In 1974-75 he was awarded the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, averaging 34.5 points, 14.1 rebounds and 2.12 blocks per game, while shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 80.5 percent from the free throw line. He also led the league in fan voting for the 1975 All-Star Game with 98,325 votes.
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Bob Pelkington
Bob Pelkington was an American basketball player for Xavier University from 1960 to 1964.
Pelkington was one of the best rebounders of his era. During his senior year, he led the nation in rebounds per game at 21.8. His 16.6 career average is still the highest in school history.
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Bob Pettit
Robert Lee "Bob" Pettit Jr. (born December 12, 1932, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.) is a retired American professional basketball player. He played 11 seasons in the NBA, all with the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks (1954-1965). He was the first recipient of the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970. He also went by the nickname "Dutch" in college. He also won the NBA All-Star MVP award four times.
Pettit's basketball career had humble beginnings. At Baton Rouge High School, he was cut from the varsity basketball team as both a freshman and sophomore. His father, Sheriff of East Baton Rouge Parish (1932-1936), pushed him to practice in the backyard of the Kemmerly house until he improved his skills. It worked: Pettit became a starter as a junior, and led Baton Rouge High to its first State Championship in over 20 years in his senior year.
After high school, Pettit accepted a scholarship to play at Louisiana State University. He was a three-time All-Southeastern Conference selection and a two-time All American as a member of the LSU men's basketball team. (Freshmen were not allowed to play varsity basketball in those days.) During those three years, Pettit averaged 27.8 points per game. He was also a member of the Zeta Zeta Chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon at LSU.
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Bobby Bryant
Bobby Bryant (born January 24, 1944) was a cornerback for the Minnesota Vikings during the days of the Purple People Eaters (1968–1980). Bryant was a fierce competitor despite his size (his playing weight probably never exceeded 170 pounds) leading to the nickname "Bones". Predictably, he was often injured during his career, but when healthy, he was known as a big-play cornerback, often making a key interception to win a big game or to preserve a win when it appeared the opponent was about to score. Bryant is second on the Vikings all-time list with 51 career interceptions. (Paul Krause leads with 53). He was named to the 1975 and 1976 NFC Pro Bowl squads. He is one of 10 Vikings to have played in all four of their Super Bowls in the 1970s. He also played on special teams returning kicks and punts and was known for blowing kisses to the crowd.
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Bobby Morrow
Bobby Joe Morrow (born October 15, 1935) is a former American athlete, winner of three Olympic gold medals in 1956. Morrow has been called "the dominant sprinter of the 1950s" and "the most relaxed sprinter of all time, even more so than his hero Jesse Owens".
Bobby Joe Morrow was born in Harlingen, Texas, and raised on a farm in San Benito, Texas. Before becoming a sprinter, Morrow played football for San Benito High School. Morrow also was a sprinter at Abilene Christian University and a member of the men's club Frater Sodalis.
Morrow won the 1955 AAU 100 yard title. His most successful season was in 1956, when he was chosen by Sports Illustrated as "Sportsman of the Year". Morrow won the sprint double in the national college championships and defended his AAU title. Morrow then went to the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, where he won three gold medals and was the leader of the American sprint team.
In all, Morrow won three gold medals. First, he was victorious in the 100 meter dash. He then led an American sweep of the medals in the 200 meter dash, while equaling the World Record at that distance. He won his third gold by anchoring the 4×100 meter relay team to a World Record time. The three performances are encapsulated in this youtube video.
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Bobby Orr
Robert Gordon "Bobby" Orr, OC (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Orr played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for his entire career, the first ten seasons with the Boston Bruins, joining the Chicago Black Hawks for two more. Orr is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest hockey players of all time. A defenceman, Orr used his ice skating speed and scoring and play-making abilities to revolutionize the position. As of 2011[update], Orr remains the only defenceman to have won the league scoring title with two Art Ross Trophies and holds the record for most points and assists in a single season by a defenceman. Orr won a record eight consecutive Norris Trophies as the NHL's best defenceman and three consecutive Hart Trophies as the league's most valuable player (MVP). Orr was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979 at age 31, the youngest to that day to be inducted into the Hall.
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Bonnie Blair
Bonnie Kathleen Blair (born March 18, 1964 in Cornwall, New York) is a retired American speedskater. She is one of the top skaters of her time, and one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. Blair competed for the United States in four Olympics, and in her Olympic career won five gold medals and one bronze medal.
Blair was raised in Champaign, Illinois. She attended Jefferson Middle School. After graduation from Centennial High School in Champaign, she moved to the Milwaukee area to train with the United States national speed skating team.
Blair appeared at her first Olympic games in Sarajevo in 1984. She failed to medal but finished eighth in the 500 meters. At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Blair won gold in the 500 meters and bronze in the 1000 meters. In the 500 meters race, Blair set a world record by completing the event in 39.10 seconds. She won both the 500 and 1000 meters (1:21.90) again at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France.
Blair took advantage of a change of Olympic rules. In 1986, the International Olympic Committee voted to stage the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics in alternating four year cycles. Thus, the next Winter Games would be held in February 1994 rather than in February 1996. The 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, were a coronation of sorts for Blair: She again won gold in the 500 meters (39.25) and 1000 (1:18.74) meters races, in dominating fashion. Blair finished 0.36 seconds ahead of the second best time in the 500 meters, and her 1.38 second margin in the 1000 meters race is the largest margin of victory in the history of the event. In the process she became the first American woman to win five gold medals. She also was the only American to have 6 medals at any Winter olympics, which record stood until Apolo Ohno tied it and then surpassed it at the 2010 Winter Olympics when he won a silver and two bronze medals in short track speed skating for eight career medals.
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Boo Ellis
Alexander "Boo" Ellis (February 11, 1936 – May 6, 2010) was an American professional basketball player for the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Ellis played in the league for just the 1958–59 and 1959–60 seasons and averaged 5.1 points 5.2 rebounds per game.
Ellis grew up in Hamilton, Ohio and attended Hamilton High School. He led the school to 25–3 record and a 1954 state championship as a senior, garnering first team all-state and state tournament MVP honors that year. Ellis then went on to play college basketball for Niagara University.
A 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), 185 lb. forward/center, he quickly became a dominant force in both scoring and rebounding. Since the rules back then did not allow freshmen to play varsity sports, Ellis had to wait until his sophomore year in 1955–56 to suit up officially for the Purple Eagles. In his three seasons, he accumulated 1,656 points and a still-standing school record 1,533 rebounds. In his first season of eligibility, Ellis grabbed a school single season record 485 rebounds, only to break his own record the next two consecutive years with 522 and 526, respectively. During a game against Kent State in his junior year, he recorded a 31-point, 31-rebound effort. In Ellis' final season, he led NCAA Division I in rebounding and was named the Western New York Athlete of the Year. He also guided the Purple Eagles to two National Invitation Tournament (NIT) berths in his three year career.
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Boris Diaw
Boris Babacar Diaw-Riffiod, better known as Boris Diaw (born April 16, 1982), is a French professional basketball player who plays for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association. He is 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) and 235 lbs (106.6 kg). He played for Pau Orthez, France's top league team, before joining the NBA.
At the end of the 2005–06 NBA season, Diaw was awarded the Most Improved Player trophy by garnering 80 first-place votes in balloting by 124 sports writers and sportscasters. He received 489 overall points.
In 2000, he won the European Junior Championship with the French National Team. He won a slam dunk contest in France when he was selected to play in the France Pro-A league's All-Star game in 2002. He was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round, twenty-first overall in the 2003 NBA Draft where he played for two seasons before being traded in the offseason of 2005 with two future first round picks to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Joe Johnson. He had won the bronze medal at the European Championship with the French National Team in 2005.
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Brandon Hunter
Brandon Hunter (born November 24, 1980 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a 6'7", 260 lbs, American professional basketball player who currently plays for BBC Bayreuth in Germany. Most of his career he has been a journeyman player.
As a college senior for the Ohio Bobcats, the power forward averaged 21.5 points, 12.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.2 blocks and 0.8 steals. That year he led all NCAA players in rebounding. He also joined the exclusive 2,000 point, 1,000 rebound club.
After his college basketball career with the Ohio Bobcats, he was selected as a second round draft choice (56th overall) of the Boston Celtics in the 2003 NBA Draft. He played 36 games for the team, averaging 3.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in his rookie season. On June 22, 2004 he was selected by the Charlotte Bobcats in the NBA Expansion Draft. He never played a game for them because he was traded on November 1 of that year to the Orlando Magic in exchange for Keith Bogans. In Orlando he averaged 3.1 points and 2.2 rebounds per game in 31 contests. He was signed by the Milwaukee Bucks before the 2005-06 season, but he was waived before he played in any NBA games for the club.
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Brandon Roy
Brandon Dawayne Roy (born July 23, 1984) is a retired American professional basketball player who played for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association. He was selected sixth in the 2006 NBA Draft, having completed four years playing for the Washington Huskies. In 2009, he served as the team's co-captain, along with LaMarcus Aldridge. His nickname was "B-Roy", but he was also referred to as "The Natural" by announcer Brian Wheeler. On December 10, 2011, Roy announced his retirement from basketball due to a degenerative knee condition.
Born in Seattle, Washington, Roy became known for his immediate impact on the Trail Blazers.Zach Randolph, then the team captain, was traded to the New York Knicks at the end of Roy's first season, which cleared the way for Roy to take on a leadership role on the team. Though hampered by an injured ankle, Roy won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award for 2006–07 in a near-unanimous vote. He played 57 games as a rookie and averaged 16.8 points per game in the 2006–07 season. He was selected as a reserve to the 2008 NBA All-Star Game, the 2009 NBA All-Star Game, and the 2010 NBA All-Star Game. Roy played the most minutes of any Western Conference player, and tied for the most points in the West in the 2008 game, and he played the most minutes of any player during the 2009 game.
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Brent Barry
Brent Robert Barry (born December 31, 1971) is a former American professional basketball player. The 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), 210 lb (95 kg; 15 st) shooting guard was selected out of Oregon State University by the Denver Nuggets with the 15th overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft, but was traded shortly after to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Barry played professionally for the Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Seattle SuperSonics, San Antonio Spurs, and Houston Rockets, winning two NBA Championships with the Spurs, in 2005 and 2007. He also won the 1996 NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
Following the conclusion of his NBA career, Barry works as sports commentator and studio host for the NBA TV show "NBA Gametime."
Barry, born in Hempstead, New York, is the son of Hall of Famer Rick Barry, and was arguably the best player of the four basketball-playing Barry sons, the others being Scooter, Jon and Drew. His stepmother, Lynn Barry, was also a distinguished basketball player in college. Brent, the second youngest, played his high school basketball at athletic powerhouse De La Salle High School in Concord, California and graduated in 1990. Barry played four years on the Beavers basketball team of Oregon State University after redshirting his freshman season. In 1995, Barry graduated from Oregon State with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology.
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Brett Brown
Brett Brown is a basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the Australia national basketball team the Boomers team and an assistant coach at the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA. He was an assistant coach with the Boomers for 132 games between 1995 and 2003 including the 1998 world championship and the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. Brown was formerly an assistant coach with Lindsay Gaze at the Melbourne Tigers before taking over at North Melbourne in 1993. He was named NBL coach of the year in 1994 when he led the Giants to the a championship victory over the Adelaide 36ers. He coached the Sydney Kings from 2000 to 2002 before leaving for San Antonio. He was Head Coach of the North Melbourne Giants from 1993 to 1998 and amassed 278 games as a Head Coach in the NBL with a 149-129 win-loss record. Brown is originally American and met and married his wife, Anna, in Australia. They have two daughters, Julia and Laura, and a son, Sam. His task is to take the Australian team to the 2012 London Olympics as a replacement for Brian Goorjian.
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Brett Favre
Brett Lorenzo Favre (born October 10, 1969) is a former American football quarterback who spent the majority of his career with the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He was a 20-year veteran of the NFL, having played quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons (1991), Green Bay Packers (1992–2007), New York Jets (2008) and Minnesota Vikings (2009–2010). Favre is the only quarterback in NFL history to throw for over 70,000 yards, over 500 touchdowns, over 300 interceptions, and over 10,000 pass attempts. He officially retired on January 17, 2011.
Favre started at the quarterback position for the University of Southern Mississippi for four years before being selected in the second round of the 1991 NFL Draft by Atlanta (33rd overall). He was traded to Green Bay on February 10, 1992, for the 19th pick in the 1992 NFL Draft.
Favre became the Packers' starting quarterback in the fourth game of the 1992 season, and started every game through the 2007 season. He was traded to the New York Jets and started at quarterback for the 2008 season before signing with the Vikings on August 18, 2009 as their starting quarterback. He made an NFL record 297 consecutive starts (321 including playoffs).
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Brevin Knight
Brevin Adon Knight (born November 8, 1975) is an American retired professional basketball point guard who played with nine teams in the NBA from 1997 to 2009. Knight played college basketball at Stanford University and was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1997. He is the brother of Brandin Knight.
Knight attended Seton Hall Preparatory School in West Orange, New Jersey, leading its basketball team to New Jersey state championships along with Ira Bowman, Chris Couzen, and Pat Bosworth his sophomore, junior, and senior years. He was named to the Newark Star-Ledger's All-State First Team. Lightly recruited out of high school, Knight was a late signee for Stanford University.
Knight had a successful college career at Stanford, where he is the all-time leader in assists (780) and steals (298) and third all-time in scoring (1,714). He was chosen by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 16th pick in the 1997 NBA Draft.
Knight was drafted with the 16th pick of the first round in the 1997 NBA Draft. In his rookie season, Knight led the NBA in steals per game and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. He has played for the Cavaliers, the Atlanta Hawks, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Phoenix Suns, the Washington Wizards, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Charlotte Bobcats, averaging 7.6 points and 6.5 assists per game in his career.
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Brian Piccolo
Louis Brian Piccolo (October 31, 1943 – June 16, 1970) was a professional football player for the Chicago Bears for four years. He died from embryonal cell carcinoma, an aggressive form of germ cell testicular cancer, first diagnosed after it had spread to his chest cavity. He was the subject of the 1971 TV movie Brian's Song, with a remake (of the same title) TV movie filmed in 2001. Piccolo was portrayed in the original film by James Caan and by Sean Maher in the 2001 remake.
Brian Piccolo – the youngest of three sons – was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts to Joseph and Irene (1909-2011) Piccolo. The family moved south to Fort Lauderdale, Florida when Piccolo was twelve, due to his parents' concerns for his brother Don's health. Piccolo and his brothers were athletes and Brian Piccolo was a star running back on his high school football team, but considered baseball his primary sport.[citation needed] He graduated from the former Central Catholic High School (now St. Thomas Aquinas High School) in Fort Lauderdale in 1961.
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Bruce Bowen
Bruce Bowen Jr. (born June 14, 1971) is a retired American professional basketball player. The 6'7", 200-lb. (200 cm, 91 kg) Bowen played small forward and graduated from Edison High School and Cal State Fullerton. He went on to play for the NBA's Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers, the San Antonio Spurs and the CBA's Rockford Lightning, and also played abroad in France.
One of the most feared perimeter "lockdown" defenders in NBA history, Bowen was elected eight times to the NBA All-Defensive First and Second Teams, and was a member of the Spurs teams that won the NBA championships in 2003, 2005 and 2007. Off the court, Bowen became an informal ambassador for child obesity awareness. He currently works as an analyst for ESPN.
Bruce Bowen Jr. was born in Merced, California as son of Bruce Bowen Sr. and Dietra Campbell. Bowen had a problematic childhood growing up in Merced, because, he claims, his mother took drugs and even sold the family TV to feed her habit. Bruce Jr. spent his days playing basketball and eventually became a star in the local West Fresno Edison High School squad. After receiving a scholarship, Bowen played four seasons at Cal State Fullerton, appearing in 101 games, and averaged 11.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. After averaging 16.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 36.6 minutes in 27 games as a senior in 1992–93, he was named to the All-Big West Conference First Team. Bowen ranks 12th on the Titans' all-time list in career points (1,155) and is seventh all-time in rebounds (559).
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Bryant Reeves
Bryant Reeves (born June 8, 1973 in Fort Smith, Arkansas) is an American retired professional basketball player for the NBA's Vancouver Grizzlies. He was nicknamed Big Country by his college teammate Byron Houston after Reeves was amazed following his first airplane flight across the United States, having grown up in the small community of Gans, Oklahoma.
Standing 7 feet tall and weighing between 275-300 pounds, Reeves was an imposing physical presence on the court and was primed to become a dominant center in the NBA. After a strong collegiate career with Oklahoma State University, where he averaged 21.5 points per game as a senior and led OSU to the 1995 Final Four, Reeves became the Grizzlies' first-ever draft choice, selected sixth overall in the 1995 NBA Draft.
Reeves played six seasons with the Grizzlies. After averaging 13.3 points per game in a solid rookie season, he averaged 16.2 points per game in 1997 and was subsequently awarded with a six-year, $61.8 million contract extension. The next season, 1997-98, was his best, when he averaged 16.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.08 blocked shots per game. During that season, he scored a career-high 41 points against the Boston Celtics.
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Bubba Wells
Charles Richard "Bubba" Wells (born July 26, 1974 in Russellville, Kentucky) is a retired American professional basketball player. He played briefly for the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA. He played collegiately for Austin Peay State University and was named 1997 Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year.
Selected 34th by the Mavs in the 1997 NBA Draft, the little-used small forward's NBA career was short-lived, consisting of just 39 games of the 1997–98 season. However, he did start two games in March 1998, in place of the injured Cedric Ceballos.
His NBA career came to an abrupt end in 1998, after he was traded to the Phoenix Suns along with Martin Müürsepp, the draft rights to Pat Garrity, and a future first-round draft pick in exchange for point guard Steve Nash. Wells never played a game for the Suns. He was later traded to the Chicago Bulls, also for whom he never played. He later played for the LaCrosse Bobcats of the CBA, the Oklahoma Storm of USBL, the Memphis Houn'Dawgs of the ABA, and overseas in Greece and the Philippines. He played for the Harlem Globetrotters in 2004–05. Since June 2005, Wells has been an assistant men's basketball coach at Austin Peay.
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Buck Williams
Charles Linwood Williams (born March 8, 1960 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina), better known as "Buck", is a retired American professional basketball player and current assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers. He was well known for his rebounding ability and trademark goggles.
Williams, 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m), ranks 13th all-time in NBA career rebounds. His 17-year NBA career was highlighted by three All-Star Game appearances, a Rookie of the Year award, an All-Rookie team selection, an All-NBA second team selection and four selections to the first and second NBA All-Defensive teams. As of 2010, he is still the Nets' all-time leader in points (10,440), total rebounds (7,576), rebounds per game (11.9), and free throws made (2,476).
Williams attended Rocky Mount High School (then called Rocky Mount Senior High) in Rocky Mount before going off to play collegiately at the University of Maryland. Williams had immediate success at Maryland, capturing the ACC Rookie of the Year Award in 1979. He led the ACC in rebounding twice (1979 and 1981), while averaging 15.5 points per game in his sophomore and junior years. He earned All-ACC honors in 1980 and 1981. National recognition of his performances came when he was selected to the 1980 USA Olympic basketball team, alongside such players as later two-time NBA champions Isiah Thomas and Mark Aguirre; he, however, never got to represent the national colors in Moscow due to the United States' boycott. In 2002, Williams was one of eight former Maryland players to be named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team. In 2001, he became a member of the University of Maryland’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
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Butch Lee
Alfred "Butch" Lee (born December 5, 1956) is a retired Puerto Rican-born professional basketball player. He is the first Puerto Rican national to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Lee played in the NCAA, NBA, and National Superior Basketball League of Puerto Rico (BSN). He played for the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Los Angeles Lakers while in the NBA. Lee was a member of the Puerto Rican national basketball team, including the 1976 Puerto Rican squad that came close to defeating the United States. Most notably, Lee was selected as the Most Outstanding Player at the 1977 Final Four where he led the Marquette Warriors to the school's first national championship. Lee earned All-American honors as both a junior and senior while at Marquette University. The university later retired Lee's jersey.
Lee was born in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico to an American couple. Lee's family moved to Harlem, New York, U.S., when he was a young child. There he went on to become a 1st Team, PSAL All City basketball player and honor student at the DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx.
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Calbert Cheaney
Calbert Nathaniel Cheaney (born July 17, 1971 in Evansville, Indiana) is a retired basketball player and currently director of basketball operations for Indiana University. During a thirteen year NBA career, Cheaney played for five different teams, averaging 9.5 points and 3.2 rebounds.
Cheaney played high school ball at William Henry Harrison High School in Evansville and was selected to the 1989 Indiana All-Star team. Cheaney was a high school stand-out, but few would have predicted he would capture the Naismith Award.
Cheaney played both shooting guard and small forward at Indiana University for head coach Bob Knight. He was Knight's first left-handed player and began his career with a flash, scoring 20 points in the season opener of his freshman year (the only Indiana freshman to ever do so).
Cheaney was known as a smooth leader all four years at Indiana. During the last three of his years at Indiana, the team spent all but two of the 53 poll weeks in the top 10, and 38 of them in the top 5. The Hoosiers were 87-16 (.845) those years and a 46-8 (.852) mark in the Big Ten Conference. Of the four years Cheaney played the Hoosiers went 105-27 and captured two Big Ten crowns ('91 and '93). The 105 games won during Cheaney's four years is the most of any Hoosier.
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Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Michael Yastrzemski ( /jəˈstrɛmski/; nicknamed "Yaz"; born August 22, 1939) is a former American Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year baseball career with the Boston Red Sox (1961–1983). He was primarily a left fielder, with part of his later career played at first base and as a designated hitter. Yastrzemski is an 18-time All-Star, the possessor of seven Gold Gloves, a member of the 3000 hit club, and the first American League player in that club to also accumulate over 400 home runs. He is second on the all-time list for games played, and third for total at-bats. He is the Red Sox' all-time leader in career RBIs, runs, hits, singles, doubles, total bases, and games played, and is second on the team's list for home runs behind another Red Sox great, Ted Williams, his predecessor in left field. In 1967, Yastrzemski achieved a peak in his career, leading the Red Sox to the American League pennant for the first time in over two decades, in that season being voted the American League MVP, and being the most recent winner of the triple crown for batters in the major leagues.
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Carlos Boozer
Carlos Austin Boozer, Jr. (born November 20, 1981) is an American professional basketball player with the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association. As a member of the Team USA, Boozer won an Olympic bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Although born at a military base in Aschaffenburg, West Germany, Boozer grew up in Juneau, Alaska, in the US. As a child, Boozer and his father practiced outside at his local middle school, throughout the cold Alaska seasons. He attended Juneau-Douglas High School. Boozer was married to his wife CeCe for six years before he filed for divorce in March 2009. Boozer and CeCe have three children together: Carmani (who had a bone marrow transplant in 2007 to treat sickle-cell disease), and twins, Cameron and Cayden. He also has a younger brother, Charles, who previously played basketball for the Iowa State Cyclones. Boozer was reported as having an affair with actress Michelle Money, which Money later confirmed.
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Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Kiyan Anthony (born May 29, 1984), nicknamed "Melo", is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After a successful high school career at Towson Catholic High School and Oak Hill Academy, Anthony attended Syracuse University for college where he led the Orangemen to their first National Championship in 2003. He earned the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award and was named the Most Valuable Player of NCAA East Regional. After one season at Syracuse University, Anthony left college to enter the 2003 NBA Draft, where he was selected as the third pick by the Nuggets. He was traded to the Knicks several days prior to the 2011 trade deadline.
Since entering the NBA, Anthony has emerged as one of the most well-known and popular players in the league. He was named to the All-Rookie team, to the All-Star team five times and to the All-NBA team five times. Anthony led the Nuggets to two division titles and to the playoffs every year from 2004 to 2010. In 2009, he helped the Nuggets advance to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1985. As a member of the USA National Team, Anthony won a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics and a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics.
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Cazzie Russell
Cazzie Lee Russell (born June 7, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois) is a former pro basketball player and coach. In 1962, Russell was named the Chicago Sun Times Boy's Player of the Year.
Russell played college basketball at the University of Michigan, where he led the Wolverines to three consecutive Big Ten Conference titles (1964–66) and to Final Four appearances in 1964 and 1965, losing in the final game 91-80 to defending national champion UCLA and John Wooden. In 1966, Russell averaged 30.8 points per game and was named the College Basketball Player of the Year. Crisler Arena, which opened in 1967, has been dubbed The House that Cazzie Built.
Russell spent twelve seasons in the NBA (1966-1978), and is best remembered for his five seasons with the New York Knicks (1966-71). Russell was the NBA's first draft pick in 1966, and was named to the 1967 All-Rookie Team. He was later part of the famous 1970 Knicks team that won the NBA championship over the Los Angeles Lakers. Russell played in the 1972 NBA All-Star Game while with the Golden State Warriors. When he played for the Lakers, he was the last player to wear #32 prior to Magic Johnson.
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Cedric Maxwell
Cedric Bryan Maxwell (born November 21, 1955) is a retired American professional basketball player now in radio broadcasting. Nicknamed "Cornbread", he played 11 seasons in the NBA, and played a key role in two championships with the Boston Celtics.
Maxwell was a star forward/center for the Charlotte 49ers. Among the 49ers, Maxwell ranks 6th all-time in points scored and his #33 jersey was retired in 1977, when he led UNC Charlotte to the NCAA Final Four. Upon completion of his career at Charlotte, Maxwell was the 12th overall pick in the 1977 NBA Draft. He was drafted by the Boston Celtics, where he played for eight of his eleven seasons.
Maxwell made an impact in his second season with the Celtics. While Boston was mired in an otherwise awful 1978-79 season, as they awaited Larry Bird's decision to sign with the franchise, the second-year power forward averaged 19.0 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. The Celtics would go just 29-53 on the year, but the young Maxwell's potential, along with the promising addition of Bird and others, set the stage for what would become an NBA dynasty.
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Chad Forcier
Chad Forcier is an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Forcier attended Seattle Pacific University, graduating in 1995. During his time in college, he started his coaching career, joining the Seattle SuperSonics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) as an intern in 1992. He spent five seasons with the Sonics, working for head coach George Karl. From 1994 to 1997 Forcier also served as varsity assistant coach and JV head coach at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, Washington. In 1997 he was named an assistant coach at Oregon State University where he spent three seasons, before moving to the University of Portland to serve as an assistant during the 2000–01 season.
In 2001 Forcier began to work as an assistant coach for Rick Carlisle in the NBA, spending two seasons with the Detroit Pistons (2001–03) and then four with the Indiana Pacers (2003–07). Since 2007 he has served as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs, where he is responsible for player development.
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Charles Barkley
Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is a former American professional basketball player and current analyst on the television program Inside the NBA. Nicknamed "Sir Charles" and "The Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley established himself as one of the National Basketball Association's (NBA's) most dominating power forwards. He was selected to the All-NBA First Team five times, the All-NBA Second Team five times, and once to the All-NBA Third Team. He earned eleven NBA All-Star Game appearances and was named the All-Star MVP in 1991. In 1993, he was voted the league's Most Valuable Player and during the NBA's 50th anniversary, named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. He competed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic games and won two gold medals as a member of the United States' Dream Team. In 2006, Barkley was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Barkley was popular with the fans and media and made the NBA's All-Interview Team for his last 13 seasons in the league. He was frequently involved in on- and off-court fights and sometimes stirred national controversy, as in March 1991 when he mistakenly spat on a young girl, and as in 1993 when he declared that sports figures should not be considered role models. Short for a power forward, Barkley used his strength and aggressiveness to become one of the NBA's most dominant rebounders. He was a versatile player who had the ability to score, create plays, and defend. In 2000, he retired as the fourth player in NBA history to achieve 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists.
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Charlie Scott
Charles Thomas Scott (born December 15, 1948 in New York City, New York) is an American former professional basketball player. He played two seasons in the now-defunct American Basketball Association (ABA) and eight seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
A 6'5" (1.96 m) guard/forward from the Laurinburg Institute (following one year at New York's Stuyvesant High School) and the University of North Carolina, where he was the first black scholarship athlete. Scott averaged 22.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game at UNC. He was the first person of color to join a fraternity at the University of North Carolina, St. Anthony Hall, in 1967. Scott was a gold medalist at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Scott was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1970 but he had already signed a contract with the Virginia Squires of the ABA. Scott was named ABA Rookie of the Year after averaging 27.1 points per game. During his second season with the Squires, he set the ABA record for highest scoring average in one season (34.6 points per game). However, he became dissatisfied with life in the ABA and joined the NBA's Phoenix Suns in 1972. At that point, he briefly went by the name Shaheed Abdul-Aleem.
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Charlie Slack
Charles E. "Charlie" Slack is an American former college basketball standout from the Marshall University. He holds the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I record for the highest single-season rebound average when he grabbed 25.6 rpg in 1954–55.
Considered the greatest rebounder in college basketball history, he had his Marshall uniform number (#17) retired in January 2000. In his four year career with the Thundering Herd, from 1952–53 to 1955–56, Slack compiled 1,916 career rebounds, which is third all-time behind Tom Gola's 2,201 and Joe Holup's 2,030. Additionally, Slack's effort of 43 rebounds against Charleston (West Virginia) on January 12, 1954 is the second highest single game rebound total in NCAA history behind Bill Chambers' 51. Slack owns the top four spots on Marshall's season rebounding average list with 25.6, 23.6, 22.2 and 16.3 rebounds per game. A prodigious rebounder, he also scored 1,551 points during his career.
Although he was drafted by the Fort Wayne Pistons in the 1956 NBA Draft, he never played professionally. He was, however, an alternate for the 1960 United States men's basketball team at the Olympics. Slack was also a member of the varsity football team and was inducted into the Marshall University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1985 for being a dual-sport star.
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Charlie Ward
Charlie Ward, Jr. (born October 12, 1970) is a retired American professional NBA basketball player, college football Heisman Trophy winner, Davey O'Brien Award winner and a Major League Baseball draftee. Ward is considered one of the best all-around athletes in the last quarter century. He was inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame with Emmitt Smith and Bobby Bowden in 2006.
Ward won the 1993 Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and Davey O'Brien Award as a quarterback for Florida State University, and subsequently led the Seminoles to their first-ever National Championship when FSU defeated Nebraska 18–16 in the 1993 Orange Bowl. The Seminoles had suffered their only defeat of the season to a second-ranked Notre Dame team, but their path to the National Championship was cleared a week later when the Irish were upset at home by Boston College. Ward holds the second-largest margin of victory in the history of Heisman trophy balloting, with a 1,622 point difference, second only to O.J. Simpson's 1,750 point win in 1968. He was also the only Heisman winner to play in the NBA. In 1993, Charlie Ward won the James E. Sullivan Award from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
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Chauncey Billups
Chauncey Ray Billups (born September 25, 1976, in Denver, Colorado) is an American professional basketball guard for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A star at the University of Colorado, he was chosen third overall in the 1997 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics.
A 5 time NBA All-Star and a 3 time All-NBA selection, Billups has played for the Celtics, the Toronto Raptors, the Denver Nuggets, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Detroit Pistons, the New York Knicks, the Clippers, and Team USA. He won the NBA Finals MVP in 2004, helping the Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals, and was given the nickname "Mr. Big Shot" for making late-game shots with Detroit.
In 2004 he was honored by the University of Colorado as the fifth player to have his jersey (number 4) retired.
Billups attended Denver's George Washington High School, where he was a four-time All-State first team pick, Colorado Mr. Basketball three times, and Colorado Player of the Year as a sophomore and as a junior. He was selected to the 1995 McDonald's All-American Team but did not play due to a shoulder injury, an injury that he would have a problem with off and on throughout his early career.
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Chip Engelland
Chip Engelland (born May 9, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player and currently an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association. He became a naturalized Filipino when he played for the Philippine National Team back in the 80's.
A native of Los Angeles, Engelland, who also served as a ball boy for coach John Wooden’s NCAA champions UCLA Bruins in 1975, began his basketball career at Pacific Palisades High School, leading Los Angeles in scoring as a senior in 1979. Subsequently, he lettered four season at Duke University, scoring more than 1,000 points for coach Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils and being named the team's captain in his senior year.
After graduating from Duke in 1983, Engelland went on to play professionally for nine years. First in the Philippines, where he spent two seasons and was a member of the San Miguel Beermen that captured the 1985 Jones Cup Championship, then back in North America, playing for the Topeka Sizzlers of the CBA and the Calgary 88's of the WBL.
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Chris Anstey
Christopher John "Chris" Anstey (born 1 January 1975 in Melbourne) is a former Australian professional basketball player. At 7'0" (213 cm) his career included stints in the NBA, Russia and Spain. Anstey was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round (18th pick overall) of the 1997 NBA Draft. He played for the Melbourne Tigers in the Australian NBL. He retired at the end of the 2009/2010 season.
Anstey took up basketball at the relatively late age of 17, Before that he was a promising tennis player, peaking at being ranked number 2 amongst Australia's 15 year old players. In 1994 he joined the Melbourne Tigers and was teammates with some of the most recognizable names in Australian basketball, such as Andrew Gaze, Lindsay Gaze, and Lanard Copeland. Anstey played for the South East Melbourne Magic from 1995–1997, earning Most Improved Player in 1996, before going to the NBA.
Anstey was the 18th overall selection of the 1997 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. His draft rights were traded by the Blazers with cash to the Dallas Mavericks for the draft rights to Kelvin Cato in June 1997. His rookie year, 1997–98, he averaged 5.9 PPG and 3.8 RPG in 16.6 MPG. The next year, his numbers dropped to 3.3 PPG and 2.4 RPG. He was traded by the Mavericks to the Chicago Bulls for a second round draft pick in 2000 in September 1999. He averaged 6.0 PPG and 3.8 RPG on 44.2 FG% in his last NBA season with the Bulls. Anstey owns career NBA averages of 5.2 PPG, 3.4 RPG and 0.4 BPG in 155 games with 23 starts.
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Chris Carrawell
Chris Carrawell (born November 25, 1977 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American professional basketball player who was selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2nd round (41st overall) of the 2000 NBA Draft.
Born in a rough inner-city neighborhood in north St. Louis and never getting to meet his father, Carrawell attended high school at Cardinal Ritter College Prep in St. Louis. Among his teammates were future NBA players Loren Woods and Jahidi White. In four years on the Cardinal Ritter varsity, he led the team to an overall 80-13 record, including a three-year undefeated streak at home. Carrawell was a USA today Top 40 All American going into his junior season, where he averaged 20.6 points per game as Cardinal Ritter won the state's Class AA championnship. The following season, Cardinal Ritter defended its state title. Carrawell again led the team, averaging 17 points and 8 rebounds per game. Carrawell was named conference Player of the Year twice, earned Central Region honors as Gatorade Player of the Year, and was a fourth-team Parade All-American. He set school career records for points, rebounds, and assists. Cardinal Ritter made USA Today's list of the top 25 high school teams in the country twice during Carrawell's prep career.
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Chris Dudley
Christen Guilford "Chris" Dudley (born February 22, 1965) is a retired American basketball player who played 16 years and 886 games in the NBA for five different teams. A journeyman center, he was known primarily for his defensive skill as a rebounder and shot blocker. In 2010, he was the Republican nominee for Governor of Oregon.
Dudley was born in Stamford, Connecticut, the son of Elizabeth Josephine (née Kovacs, c.1941- ), a teacher, and Guilford Dudley III (c. 1932- ), a minister. His maternal grandfather, also a minister, immigrated from Hungary, and his paternal grandfather was Guilford Dudley, who was U.S. ambassador to Denmark under the Nixon and Ford presidential administrations.
Dudley played high school basketball at Torrey Pines High School in San Diego, California. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 16. Like his parents, grandfather, and uncle, Dudley attended Yale University. At Yale he played NCAA basketball for the Bulldogs from 1983 to 1987 and earned a degree in political science and economics.
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Chris Duhon
Chris Nicholas Duhon (born August 31, 1982, in Mamou, Louisiana) is an American professional basketball player for the Orlando Magic. Duhon was a point guard for the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team from 2000 to 2004, the Chicago Bulls from 2004 to 2008, and the New York Knicks from 2008 to 2010, and presently plays for the Orlando Magic. Fellow NBA player Jarrett Jack is his cousin.
In his senior year at Salmen High School in Slidell, Louisiana, Duhon was voted Mr. Basketball for the state of Louisiana, made the McDonald's All-American Team, and won the McDonald's Three Point Shootout.
Duhon arrived at Duke in 2000, where he was an important role player, playing backup to point guard Jason Williams. Following the injury of teammate Carlos Boozer, Duhon was placed into the starting lineup as point guard, with Williams moving to shooting guard, a combination which Duhon played well in. The Duke Blue Devils went on to win the 2001 national championship, defeating Arizona in the finals.
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Chris Evert
Christine Marie "Chris" Evert (born December 21, 1954) is a former world #1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No. 1 singles player in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, and 1981.
Evert's career win–loss record in singles matches of 1,309–145 (90.05%) is the best of any professional player, man or woman, in the Open Era. On clay courts her career match win loss rate of 94.05% (316/20) remains a WTA record. In tennis writer Steve Flink's book The Greatest Tennis Matches of the Twentieth Century, he named Evert as the third best female player of the 20th century, after Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova. Evert never lost in the first or second rounds of a Grand Slam singles tournament. She won 157 singles championships. In women's doubles, Evert won three Grand Slam titles and 29 regular tour championships.
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Chris Marcus
Christopher Lee "Chris" Marcus (born December 11, 1979) is a former American basketball player who is best known for his collegiate career at Western Kentucky University between 1999–2000 and 2002–03.
As a student at Olympic High School Marcus was a certified seven-footer, but he did not begin playing basketball until the school's new head coach, David Davis, convinced him to play for the team.
Marcus was born in Chicago, Illinois but raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. He grew extremely quickly; by sixth grade he was 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m), in seventh he was 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), and in eighth grade Marcus stood 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall. By the time he was soundly into his high school career, Marcus was a certified seven-footer. However, he did not begin playing basketball until the school's new head coach, David Davis, convinced him to play for the team. The coaching staff worked with him, improving Marcus' fundamentals and acclimatizing him to the nuances of basketball.
Despite being so tall, colleges did not try to recruit him that much. A couple Clemson scouts were at one of Marcus' high school games for two other players on his team, and one of them was then-assistant Clemson coach Dennis Felton. Within the next year, Felton would become the newest head coach at Western Kentucky and recruited Marcus to play for him.
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Chris Paul
Christopher Emmanuel Paul Sr. (born May 6, 1985) is an American professional basketball point guard for the Los Angeles Clippers. Paul was born and raised in North Carolina. Despite only playing two varsity basketball seasons in high school, he was a McDonald's All-American and accepted a scholarship with nearby Wake Forest University. After his sophomore year with the Demon Deacons, he declared for the draft. Since being selected 4th overall in the 2005 NBA Draft by the New Orleans Hornets, Paul has been a NBA Rookie of the Year (2006), a five-time All-Star, and a multiple All-NBA and All-Defensive team honoree. He led the Hornets to the second round of the 2008 NBA Playoffs. He has also won an Olympic Gold Medal with the United States national basketball team.
Off the court, Paul has also achieved success in the sport of bowling and is a sponsored spokesperson for the United States Bowling Congress (USBC). He has participated in numerous celebrity and youth bowling events as the head of the CP3 Foundation to benefit programs in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, and charities in Winston-Salem.
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Chris Rotelli
Chris Rotelli (born December 18, 1979) is a professional lacrosse player who had a standout collegiate career at the University of Virginia before going on to the professional ranks in Major League Lacrosse.
A native of Rumford, Rhode Island, Chris Rotelli played high school lacrosse at Moses Brown School, where he was a three-time high school All-American and four-time All-State selection. He then attended the University of Virginia from 2000 to 2003, where he became one of the most decorated midfielders in Cavaliers history. As a senior in 2003, Rotelli helped lead the team to the 2003 NCAA Division I National Championship. He was the team's leading scorer with 49 points and was among the ACC leaders in scoring, goals, and assists. That year, he won the Tewaaraton Trophy as the nation's top college lacrosse player, the McLaughlin Award as the nation's best midfielder, the ACC Player of the Year, and was selected as a First Team All-American by the USILA. In addition, he became the first lacrosse player in history to win the ACC Male Athlete of the Year award (Anthony J. McKevlin Award) and was the first overall pick in the Major League Lacrosse collegiate draft.
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Chris Webber
Mayce Edward Christopher "Chris" Webber III (born March 1, 1973), nicknamed C-Webb, is a retired American professional basketball player. He is a five-time NBA All-Star, a former All-NBA First Teamer, a former NBA Rookie of the Year, and a former #1 overall NBA Draftee. As a collegiate athlete, he was an NCAA Men's Basketball first team All-American and led the University of Michigan Wolverines' 1991 incoming freshman class known as the Fab Five that reached the 1992 & 1993 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship games as freshmen and sophomores. However, Webber was indicted by a federal grand jury and stripped of his All-American honors by the NCAA as a result of his direct involvement in the Ed Martin scandal. He is also a former National High School Basketball Player of the Year who led his high school Detroit Country Day to three Michigan State High School Basketball Championships.
Webber attended Detroit Country Day School and at the time was the most recruited Michigan high school basketball player since Magic Johnson. Webber led Country Day to three MHSAA State championships. As a senior in high school Webber averaged 29.4 points and 13 rebounds per game. He was named Michigan's Mr. Basketball and the 1990–1991 National High School player of the year. He was named MVP in both the McDonald's and Dapper Dan All-Star games.
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Christian Laettner
Christian Donald Laettner (born August 17, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player, entrepreneur, and basketball coach. He had a distinguished college and national career, and played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for thirteen seasons, from 1992–2005. He was also a minority holder in the Major League Soccer (MLS) club D.C. United from 2007 until 2009, when William Chang bought out the remaining investors to take full control of the club. He is a current assistant coach of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League.
Laettner played college basketball for the Duke University Blue Devils, starring on the 1991 and 1992 NCAA champion teams. He was the only college player selected for the 1992 United States men's Olympic team, nicknamed the "Dream Team." Sometimes considered the greatest team ever assembled in any sport, the Dream Team went on to win the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Laettner was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1992 NBA draft and went on to play 13 seasons in the NBA.
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Chuck Person
Chuck Connors Person (born June 27, 1964 in Brantley, Alabama) is a retired American National Basketball Association player and current assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Person attended Brantley High School in Brantley, Alabama and wasn't heavily recruited, but Auburn took a chance on him in 1982. Person was mostly a reserve forward his freshman year, but saw more playing time as the year progressed. In his sophomore season, Person was a full-time starter at forward and teamed with junior Charles Barkley to form a potent inside-outside combination. Person's superb outside shooting skills (unusual for a big man) and Barkley's inside play helped Auburn University to its first ever NCAA tournament appearance in 1984. Person averaged 19.1 points per game that season.
After Barkley left for the NBA, Person became the unquestioned leader of a young Auburn team that wasn't expected to do much in 1984-85. He averaged 22.5 points per game and set the Auburn single-season record for total points scored (747). Auburn was a seventh seed (out of 10) in the SEC Tournament that season, but Person and freshmen Chris Morris, Jeff Moore, and Terrence Howard helped Auburn to become the first team to win four games in four days in the tournament and to win its first-ever SEC Tournament championship. Person was an Honorable Mention All-America selection that season. In the NCAA tournament, Auburn upset Kansas and Purdue before bowing out in the Sweet 16 to North Carolina.
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Chuck Share
Chuck Share (born March 14, 1927 in Akron, Ohio) is a retired American basketball player. He was the first draft pick in NBA history, being selected by the Boston Celtics as the number one pick in 1950. Share never played for the Celtics, and started his career with the Fort Wayne Pistons and played nine years, playing for the Pistons, Milwaukee Hawks/St. Louis Hawks, and the Minneapolis Lakers.
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Clarkston Hines
Clarkston Hines (born March 21, 1967 ) is a retired American football player.
Hines graduated from The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida. While at Bolles, he was an all-state selection in both football and basketball.
He then attended Duke University, where he was an All-American football player. In 1989. he caught an ACC-record 17 touchdown passes and was named the ACC Football Offensive Player of the Year. He led the conference in receiving for three consecutive years in 1987, 1988 and 1989, and completed his career holding conference marks in pass receptions (189), reception yardage (3,318) and touchdown receptions (38). He was also named the 1990 ACC Male Athlete of the Year.
After graduating from Duke, Hines was a ninth round selection of the Buffalo Bills in the 1990 NFL Draft.
Clarkston is currently the Vice President of DaVita Inc., a large healthcare company. He and his wife Kathy reside in Statesville, North Carolina, with their four children.
He was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
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Clifton McNeely
Clifton McNeely (June 22, 1919–December 26, 2003) was an American basketball player and coach. McNeely graduated from Slidell High School in Slidell, Texas.
After serving with the United States Army Air Corps in World War II, McNeely played basketball at Texas Wesleyan University. He earned All-American honors in 1947 after leading the nation in scoring, and was selected with the first pick of the 1947 BAA Draft by the Pittsburgh Ironmen. However, McNeely never played professional basketball, opting to coach at Pampa High School in Texas. He coached for 13 years and won four state championships. He was later inducted into the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame. He later became an assistant coach from 1993-1994 for the Houston Cougars men's basketball team under Alvin Brooks.
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Cory Joseph
Cory Ephram Joseph (born August 20, 1991) is a Canadian professional basketball player with the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association.
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Curt Schilling
Curtis Montague Schilling (born November 14, 1966) is a former American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He helped lead the Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series in 1993 and won World Series championships in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and in 2004 and 2007 with the Boston Red Sox. Schilling retired with a career postseason record of 11–2. His .846 postseason winning percentage is a major-league record among pitchers with at least 10 decisions.
After retiring, he founded Green Monster Games which was renamed 38 Studios. The company released Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning in February 2012, but just three months later, Schilling laid off his entire staff amid severe financial troubles that resulted in the company missing payroll the previous week.
Schilling graduated from Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1985, before attending Yavapai College in Prescott, Arizona.
Schilling began his professional career in the Red Sox farm system as a second-round pick in what would be the final January draft in MLB. He began his professional career with the Elmira Pioneers, a then Red Sox affiliate. After two and a half years in the minor leagues, he and Brady Anderson were traded to the Baltimore Orioles in 1988 for Mike Boddicker. His major league debut was with the Orioles (1988–1990), and he then spent one year with the Houston Astros (1991).
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Dale Hall
Dale Stanley Hall (June 21, 1924 – August 23, 1996) was an American football and basketball player and coach. He played football and basketball at the United States Military Academy, where he was a two-time All-American in backetball and was named the Sporting News Men's College Basketball Player of the Year in 1945. Hall served as the head football coach at West Point from 1959 to 1961, compiling a record of 16–11–2. He was also the head basketball coach at the University of New Hampshire during the 1951–52 season, tallying a mark of 11–9.
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Dale Murphy
Dale Bryan Murphy (born March 12, 1956 in Portland, Oregon) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and first baseman. During an 18-year baseball career, 1976–1993, he played for three different teams, but is noted for his time with the Atlanta Braves. Murphy won consecutive National League Most Valuable Player Awards (1982–1983), the National League's Silver Slugger Award four straight years (1982–1985), and the National League's Gold Glove award five straight years (1982–1986).
In 1976 Murphy began his major league career with a nineteen game stint catching with the Atlanta Braves. He appeared in only eighteen games the following season. In 1978, Murphy played first base mostly. At the plate, he slumped to a .226 batting average, though he also showed hints of his future power by hitting 23 home runs.
Murphy switched to the outfield in 1980, a move that would help initiate a decade of highly productive play in the National League. Beginning in left field, he soon switched to center field, the position at which he would find his greatest success. By 1982, the most decorated year of Murphy's career, the former bench-riding catcher had transformed himself into an All-Star MVP outfielder who appeared in each of Atlanta's 162 games. His turnaround as a fielder was equally stark. In 1978, as a first baseman, Murphy had led all National League first-baggers in errors; in 1982, spending time at each of the three outfield positions, he won his first of five consecutive Gold Gloves.
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Damon Stoudamire
Damon Lamon Stoudamire (born September 3, 1973) is a retired American professional basketball player who is currently an assistant coach for the Memphis Tigers men's basketball team. The 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m), 171 lb (78 kg; 12.2 st) point guard was selected with the 7th overall pick by the Toronto Raptors in the 1995 NBA Draft and won the 1995–96 NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He played collegiately at the University of Arizona, and professionally for the Toronto Raptors, Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs. He is the cousin of former Arizona Wildcats standout Salim Stoudamire and current Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball player Terrence Jones.
Stoudamire was born to Willie Stoudamire and Liz Washington in Portland, Oregon; he was the only child, with three stepsisters; his parents never married. Willie Stoudamire moved away to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to work in a brewery when Damon was seven years old. Stoudamire was raised by his mother, Liz, and his grandmother, Wanda Stoudamire-Matthews.
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Dan Majerle
Daniel Lewis Majerle ( /ˈmɑrliː/; born September 9, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player and currently an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns of the NBA. Known by his fans as "Downtown Dan," "Thunder Dan," and "Dan the Man," he played 14 years in the NBA, primarily with the Phoenix Suns, also with the Miami Heat and, briefly, the Cleveland Cavaliers. He won a bronze medal with the US national team at the 1988 Summer Olympics, and won a gold medal at the 1994 FIBA World Championship.
Majerle was born in Traverse City, Michigan. He starred for Traverse City High School (now Traverse City Central High School) and Central Michigan University.
The Phoenix Suns selected Majerle with the 14th pick of the 1988 NBA Draft, which the Suns acquired (along with Kevin Johnson) in a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers for Larry Nance. During the draft, he was promptly booed when his name was announced over the public address system. Suns coach Cotton Fitzsimmons publicly chastised the Suns fans and told them "you'll be sorry you ever booed this young man". His prediction was evident as Majerle was one of the most popular players throughout the years he played in the NBA and was capped on April 17, 2002 when he officially retired in his second stint as a member of the Phoenix Suns.
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Danny Ainge
Daniel Ray "Danny" Ainge (born March 17, 1959) is an American basketball manager and retired professional basketball and baseball player, currently serving as President of Basketball Operations for the Boston Celtics.
Ainge was a standout high school athlete, the only person to be a high school first team All-American in football, basketball, and baseball. He then attended Brigham Young University, where he was named the national collegiate player of the year by the NABC and won the John R. Wooden Award. Following college, he played parts of three seasons in Major League Baseball with the Toronto Blue Jays and then was drafted in the National Basketball Association where he completed 14 seasons. He went on to coach the NBA's Phoenix Suns for three seasons before joining management of the Boston Celtics.
Born in Eugene, Oregon, Ainge starred in high school on his football team and led North Eugene High School to back-to-back state basketball championships in 1976 and 1977, earning all-state honors both years; he was considered one of the top prep football recruits in the state of Oregon. As a junior, he was named to the 1977 Parade magazine High School All-America team. Danny Ainge is the only person to be a high school first team All-American in football, basketball, and baseball.
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Danny Ferry
Daniel John Willard "Danny" Ferry (born October 17, 1966) is a retired American professional basketball player and the Vice President of Basketball Operations for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Considered one of the best high school basketball athletes in the country from the class of 1985, Danny Ferry was Parade Magazine's prep Player of the Year and one of the most highly recruited high school seniors in the nation before committing to Duke University. Known for his superb outside shooting, strong rebounding abilities and full-court vision while in college, Ferry's talents on the court likened him to that of a younger Larry Bird during his career with the three-time Final Four-bound Duke Blue Devils. The consensus All-American standout left Duke setting many school records while earning several national player of the year awards as one of the country's most celebrated college basketball athlete during his senior year. Drafted into the NBA in 1989 as the second overall pick in the draft, Ferry would go on to spend the majority of his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers where he became the team's all-time leader in games played (723 games) until Žydrūnas Ilgauskas surpassed his record on December 2, 2009. Danny Ferry is ranked among the top 50 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) men's basketball players of all-time as well as one of Duke's top basketball players in the school's history.
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Danny Fortson
Daniel Anthony Fortson (born on March 27, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player. He played power forward/center in the NBA from 1997 to 2007.
Although born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Fortson grew up in Altoona, Pennsylvania in a difficult home environment. He did not get along well with his father, who spent some time in jail, while his mother spent some time in the hospital. Fortson had grown up in the same neighborhood as Doug West and began high school at the same school West attended, Altoona Area High School. Before starting there, he became friends with a family, whose son played on his AAU basketball team. He spent two summers living with the family in the middle-class Pittsburgh suburb of Shaler Township, eighty five mile west of Altoona.
After his sophomore year, he and his mother moved to Shaler and Fortson transferred to Shaler Area High School for his final two years in high school (1992–1994). He was ruled ineligible his junior year for all but two games and averaged 30 points per game his senior year. He was a member of the prestigious JOTS squads for pre-college basketball prospects.
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Danny Manning
Daniel Ricardo "Danny" Manning (born May 17, 1966 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi) is an American college basketball coach and retired player in the National Basketball Association. He is the current men's head coach at the University of Tulsa. After retiring from professional basketball Manning became an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of Kansas. He won the National Championship with the Jayhawks in 1988 as a player, and again on the coaching staff in 2008.
Considered one of the greatest players in University of Kansas history, he led the 1988 Kansas Jayhawks to the National Championship against the Oklahoma Sooners. Manning left KU as its men's basketball program's all-time leading scorer and rebounder after leading the Jayhawks to the 1986 Final Four and the 1988 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Championship. The 6-foot-10 forward was the all-time leading scorer in the Big Eight Conference with 2,951 career points. He won the Wooden, Naismith, and Eastman Awards as the college player of the year in 1988. In Kansas's 83-79 victory over the University of Oklahoma in the 1988 NCAA Final, Manning recorded 31 points, 18 rebounds, 5 steals and 2 blocked shots. For his seemingly single-handed performance in propelling the underdog Jayhawks to the title, as well as the Jayhawks' less-than-impressive record going into the NCAA tournament (21-11, most losses of any NCAA champion), the 1988 Kansas team was nicknamed "Danny and the Miracles" and Manning was honored as Most Outstanding Player in the tournament. A two-time All-American while at KU, Manning was later named the Big Eight Player of the Decade.
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Darrell Griffith
Darrell Steven Griffith (born June 16, 1958 in Louisville, Kentucky), also known by his nickname Dr. Dunkenstein, is a retired American basketball player who spent his entire professional career with the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association.
Griffith starred at Louisville Male High School and was heavily recruited by colleges all across the country. He decided to attend his hometown school, the University of Louisville, much to the delight of local fans.
He didn't disappoint, delivering the school's first-ever NCAA men's basketball championship in 1980. He scored 23 points in the Cardinals' 59-54 victory over UCLA in the championship game. Due to his strong performance, he was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. Griffith totaled 825 points in his senior season, setting a school record. For his efforts, he was named First Team All-American by the Associated Press and was given the Wooden Award as the best college basketball player in the nation. He left college as Louisville's all-time leading scorer with 2,333 points in his career. His jersey number, 35, was retired during ceremonies after the 1980 season.
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Darren Phillip
Darren Phillip (born March 18, 1978 in London, England) is an American professional basketball player with Ford Burgos in the Spanish LEB Oro. Phillip a.k.a. "Primal Fear" is also a well known streetball player on the basketball courts of the New York City summer leagues. He was the 2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball season rebounding leader.
Phillip played college basketball at Fairfield University where he was a two-time First Team All-MAAC selection. As a senior, Phillip led the nation in rebounds per game (14.0 rpg), while tallying a nation-leading 24 double-doubles including 19 straight to end the season and posting a MAAC single game record 25 rebounds in the team's win over Marist College. As a freshman, Phillip was a starter on the Stags team which held a half time lead over the number 1 seed University of North Carolina Tar Heels before falling short in the 1997 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship tournament. Phillip received his bachelors degree in communications from Fairfield University in 2000.
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Darryl Watson
Darryl Watson is a retired American basketball player and coach. He is best known for leading NCAA Division I in rebounding as a senior in 1980–81. That season, he averaged 14.0 rebounds per game in 27 games. Watson is one of two Mississippi Valley State University men's basketball players to have led the nation in rebounding (Marcus Mann later earned the distinction in 1995–96).
After college, Watson played professional basketball internationally for several years. Eventually he returned to the United States and worked as a financial aid counselor and head basketball coach at Atlanta Metropolitan College. He also coached at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, and Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. Watson is a native of Greenville, Mississippi and has one son.
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Dave Bing
David "Dave" Bing (born November 24, 1943) is the mayor of Detroit, Michigan, a businessman, and a retired American professional basketball player who played 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), primarily for the Detroit Pistons (1966–75). He was a seven-time All-Star. After retiring, he founded the Bing Group, which was one of the largest steel companies in Michigan.
His #21 was retired by the Detroit Pistons, and in 1996 he was named as one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of all time.
He was elected mayor of Detroit in a special election on May 5, 2009 and was sworn in on May 11, 2009. Bing won the full-term mayoral election on November 3, 2009, defeating challenger Tom Barrow.
Bing was born and raised in northeast Washington, D.C., as a son of a bricklayer. At age five, Bing accidentally poked his left eye with a nail of a wooden horse that he improvised. With the family unable to afford an eye operation, the eye healed on its own but left Bing with fuzzy vision since then.
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Dave Cowens
David William Cowens (born October 25, 1948, in Newport, Kentucky) is a retired American professional basketball player and NBA head coach. At 6'9", he played the center and occasionally the power forward position. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991. He was recently an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons, and currently serves as a special assistant to Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars.
After starring in high school at Newport Catholic High in his hometown of Newport, Kentucky, Cowens played his collegiate basketball at Florida State University from 1967 to 1970. He scored 1,479 points in 78 games at Florida State, at 19.0 points per game, and ranks among Florida State's top 10 all-time scoring leaders.
He is the all-time Florida State leading rebounder with 1,340 rebounds (17.2 rebounds per game). He holds the team record for best seasonal rebound average (17.5 in the 1968-1969 season). He once grabbed 31 rebounds (second best all-time) against LSU in the 1968-69 season.
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Dave Odom
Dave Odom (born October 9, 1942) is a retired American men's college basketball coach, who most recently coached at the University of South Carolina. He had previously held the same position at East Carolina University and Wake Forest University, and was an assistant coach at the University of Virginia.
Odom began his career in sports at Goldsboro High School, in North Carolina, as the captain of his American football, basketball and baseball teams. After graduating in 1961, he attended Guilford College where he played quarterback on the football team for three years, as well as playing basketball for all four years. As a senior in 1965, Odom was named the college's most outstanding athlete. He was also inducted into the Guilford College Athletics Hall of Fame in 1983.
After graduation in 1965, Odom accepted a job as the coach of Goldsboro High School while enrolled at East Carolina University in pursuit of a masters degree in physical education. Odom coached Goldsboro High School for four seasons between 1965 and 1969. After graduating from East Carolina in 1969, Odom took a job at Durham High School. He coached at Durham for seven years (1969–1976) where he was voted his league's coach of the year five times.
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Dave Sime
David William "Dave" Sime (born July 25, 1936) is an American former athlete. He never won a major title but he ranked as one of the fastest humans of all time, holding several sprint records during the late 1950s.
Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Sime grew up in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where he attended Fair Lawn High School. Sime came to prominence in 1956 while attending Duke University as a member of the baseball and track and field teams. (He is now "one of the infamous ten") "The 10". He and fellow American Bobby Morrow had some great duels that year but an injury ruined his Olympic hopes. Four years later, in Rome, he was second in the Olympic 100 m before anchoring the U.S. to a victory in the 4x100 m relay. However, the U.S. team was disqualified for passing out of the zone, and Sime lost his chance at an Olympic gold medal. During his career, he held world records at 100 yd, 220 yd, and the 220 yd low hurdles. After college, Sime became an ophthalmologist in Florida.
Sime came to Duke on a baseball scholarship, and had never run track in his life. The Duke track coach happened to see this long lanky figure while attending a baseball game. He asked permission from Duke's baseball coach to let him work out with the track team. His coach agreed provided there was not a baseball game that day. In his first track meet he was entered into the 100 yard event. Never having raced before in his life in his first track event (against the University of Maryland) he ran a 9.6, just .3 off the world record. He still holds the record at Duke for the 100 and 220 with best times of 9.3 and 20.0 which were world records in the 1950s.
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David Stern
David Joel Stern (born September 22, 1942) is the commissioner of the National Basketball Association. He started with the Association in 1966 as an outside counsel, joined the NBA in 1978 as General Counsel, and became the league's Executive Vice President in 1980. He became Commissioner in 1984 succeeding Larry O'Brien. He is credited with increasing the popularity of the NBA in the 1990s and 2000s.
Stern has served on the Rutgers University Board of Overseers and is a Chair Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of Columbia University. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
David Stern was born on September 22, 1942 in New York City, New York. He grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey in a Jewish family, and is a graduate of Teaneck High School. Stern attended Rutgers University, where in 1960 he pledged to the Sigma Delta Chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity. He graduated as B- dean's-list history student in 1963 and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1966, and was admitted to the bar in New York later that year after passing the state's bar examination.
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Dean Smith
Dean Edwards Smith (born February 28, 1931) is a retired American head coach of men's college basketball. Originally from Emporia, Kansas, Smith has been called a “coaching legend” by the Basketball Hall of Fame. Smith is best known for his successful 36-year coaching tenure at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Smith coached from 1961 to 1997 and retired with 879 victories, which was the NCAA Division I men's basketball record at that time. Smith has the 9th highest winning percentage of any men’s college basketball coach (77.6%). During his tenure as head coach of North Carolina, the team won two national titles and appeared in 11 Final Fours.
Smith is also known for running a clean program and having a high graduation rate for his players, with 96.6% of his athletes receiving their degrees. While at North Carolina, Smith helped promote desegregation by recruiting the University’s first African American scholarship basketball player, Charlie Scott, and pushing for equal treatment for African Americans by local businesses. Smith coached and worked with numerous individuals at North Carolina who went on to achieve notable success in basketball, as either players or coaches or both. Smith retired as head coach from North Carolina in 1997, saying that he was not able to give the team the same level of enthusiasm that he had given it for years. Since retirement, Smith has used his influence to help out in various charitable ventures and political activities.
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DeJuan Blair
DeJuan Lamont Blair (born April 22, 1989) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Before turning pro Blair played center for the University of Pittsburgh men's basketball team from 2007 to 2009. After an outstanding sophomore season he entered the 2009 NBA Draft where he was selected in the second round, 37th overall by the Spurs.
The oldest of four children (one of whom died in infancy), Blair grew up in Pittsburgh's Hill District, 600 yards (550 m) from the Pitt campus. Although he was the smallest of his siblings at birth, he was the largest child in his class by the time he started at Manchester Academic Charter School, where he attended kindergarten through eighth grade. Both of his parents played basketball at Schenley High School, which was located in North Oakland/Schenley Heights until 2008, and his uncle ran the nearby Ammons Recreation Center, where he learned to play the game.
Blair played as a four-year starter at Schenley High School. While there he scored 1,563 career points and finished with an overall 103–16 team record, including a 57–0 record within the Pittsburgh City League. He was named the AP player of the state and made first team all state his junior and senior year. Blair led Schenley to the 2007 PIAA Class 4A state championship, the first state title for a City League team since 1978; in the final against Chester (and his future Pitt teammate Nasir Robinson), he had 18 points, 23 rebounds, and 6 blocked shots. He was also named Pittsburgh City League Player of the year three times.
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DeJuan Wheat
DeJuan Shontez Wheat (born October 14, 1973, in Louisville, Kentucky) is a retired American professional basketball player, formerly of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves and Vancouver Grizzlies. He was a star at the University of Louisville from 1993–97, becoming the first player in NCAA Division I history to amass career totals of at least 2,000 points, 450 assists, 300 three-point field goals and 200 steals.
Louisville's second all-time leader in three-point field goals (323), Wheat ranks second in school history in scoring (2,183 points) and third in assists (498). As a senior, he was named Honorable Mention All-America by The Associated Press, as well as Third Team All-America by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and Second Team All-America by The Sporting News. He led the Cardinals in scoring (17.3), assists (career-high 4.3), steals (career-high 1.94), three-point field goals (career-high 97) and minutes played (34.9 per game) as a senior and had 15 games with 20 or more points. He helped lead his hometown Cards to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament that season.
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Dennis Johnson
Dennis Wayne Johnson (September 18, 1954 – February 22, 2007) nicknamed "DJ", was an American, professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Seattle SuperSonics, Phoenix Suns and Boston Celtics and coach of the Los Angeles Clippers. He was an alumnus of Dominguez High School, Los Angeles Harbor College and Pepperdine University.
A prototypical late bloomer, Johnson overcame early struggles and had a successful NBA playing career. Drafted 29th overall in 1976 by the Seattle SuperSonics, Johnson began his professional career as a shooting guard. He eventually led the Sonics to their only NBA championship in 1979, winning the Finals MVP Award. After a short stint with the Phoenix Suns, he became the starting point guard for the Boston Celtics, with whom he won two more championships. Johnson was voted into five All-Star Teams, one All-NBA First and one Second Team, and nine consecutive All-Defensive First and Second Teams. Apart from his reputation as a defensive stopper, Johnson was known as a clutch player who made several decisive plays in NBA playoffs history.
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Dennis Rodman
Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is a retired American Hall of Fame professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, he was nicknamed "Dennis the Menace" and "The Worm" and was known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities. Playing small forward in his early years before becoming a power forward, Rodman earned NBA All-Defensive First Team honors seven times and was voted NBA Defensive Player of the Year twice. He also led the NBA in rebounds per game for a record seven consecutive years and won five NBA championships (1989, 1990, 1996, 1997, 1998). His biography at NBA.com states that he is "arguably the best rebounding forward in NBA history". On April 1, 2011, the Pistons retired Rodman's #10 jersey. Later that same year, Rodman was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Rodman experienced an unhappy childhood and was shy and introverted in his early years. After aborting a suicide attempt in 1993, he reinvented himself as a "bad boy" and became notorious for numerous controversial antics. He dyed his hair in artificial colors, presented himself with many piercings and tattoos and regularly disrupted games by clashing with opposing players and officials. He famously wore a wedding dress to promote his autobiography. Rodman pursued a high-profile affair with singer Madonna and was briefly married to actress Carmen Electra.
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Derek Fisher
Derek Lamar Fisher (born August 9, 1974) is an American professional basketball point guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the National Basketball Association (NBA). His NBA career has spanned more than 15 years, during which he won five NBA Championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. He currently serves as the president of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Fisher started out his basketball career at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Selected with the twenty-fourth pick by the Lakers in the 1996 NBA Draft, Fisher spent his first eight seasons with the franchise. During that time, he played a role in the Lakers' "three-peat", and was the third-leading scorer on the team behind Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. After his success with Los Angeles, Fisher signed with the Golden State Warriors, but was later traded to the Utah Jazz, where he helped lead the team to the Western Conference Finals. Due to his daughter's health, he asked to be released from his contract and rejoined the Lakers in 2007. In 2010, he won his fifth NBA Championship with the Lakers. Only he and Kobe Bryant have played in all five of the Lakers' most recent championships. The Lakers, in 2012, traded Fisher to the Houston Rockets, who bought out his contract and waived him. He was subsequently claimed by the Thunder.
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Derek Jeter
Derek Sanderson Jeter ( /ˈdʒiːtər/; born June 26, 1974) is an American baseball shortstop who has played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees. A five-time World Series champion, Jeter has been a central figure of the Yankees during their success of the 1990s and 2000s due to his clubhouse presence, on-field leadership, hitting ability, and baserunning. He is the Yankees' all-time career leader in hits (3,155), games played (2,472), stolen bases (342), and at bats (10,066). His accolades include twelve All-Star selections, five Gold Glove Awards, four Silver Slugger Awards, two Hank Aaron Awards, and the Roberto Clemente Award. Jeter is the all-time MLB leader in hits by a shortstop, and the 28th player to reach 3,000 hits.
The Yankees drafted Jeter out of high school in 1992, and he debuted in the major leagues in 1995. The following year, he became the Yankees' starting shortstop, won the Rookie of the Year Award, and helped the team win the 1996 World Series. Jeter continued to contribute during the team's championship seasons of 1998–2000; he finished third in voting for the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 1998, recorded multiple career-high numbers in 1999, and won both the All-Star Game MVP and World Series MVP Awards in 2000. He has consistently placed among the AL leaders in hits and runs scored for the past ten years, and since 2003 has served as the Yankees' team captain.
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Derrick Byars
Derrick JaVaughn Byars (born April 25, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA. Collegiately, he played for Virginia, and later for Vanderbilt. He was drafted 42nd overall in the 2007 NBA Draft.
Byars attended Ridgeway High School in Memphis, where he played for head coach Wesley Henning and won two Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) Class AA State Championships.
As a sophomore (1999–2000), Byars was an honorable-mention All-State selection and led the Roadrunners to the Class AA State Championship. He averaged 16.4 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game.
As a junior, he again earned honorable mention All-State honors and was named Ridgeway's Most Valuable Player. He averaged 20.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5 assists.
As a senior (2001–02), he averaged 23.2 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 assists and led Ridgeway to its second TSSAA Class AA State Championship in three years. He was a fourth-team Parade All-America selection, the Gatorade Player of the Year in Tennessee, the TSSAA Class AA Tournament Most Valuable Player and first-team All-State.
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Derrick Coleman
Derrick D. Coleman (born June 21, 1967) is a retired American basketball player in the NBA. Coleman grew up and attended high school in Detroit, Michigan and attended college at Syracuse University. He was selected first overall in the 1990 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets.
Throughout his career, the left-handed Coleman was an effective low post scorer with a reliable perimeter shooting touch, averaging 16.5 points and 9.3 rebounds. He enjoyed his best years as a member of the New Jersey Nets, where he averaged 19.8 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. When Coleman entered the NBA, he was compared to elite power forwards such as Karl Malone and Charles Barkley, and expected to put up similar numbers, only with the added ability to shoot from three-point range. Instead, his career was overshadowed by his questionable attitude (lack of work ethic resulting in excessive weight gain, plus alcohol abuse and general disruptive behavior), and his penchant for injury which saw him play 70 or more games in only four of his 15 NBA seasons. Sports Illustrated once remarked that "Coleman could have been the best power forward ever; instead he played just well enough to ensure his next paycheck."
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Derrick Rose
Derrick Martell Rose (born October 4, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Born in Chicago, Rose learned the game of basketball from his three older brothers. In high school, he won two state championships and was rated by scouts as the top point guard prospect in the country after graduation.[citation needed] He played for the University of Memphis Tigers and reached the NCAA national championship game in 2008. Shortly after, Rose declared for the 2008 NBA Draft and was selected first overall by the Chicago Bulls. In his first year of professional basketball, Rose was voted the Rookie of the Year and was selected to the All-Rookie Team. In his second season, Rose was selected as an NBA All-Star for the 2010 NBA All-Star Game; he was also named a starter for the U.S. team at the 2010 FIBA World Championships. Since being drafted, Rose has led the Bulls to the NBA Playoffs every year. In 2011, he received the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, becoming the youngest player ever to win this award. He joined Michael Jordan as the only Chicago Bulls players to win the honor.
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DeSagana Diop
DeSagana N'gagne Diop (English pronunciation: /səˈɡɑːnə ˈdʒɒp/ sə-GAH-nə JOP, or simply Gana Diop; born January 30, 1982 in Dakar) is a Senegalese professional basketball player who currently plays for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats. Standing seven feet tall (213 cm) and weighing 280 lbs. (127 kg), Diop's natural position is center.
After he began practicing basketball at the age of 15, Diop succeeded in averaging 14.6 points, 13.2 rebounds, and 8.1 blocks during his senior high school season, earning the USA Today Virginia Player of the Year title and leading Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, to a #1 nation ranking (33 wins, 0 losses).
Diop speaks five languages: Arabic, English, French, Wolof and some Spanish.
Diop was drafted directly out of Oak Hill Academy by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 8th overall pick of the 2001 NBA Draft. He was the fifth high school player, after Kwame Brown, Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry and Ousmane Cisse to declare for the draft. He played 193 games in four seasons with the Cavaliers, as a rarely looked at backup, averaging 1.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 10.8 minutes per contest. Diop signed a three-year contract with the Dallas Mavericks as a free agent on August 19, 2005. Diop quickly established himself as a defensive stalwart and potent shot blocker and rebounder, providing relief for Erick Dampier as a center. After December 31, 2005, he started most of the games for the Mavericks, assisting in their improvement and strong drive that resulted in the team qualifying to play in the NBA finals as representatives of the Western Conference.
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Devin Brown
Devin Brown (born December 30, 1978) is an American professional basketball shooting guard for the Erie BayHawks of the NBA Development League.
Brown was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He played organized basketball at South San Antonio West Campus High School, a school on the south side of San Antonio, where he became the all-time high school scorer in greater San Antonio.
Brown played four seasons at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is the all-time leading scorer in school history with 1,922 career points. His collegiate averages were 18.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.75 steals in 32.0 minutes. In addition to that, Brown is the only player in UTSA school history to record a triple double — a 33-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist performance — which he did on February 17, 2001 against the Louisiana–Monroe Indians. Brown was named Southland Conference Freshman of the Year in 1998–99 and named First Team All-Southland Conference three times. His number was retired by UTSA, the first Roadrunner to receive such an honor.
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Dick Christy
Dick Christy (November 24, 1935 – August 7, 1966) is an American and former collegiate and professional football player. The 5'11", 191 lb. Christy was a star halfback at North Carolina State University from 1955 to 1957, leading them to the 1957 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship in his senior year. With the league title on the line in the season's final game, Dick Christy scored all 29 points in a 29-26 win over the University of South Carolina to clinch the championship for his Wolfpack. Christy scored the dramatic winning points on a field goal on the last play of the game. At the conclusion of the 1957 season, Christy was 1st team All-ACC and was a Consensus 1st team All-American. He was also honored as the 1957 ACC Player of the Year in football and as the 1957-58 ACC Athlete of the Year for all sports. His jersey number ("40") was eventually retired by NC State. He was an American Football League All-Star for the New York Titans in 1962. Christy died in an auto accident in 1966. Christy was named to the ACC Silver Anniversary football team in 1978. The Dick Christy Award was created by NC State to honor the football team's most valuable players in games versus the University of South Carolina.
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Dick Cunningham
Dick Cunningham (born July 11, 1946 in Canton, Ohio) is a retired American professional basketball player.
A 6'10" center, Cunningham led NCAA Division I in rebounding as a junior at Murray State University with a school-record 21.8 rebounds per game in the 1966-67 season. He was selected to the All-Ohio Valley Conference basketball team in 1967 and 1968. In three seasons with the Murray State varsity, Cunningham scored 981 points and grabbed 1,292 rebounds in 71 games. His 479 rebounds in 1966-67 and his career rebounding average of 18.2 rebounds per game still stand as Murray State records. He was inducted into the Murray State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986.
Cunningham was the 21st overall selection in the 1968 National Basketball Association draft by the Phoenix Suns and also was picked by the New York Nets in the American Basketball Association draft. Traded by the Suns to the Milwaukee Bucks before the 1968-69 season, Cunningham played seven seasons (1968–1975) in the NBA as a member of the Bucks and Houston Rockets. He averaged 2.8 points per game and 3.7 rebounds per game in his career and won an NBA championship with Milwaukee in 1971.
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Dick Ricketts
Richard James Ricketts, Jr. (December 4, 1933 – March 6, 1988) was an American professional basketball player.
A 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) forward from Duquesne University, Ricketts was selected by the St. Louis Hawks with the first pick of the 1955 NBA Draft. He played three seasons in the NBA with the Hawks and the Rochester and Cincinnati Royals and scored 1,974 career points. Ricketts, a strong 225-pounder, was drafted #1 overall by the NBA Hawks because he was also property of the Major-League baseball Cardinals. Pitching largely for the Rochester Red Wings, Ricketts became part of that NBA franchise there as well. When the team relocated to Cincinnati, the forward/center played the 1957-58 season there. Ricketts was affected by the tragic injury of teammate Maurice Stokes in March, 1958 and retired from pro basketball following that season.
Ricketts was also signed as an amateur free agent pitcher by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1955. In 1959 he appeared in 12 games for the Cardinals, including 9 starts. He had a 1–6 record, with a 5.82 ERA in 55 2/3 innings. His brother Dave Ricketts played six years in the major leagues.
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Dickie Hemric
Ned Dixon ("Dickie") Hemric (born August 29, 1933 in Jonesville, North Carolina) is a retired American collegiate and professional basketball player for Wake Forest University (1952–1955) and the NBA's Boston Celtics (1955–1957).
Hemric played the first two college years at Wake Forest when the school was a member of the Southern Conference. The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Male Athlete of the Year was created at the start of the 1954 season, and he played his last two seasons in the ACC, setting conference records for scoring and rebounding that were untouched for the first 50 years of the conference's existence. He was honored as the second recipient of the ACC Athlete of the Year in 1955. In 2002 Hemric was selected to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team, honoring the fifty greatest players in ACC history.
On February 25, 2006, Hemric's ACC scoring record of 2,587 points was broken by Duke University's J. J. Redick. Hemric's ACC record of 1,802 career rebounds has never faced a serious challenge—his contemporary Ronnie Shavlik was second on the list with 1,592 rebounds from 1954 to 1956, and the closest person to challenge the record since then was current NBA power forward Tim Duncan, who pulled down 1,570 rebounds in his career at Wake Forest from 1994 to 1997 (although Hemric is still fifth all-time in Division I career rebounds). He is now third all-time in ACC scoring, behind Redick and Tyler Hansbrough of the University of North Carolina.
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Dirk Nowitzki
Dirk Werner Nowitzki (German pronunciation: [ˈdɪʁk ˈvɛʁnɐ noˈvɪtski]) (born June 19, 1978) is a German professional basketball player who plays for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). An alumnus of Röntgen Gymnasium and DJK Würzburg basketball club, Nowitzki was drafted ninth overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1998 NBA Draft, and was immediately traded to the Mavericks, where he has played ever since. Standing 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m), Nowitzki plays the power forward position but also has the athleticism and shooting ability to play the other frontcourt positions, center and small forward.
Nowitzki has led the Mavericks to 12 consecutive NBA Playoffs (2000–01–2011–12), including an NBA Finals appearance in 2006 and the franchise's first championship in 2011, making him one of only 5 players in NBA history to win a championship while being the only NBA All-Star on the team. He is an 11-time All-Star and 12-time member of the All-NBA Teams, and the first European-born player in NBA history to receive the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. He is the first Maverick ever to be voted into an All-NBA Team and also holds several all-time Mavericks franchise records. Only Nowitzki and three other players have ever averaged more than 25 points and 10 rebounds in the NBA playoffs, and only Nowitzki and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have managed 4 consecutive 30-point, 15-rebound games in the playoffs. Additionally, Nowitzki is the only player in NBA history to get 100 blocks and 150 3-pointers in a single season.
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Doc Rivers
Glenn Anton "Doc" Rivers (born October 13, 1961) is a former professional basketball player and the current head coach of the NBA's Boston Celtics. Rivers was known for his defense while playing in the NBA. His skills as floor general and point guard helped him transition into a coach following his playing career.
Rivers was a McDonald's All-American for Proviso East High School in the Chicago metropolitan area. Rivers represented the United States with the national team in the 1982 FIBA World Championship, in which he was selected as the tournament MVP, despite missing the last shot in the final which could have given the title to his team. After graduating from Marquette University, Rivers was drafted in the second round (31st overall) of the 1983 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks. He spent the next seven seasons as a starter in Atlanta, assisting star Dominique Wilkins as the team found great regular-season success. He averaged a double-double for the 1986–87 season with 12.8 points and 10.0 assists per game. Rivers later spent one year as a starter for the Los Angeles Clippers and two more for the New York Knicks, before finishing his career as a bench player for the San Antonio Spurs.
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Don McCauley
Don McCauley was a tailback for the University of North Carolina from 1968 to 1970 and he attended the Garden City High School.
He was a two-time First Team All-Conference selection and two-time Conference Player of the Year. He garnered the 1971 ACC Athlete of the Year award. He broke many rushing records. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001[citation needed]
The versatile McCauley contributed to the team as a receiver, rusher, kick returner, and punter, leading the team in most categories. In 1970 he led the nation in rushing with 1,720 yards and all-purpose running with 2,021 yards. His 1,720 yards rushing broke the NCAA record and continues to withstand the test of time ranking as the second highest total in ACC history and the highest at North Carolina. A consensus All-America selection and team captain his senior year, McCauley led the conference in scoring with 21 touchdowns for 126 points and continues to hold numerous school records. His career statistics include 5,014 all-purpose yards, 3,172 rushing yards, 786 yards receiving, and 1,056 yards on kick returns. He also led the team in punting with 48 punts for 1,845 yards - a 38.4 yard average.
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Don Meineke
Don "Monk" Meineke (born October 30, 1930 in Dayton, Ohio) is a former professional basketball player.
Meineke received the National Basketball Association's first Rookie of the Year Award after the 1952-53 NBA season while playing for the Fort Wayne Pistons. Meineke led the league in personal fouls and disqualifications the same season. The 26 disqualifications he had in his first year is still the NBA single-season record.
Meineke played for the Rochester Royals in the 1955-56 season, and after sitting out the 1956-57 season, rejoined the relocated Cincinnati Royals in 1957-58.
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Don Shula
Donald Francis "Don" Shula (born January 4, 1930) is a former American football cornerback and coach.
He is best known as coach of the Miami Dolphins, the team he led to two Super Bowl victories, and to the National Football League's only perfect season. Shula was named 1993 Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated. He currently holds the NFL record for most career wins with 347. Shula only had two losing seasons in his 36-year career of coaching in the NFL. He has been head coach for a record six Super Bowls. In his first, he set the record for the longest period to be shut out (not scoring until 3:19 remaining). His next Super Bowl he set the record for the lowest points by any team (with only one field goal). The very next year he turned that all around during his perfect season, breaking his record of longest period with a shut out, this time with him on the winning side (not giving up any points until 2:07 remaining). As of 2012, Shula's perfect NFL season remains unmatched, and his three Super Bowl records and total NFL wins remain unbroken.
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Draymond Green
Draymond Green (born March 4, 1990) is an American college basketball player at Michigan State University. He plays the forward position.
In high school, he led the Saginaw Trojans to two state championships. During his high school career, he averaged 20 points, 13 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots a game. His high school team recorded a 27-1 record and was ranked number 4 in the USA Today national high school rankings. Coming out of high school, he was recruited by Michigan, Kentucky, Michigan State, and Indiana.
Originally having committed to Kentucky, Green eventually decided to play for Tom Izzo and the Spartans. During the regular season of his freshman year (2008-09), Green was mostly on the bench, averaging 3.3 points per game and 3.3 rebounds per game. But Green made significant contributions as a freshman during the team's run to the championship game in the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. During his sophomore year (2009-10), he would win the Big Ten sixth man of the year award, averaging 9.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. During his junior year (2010-11), Green averaged 12.6 points per game and 8.6 rebounds per game. On February 10, 2011, Green became the third player in Michigan State Men's basketball history to record a triple-double, joining Charlie Bell and Magic Johnson. In the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament he recorded his second triple-double of the season and the eleventh in NCAA tournament history in the loss against UCLA.
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Drew Brees
Andrew Christopher "Drew" Brees (pronounced /ˈbriːs/; born January 15, 1979) is an American football quarterback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football at Purdue.
Brees has been selected to the Pro Bowl six times in his career – with the Chargers in 2004 and the Saints in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. He was named the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year in 2004, the Offensive Player of the Year in 2008, and the MVP of Super Bowl XLIV. He was also selected by voters to appear on the cover of EA Sports' Madden NFL 11.Sports Illustrated named him as its 2010 Sportsman of the Year.
Brees holds the single-season record for most passing yards in a single season, with 5,476 yards passing during the 2011 season.
Brees was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Mina (née Akins), an attorney, and Eugene Wilson Brees II, a medical malpractice attorney. He was named after Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Drew Pearson. His uncle, Marty Akins, was an All-American starting quarterback for the Texas Longhorns college football team from 1975 to 1977. Chip Brees played basketball for the Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball team, and his grandfather, Ray Akins, had the third-most victories as a Texas high school football coach.
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Drew Gooden
Andrew Melvin "Drew" Gooden (born September 24, 1981) is an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks. Gooden is a 6'10", 250 lbs. power forward who played collegiately at the University of Kansas.
Before Gooden played the center position at El Cerrito High School, he attended Bloomington High School in Bloomington, Illinois for a half semester in his freshman year. After going back to California, he, as a senior, led his Gauchos to the 1999 California Interscholastic Federation Boys Division III championship game. Washington Union High School (led by NBA guard DeShawn Stevenson) won the championship game over El Cerrito HS by a score of 77–71.
Gooden joined fellow freshmen Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich for the 1999–2000 season. Although at times Gooden was frustrated with the way things were going his freshman year, he finally adjusted to coach Roy Williams' system.
In his freshman year, KU went 24–10 and lost to Duke in the Round of 32 during the 2000 NCAA Basketball Tournament. The next season, the Jayhawks went 26–7 and fell to the Illinois in the 2001 NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen.
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Dwight Howard
Dwight David Howard (born December 8, 1985) is an American basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Howard, who usually plays center but can also play power forward, had an outstanding high school career at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy. He chose to forgo college and entered the 2004 NBA Draft, and was selected first overall by the Magic. A six-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA team selection, five-time All-Defensive member, and three-time Defensive Player of the Year, Howard has been ranked consistently as one of the best in the league in rebounds, blocks, field goal percentage and free throw attempts, and has set numerous franchise and league records. He has led the Magic to three division titles and one conference title, and he was the winner of the 2008 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. In the 2008 Olympics, he was the starting center for Team USA, which went on to win the gold medal.
Before he was drafted in 2004, Howard said that he wanted to use his NBA career and Christian faith to "raise the name of God within the league and throughout the world". In November 2009, he was named one of the 10 finalists for the Jefferson Awards for Public Service, which awards athletes for their charitable work.
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Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Tyrone Wade, Jr. (born January 17, 1982), nicknamed Flash or D-Wade, is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat. Awarded 2006 Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated, Wade has established himself as one of the most well-known and popular players in the league. He had the top selling jersey in the NBA for nearly two years, as he led the NBA in jersey sales from the 2005 NBA Playoffs, until the mid-point of the 2006–07 season.
After entering the league as the fifth pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, Wade was named to the All-Rookie team and the All-Star team the following eight seasons. In his third season, Wade helped lead the Miami Heat to their first NBA Championship in franchise history. He was named the 2006 NBA Finals MVP as he helped lead the Heat to a 4–2 series win over the Dallas Mavericks. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Wade led the United States Men's Basketball team, commonly known as the "Redeem Team", in scoring, as they captured gold medal honors in Beijing, China. In the 2008–09 season, Wade led the league in scoring and earned his first NBA scoring title.
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Earl Boykins
Earl Antoine Boykins (born June 2, 1976) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Houston Rockets of the NBA. Standing at 5 feet, 5 inches in height, he is the second shortest player in NBA history behind Muggsy Bogues, who was 5 feet, 3 inches tall. His NBA listed weight is 133 pounds. Despite his light weight, he is reportedly able to bench press 315 pounds.
A 1994 graduate of Cleveland Central Catholic High School, Boykins played college basketball at Eastern Michigan University from 1994 to 1998. Eastern Michigan won the MAC Tournament in 1996 and 1998. He earned All-Mid-American Conference first-team honors in his junior and senior year. Also, during his senior season, Boykins was second in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship in scoring, with an average of 26.8 points per game. He holds the career record for total assists (624) at Eastern Michigan University. In his last game he scored 18 points in a losing effort to Michigan State.[citation needed] On February 27, 2011, Boykins' No. 11 jersey was retired and raised to the rafters in a ceremony at the Eastern Michigan University Convocation Center.
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Earl Monroe
Vernon Earl Monroe (born November 21, 1944, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American former professional basketball player known for his flamboyant dribbling, passing, and play-making. He was nicknamed both "Earl the Pearl" and "Jesus".
From an early age, Monroe was a playground legend. His high school teammates at John Bartram High School called him "Thomas Edison" because of the many moves he invented.
Monroe rose to prominence at a national level while playing basketball at then Division II Winston-Salem State University, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Under the coaching of Hall of Fame coach Clarence "Big House" Gaines, Monroe averaged 7.1 points his freshman year, 23.2 points as a sophomore, 29.8 points as a junior and an amazing 41.5 points his senior year. In 1967, he earned NCAA College Division Player of the Year honors and led the Rams to the NCAA College Division Championship.
In 1967, the two-time All-American was drafted by the Baltimore Bullets (now the Washington Wizards) in the first round of the NBA draft (2nd overall pick). He won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in a season in which he averaged 24.3 points per game, and scored 56 points in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers. This still stands as the third-highest rookie total in NBA history. It was also a franchise record, later broken by Gilbert Arenas on December 17, 2006.
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Ed Conlin
Edward James Conlin (born September 2, 1933) is a retired American basketball player and coach.
A 6'5" guard/forward from Fordham University, Conlin played in the National Basketball Association from 1955 to 1962 as a member of the Syracuse Nationals, Detroit Pistons, and Philadelphia Warriors. He averaged 10.1 points per game in his NBA career.
Conlin later coached men's basketball at Fordham University.
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Ed Elisma
Edner (Ed, or Eddie) Elisma (born April 9, 1975 in Miami, Florida) is an American basketball player that currently plays for Shahrdari Gorgan BC in the Iranian Basketball Super League.
Ed Elisma, a top recruit out of high school, played for the Georgia Tech basketball team, where he finished four-year stint as the school’s third all-time leading shot-blocker, behind only former NBA players John Salley and Malcolm Mackey. Among his teammates were future NBA players Stephon Marbury, Travis Best, Matt Harpring and Drew Barry. Elisma started the last 93 games of his career at center for the Yellow Jackets. Career highs include 36 points against Wake Forest and 15 rebounds against Louisville in his senior season. In 122 games, he averaged 7.4 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks a game on 55.0 percent field-goal shooting.
After his solid four-year college career, Elisma participated in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament and the Nike Desert Classic prior to the NBA Draft. He entered the 1997 NBA Draft and was selected as the #41 pick by the Seattle SuperSonics.
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Ed Gray
Edward (Ed) Gray (born September 27, 1975 in Riverside, California) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round (22nd overall pick) of the 1997 NBA Draft. His two-year career in Atlanta was marked by injury, inconsistent play, and off-court troubles.
Gray began his college career at the College of Southern Idaho then transferred to the University of Tennessee and eventually transferred to the University of California, Berkeley. He was awarded the 1997 Pac-10 Player of the Year during his senior season at Cal averaging 24.8 ppg.
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Ed Macauley
Charles Edward "Ed" Macauley (March 22, 1928 – November 8, 2011) was a professional basketball player in the NBA. His playing nickname was "Easy Ed."
Macauley spent his prep school days at St. Louis University High School, then went on to Saint Louis University, where his team won the NIT championship in 1948. He was named the AP Player of the Year in 1949.
Macauley played in the NBA with the St. Louis Bombers, Boston Celtics, and St. Louis Hawks. Macauley was named MVP of the first NBA All-Star Game (he played in the first seven), and was named to the NBA's All-NBA First Team three consecutive seasons. He was named to the All-NBA second team once, in 1953–54—the same season he led the league in field goal percentage. Macauley's trade (with Cliff Hagan) to St. Louis brought Bill Russell to the Celtics.
Macauley scored 11,234 points in ten NBA seasons and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1960. At age 32, he still holds the record for being the youngest player to be admitted. His uniform number 22 was retired by the Boston Celtics, and he was also awarded a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
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Eduardo Nájera
Eduardo Alonso Nájera Pérez (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈnaxeɾa]) (born July 11, 1976) is a Mexican professional basketball player in the NBA, currently playing for the Charlotte Bobcats.
Eduardo Najera is only the second NBA player who is Mexican-born (Horacio Llamas was the first). He is the son of Servando Najera and Rosa Irene Perez.
After graduating from high school in Mexico in 1994, Najera attended Cornerstone Christian Academy in San Antonio, Texas for two years to learn English and attract college coaches.
Currently, he and Jennifer, his wife, have a daughter and two sons.
Najera played college basketball at the University of Oklahoma, in Norman, Oklahoma, United States, from 1997–2000, becoming a major star there. He helped the team to four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances during his college career, as well as finishing in the school's all-time top ten in nine statistical categories. Before being drafted into the NBA in 2000, Najera received rave reviews from scouts, who boasted on Najera's quick first step and extraordinary rebounding ability. He is only the second Mexican-born player to join the NBA. He was the first Mexican player to be drafted into the NBA (Horacio Llamas being undrafted).
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Edwin Moses
Edwin Corley Moses (born August 31, 1955) is a former American track and field athlete, who won gold medals in the 400 m hurdles at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics. Between 1977 and 1987, Moses won 107 consecutive finals (122 consecutive races) and set the world record in his event four times. In addition to his running, Moses was also an innovative reformer in the areas of Olympic eligibility and drug testing. In 2000, he was elected the first Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, an international service organization of world-class athletes.
Moses was born in Dayton, Ohio. Having accepted an academic scholarship to Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, he majored in physics and industrial engineering, while competing for the school track team. Morehouse did not have its own track, so he used public high school facilities around the city to train. Initially, Moses competed mostly in the 120-yard hurdles and 440-yard dash. Before March 1976, he ran only one 400 m hurdles race, but once he began focusing on the event he made remarkable progress. His trademark technique was to take a constant 13 steps between each of the hurdles, pulling away in the second half of the race as his rivals changed their stride pattern. That summer, he qualified for the US team for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. In his first international meet, Moses won the gold medal and set a world record of 47.63 seconds.
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Elgin Baylor
Elgin Gay Baylor (born September 16, 1934 in Washington, D.C.) is a retired Hall of Fame American basketball player and former NBA general manager who played 13 seasons as a forward for the NBA's Minneapolis Lakers/Los Angeles Lakers.
Baylor was a gifted shooter, strong rebounder, and an accomplished passer. Renowned for his acrobatic maneuvers on the court, Baylor regularly dazzled Lakers fans with his trademark hanging jump shots. The No. 1 draft pick in 1958, NBA Rookie of the Year in 1959, and an 11-time NBA All-Star, he is regarded as one of the game's all-time greatest players. In 1977, Baylor was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Baylor spent twenty-two years as GM of the Los Angeles Clippers, being named the NBA Executive of the Year in 2006, before being relieved of his duties shortly before the 2008-09 season began.
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Elton Brand
Elton Tyron Brand (born March 11, 1979 in Cortlandt Manor, New York[citation needed]) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the 1st overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft, selected by the Chicago Bulls.
At the age of thirteen, Brand enrolled in Peekskill High School, where he was immediately added to the varsity basketball roster. He averaged 40 points and 20 rebounds per game, played AAU basketball with future NBA players Lamar Odom and Ron Artest, and by his senior year he was consistently ranked among the top high school basketball players in the country and was selected as New York State Mr. Basketball. At the same time, he became something of a cult hero in Peekskill, helping his team win two state championships while demonstrating a humble calm and an articulate intelligence. The former Governor of New York, fellow Peekskill native George Pataki, was once asked about being the town's favorite son, and he answered that Peekskill's favorite son was not the Governor but Elton Brand. Recruited heavily after his successful high school career, Brand decided to enroll at Duke University alongside a cluster of other high school stars, including Shane Battier.
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Elvin Hayes
Elvin Ernest Hayes (born November 17, 1945 in Rayville, Louisiana) is a retired American basketball player and radio analyst for Houston Cougars men's basketball, where he played college basketball. He is a member of the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, and an inductee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
A quiet, introverted youth, Hayes first picked up a basketball in eighth grade, by accident. He was wrongly blamed for playing a classroom prank and was sent to the principal's office. But another teacher, Reverend Calvin, saw Hayes and said he was welcome in his class. Although the youngster showed no inclination for any sports, Calvin thought he would benefit by playing basketball and put him on the school team. Hayes was so clumsy, however, that he evoked laughter with his awkward attempts at shooting and dribbling.
But young Hayes was determined to improve, and during the summers he practiced long hours. As a 6'5" ninth grader he was a benchwarmer on the junior varsity squad at Britton High School when he became determined to crack the starting lineup. "I was too weak to shoot the turnaround then," Hayes recalled, "so all summer long I shot with a small rubber ball at a basket in my yard. My development was almost overnight."
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Emeka Okafor
Chukwuemeka Ndubuisi Okafor, abbreviated as Emeka Okafor (born September 28, 1982), is an American basketball power forward and center for the New Orleans Hornets of the National Basketball Association. Prior to the NBA, Okafor attended Houston's Bellaire High School, and the University of Connecticut.
Okafor was born in Houston, Texas. Both of his parents are natives of Nigeria, and Emeka was the first member of his family born in the United States. His father, Pius Okafor, is a member of the Igbo ethnic group. Okafor's family moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma when he was young because his father worked for Phillips Petroleum Company, headquartered in Bartlesville. While in Bartlesville, Emeka's father Pius took his son to the Bartlesville YMCA to learn the game of basketball. As a child growing up in the Houston area, Okafor idolized Houston Rockets shooting guard Clyde Drexler. He models his game, however, after fellow Nigerian pivot Hakeem Olajuwon.
Okafor played at Bellaire High School with future Oklahoma State star John Lucas III. Okafor averaged 22 points, 16 rebounds and 7 blocks in his senior season. Bellaire was 26–5 in that season, losing 56–42 in the third round of the 2001 UIL state playoffs, to Willowridge High School and future Texas standout T. J. Ford. This game is particularly notable, however, because it featured five players who would go on to play in an NCAA Final Four (Bellaire had Lucas and Okafor, while Willowridge featured Ford, Oklahoma State's Ivan McFarlin and Duke's Daniel Ewing). All five of these players would eventually go on to play at least a season in the NBA.
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Eric Washington
Eric Maurice Washington (born March 23, 1974 in Pearl, Mississippi) is an American basketball player.
He was selected in the 1997 NBA Draft as the 48th overall pick by the Orlando Magic, and appeared for the Denver Nuggets during two seasons, from 1997 to 1999. Washington attended the University of Alabama, where he scored 1,532 points, grabbed 557 rebounds, and made 262 three-point field goals.
He has also played professionally in China, Finland, and for the Idaho Stampede of the NBA D-League. In 2010 he signed with Nürnberger BC in Germany.
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Erick Dampier
Erick Travez Dampier (born July 14, 1975) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a 6 ft 11 in / 265 lb. center.
Dampier played competitively at Lawrence County High School in Monticello, Mississippi, where he led the rural county to two state championships. Dampier played college basketball at Mississippi State University. While there he became a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. He was an early entry to the 1996 NBA draft after his junior season, in which he led MSU to the 1996 Southeastern Conference tournament championship, and the NCAA Final Four before being drafted as the tenth pick in the first round by the Indiana Pacers.
He played 72 games in his rookie year with the Pacers, starting 21 of them and finishing with averages of 5.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. On August 12, 1997 he and Duane Ferrell were traded to the Golden State Warriors for Chris Mullin.
He spent the next seven years, primarily as the starting center, for the Warriors, hitting his peak production in 2003–04 with averages of 12.3 points, 12 rebounds and 1.85 blocks per game. However, some critics claimed that he stepped up his production because he was in a contract year, and indeed he was considered a top free-agent commodity in the 2004 off-season.
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Ernie Beck
Ernest Joseph Beck (born December 11, 1931 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a retired American professional basketball player. Beck played seven years in the National Basketball Association for the Philadelphia Warriors, St. Louis Hawks and Syracuse Nationals. He was a territorial pick in the 1953 NBA Draft, selected by the Warriors. He attended University of Pennsylvania.
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Ernie DiGregorio
Ernest (Ernie) DiGregorio, known as "Ernie D." (born January 15, 1951, in North Providence, Rhode Island), is an American former National Basketball Association player. He was the 1973-74 NBA Rookie of the Year and holds the NBA rookie record for assists in a single game with 25. Due to a severe knee injury suffered early in DiGregorio's professional career,[citation needed] he played only five NBA seasons.
DiGregorio played on the 1968 Rhode Island (Class B) champions at North Providence High School.
After playing for the Providence College Friars, DiGregorio was drafted by the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association but opted instead for the NBA.
He was selected third overall by the Buffalo Braves in the 1973 NBA Draft out of Providence College, and won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 1973-74 after averaging 15.2 points and leading the league in both free throw percentage and assists per game. DiGregorio still holds the NBA rookie record for assists in a single game with 25 (a record now shared with Nate McMillan). He would never again come close to that level of production, but managed to have a decent NBA career, most of which he spent with the Braves.
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Evan Turner
Evan Marcel Turner (born October 27, 1988), nicknamed The Villain, is an American basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers. Turner was drafted 2nd overall by the 76ers in the 2010 NBA draft. Turner plays the point guard, shooting guard and small forward positions. Turner was a first-team 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball All-American and the 2010 National Player of the Year. Turner was also a two-time Big Ten Conference scoring champion and the 2010 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year. He was twice the only player named as a unanimous first-team selection by both the coaches and the media to the All-Big Ten team (2008–09, 2009–10). By finishing first in scoring and second in both rebounds and assists in the conference in the 2009–10 season, he was the first men's basketball player to finish in the top two in each of these categories and in fact, the first to finish in the top five in each category in the same season.
Turner attended St. Joseph High School in Westchester. By his senior season, he was one of the top high school basketball players at his position in the nation. As a true freshman, he helped lead the Buckeyes to the 2008 National Invitation Tournament championship. The following year, he was the Big Ten Conference scoring champion for the 2008–09 season and was a first-team 2009 All-Big Ten selection. That season, he was also an honorable mention All-American and was selected as a member of the 2009 All-Big Ten Conference Tournament team, and he became one of five Big Ten players to have been among the top ten in the conference in average points, rebounds, and assists in the same season.
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Fabricio Oberto
Fabricio Raúl Jesús Oberto (born March 21, 1975) is an Argentine-Italian professional basketball player. At 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) and 245 pounds (111 kg), he plays as a center. With the LNB club Atenas, in his native Argentina, Oberto began playing professionally in 1993, and later played overseas with teams in Spain and Greece. In 2005, Oberto signed with the San Antonio Spurs, a team of the American National Basketball Association, and won a championship with the Spurs in 2007. He is also a member of the Argentina national basketball team.
At age 17, Oberto went to a trial at Atenas de Córdoba, one of the most important basketball clubs in Argentina, and was selected to start the following year, and started playing professionally later that year. In 1998,[citation needed] after being chosen MVP of the finals of the Argentine league, he transferred to the Greek League club Olympiacos, starting his Euroleague experience that would take him to the Spanish League's TAU Cerámica a year later. After 2 seasons with TAU, he moved to Pamesa Valencia in 2002.
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Francisco Elson
Francisco Marinho Robby Elson (born February 28, 1976) is a Dutch professional basketball player. Elson is the seventh Dutch player to appear in the NBA. Elson has served as the captain of the Netherlands national basketball team in international basketball. He led the team in the 2007 Euro-qualifiers.
Elson is fluent in Dutch, Spanish, and English, and maintains an off-season home in the Netherlands. He is of Surinamese descent.
Elson started his career at AMVJ Rotterdam (now Rotterdam Basketball) at the age of twelve. After a couple of years playing he stopped. His gym teacher at the Maria School asked him to return to the club at the age of sixteen. Played with, amongst others, Peter van Rij (Fairfield and Charleston Southern) in the junior team of coach Jan Bruin in 1975. Benched in first team Rotterdam Basketball.
Elson was a member of the Dutch Under-20 National Team. He played two seasons at Kilgore Junior College in Texas before completing his college at the University of California, Berkeley. As a senior he helped lead the Bears to the NIT Championship. Elson was drafted in the second round of the 1999 NBA Draft from Cal by the Denver Nuggets, but did not commence play with them until the 2003–04 campaign. He played four years in Spain:
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Frank Selvy
Franklin Delano "Frank" Selvy (born November 9, 1932 in Corbin, Kentucky) is a former NBA basketball player who is best known for holding the record for the most points in a Division I college basketball game with 100 points. Selvy was an All-State basketball player at Corbin High School and was a teammate of College Football Hall of Fame inductee Roy Kidd.
Selvy is best remembered for scoring 100 points in a college game for South Carolina's Furman University against Newberry College on February 13, 1954, the only NCAA Division I player ever to do so. The game was played towards the end of Selvy's final collegiate season, and Furman coach Lyles Alley had designated the game "Frank Selvy Night" in order to garner recognition for the player who was already certain to finish the season leading the nation in scoring and earn first-team All-American honors, two accomplishments he had already attained the year before. The game was the first to be broadcast live on television in South Carolina and a large contingent from Selvy's hometown, including his family, had made the six-hour trek just for the occasion. The instructions from Coach Alley were simply to get the ball to Selvy so he can score as much as possible. Selvy obliged, hitting 41 of 66 field goals and 18 of 22 free throws, his last two points coming on a desperate heave near midcourt at the buzzer. (The game was played well before the introduction of the three-point line; Selvy would later estimate that about a dozen of his shots that day would have been three-pointers today.)
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Fred Hetzel
Fred W. Hetzel (born July 21, 1942 in Washington, DC) is a retired American basketball player.
Hetzel initially attended Woodrow Wilson High School in D.C. and played for the Tigers in the 1958 season. He then transferred to Landon School in the Bethesda, MD. suburbs and was a 3 time All Met. As a Soph, he averaged 20.5 ppg, and as a Jr, 20.4 ppg. As a 3 time All Met in the Washington Daily News...he followed in the footsteps of Lew Luce and George Leftwich as the only 3-peats. He averaged 24.1 ppg in his Sr season and finished with 1,210 points during his Bears career. On March 2, 1961, Undefeated Landon and DeMatha (ranked 1-2 in the city) faced off in Cole Field House before a crowd of 6400. Fred Hetzel led Landon that night with 18 points but it was the tandem of John Austin and Gary Ward that led the Stags to victory 57-52.
A 6'8" forward/center from Davidson College, he was selected by the San Francisco Warriors with the first pick of the 1965 NBA Draft. Hetzel was named to the 1966 NBA All-Rookie Team. He played six seasons in the NBA (1965–71) with five teams, including the 1970-71 Los Angeles Lakers, and scored 4,658 career points. Currently residing in Virginia, and Bonita Springs, Florida and is in the Real Estate industry.
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Gary Bradds
Gary Lee "Tex" Bradds (July 26, 1942 in Jamestown, Ohio – July 15, 1983) was an American basketball player. He attended Greeneview High School where he once scored 61 points in a game (12/08/1959 versus Mt. Sterling). The school's gym is named in his honor.
Bradds enrolled at University of Kentucky but transferred after two days.
He played collegiately for the Ohio State University. Was National Player of the Year and winner of the Adolph Rupp Trophy in 1964. Teammates included Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek, Bobby Knight, Mel Nowell, and Don DeVoe. Averaged 28.0 points and 13.0 rebounds as a junior, after replacing Jerry Lucas. Averaged 30.6 points and 13.4 rebounds as a senior. Had six consecutive 40 point games his senior year, including a school record 49 against Illinois (2/10/64). During the streak, Bradds averaged 44.3 points and scored 46% of Ohio State's points. Streak ended against Iowa with Bradds scoring 30 points. Member of 2 Big Ten Championship teams, 1963-64. Was member of the 1963 Pan American games, winning a gold medal. Pan Am team included Willis Reed and Lucious Jackson. Was captain of the team in 1964. His #35 has been retired at Ohio State (1/27/2001). Is a member of their Hall of Fame (inducted in 1978). Also, member of the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. Scored 15 points in the National Title game in 1962, leading team. Jerry Lucas once claimed that Bradds was the best player he played against all season "in practice". His 735 points in 1964 are second highest season total in schools history. Was Ohio States MVP in 1963 and 1964. Was Big Ten MVP in 1963 and 1964. Was All American in 1963 and 1964. Teams record while at Ohio State was 62-14. Averaged 20.7 points and 9.5 rebounds while shooting .535% from the field in 74 games at Ohio State. His 1,530 points and 706 rebounds still rank in the school's top ten of all time.
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Gary Neal
Gary Neal (born October 3, 1984) is an American professional basketball player with the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Neal attended Aberdeen High School and Calvert Hall College High School in Maryland then played college basketball at La Salle University before tranfserring to Towson University. He began his professional career abroad with teams in Turkey, Spain, and Italy before signing with the Spurs in 2010. At 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) tall and weighs 95 kg (210 lb), Neal is considered a combo guard.
Born in Baltimore, Neal played at Aberdeen High School and one year at Calvert Hall College High School. As a junior, he led Aberdeen to a 21–4 record and won their state championship, while averaging a triple double per game. One of his Aberdeen teammates was former George Mason forward-center Jai Lewis. During his senior season, his Calvert Hall team went 22–9. One of his teammates on that squad was former Miami shooting guard Jack McClinton.
As a freshman, Neal was the Atlantic Ten Rookie Of The Year. He led the La Salle Explorers in scoring with an 18.6 average during his two seasons for the Explorers. Before the 2004–05 season, Neal was dismissed from the team due to a rape allegation by a University of New Haven women's basketball player who was working at La Salle camp. Neal was later acquitted after prosecutors failed to convince a jury that the woman was too drunk to consent to sex.
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Gary Payton
Gary Dwayne Payton (born July 23, 1968) is a former American professional basketball point guard. He is best known for his 13-year tenure with the Seattle SuperSonics, and holds Seattle franchise records in points, assists, and steals. He has also played with the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat, the last with whom he won an NBA Championship.
The only point guard ever to win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, Payton is widely considered one of the greatest of all time at that position. He was selected to the NBA All-Defensive First Team nine times, an NBA record he shares with Michael Jordan, Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant. Payton got his nickname "The Glove" when Payton's cousin called him during the 1993 Western Conference Finals series against Phoenix and told him, "you're holding Kevin Johnson like a baseball in a glove," and the nickname was born.
Considered the "NBA's reigning high scorer among point guards" in his prime, Payton is referred to as "probably as complete a guard as there ever was" by NBA Hall of Famer Gail Goodrich.
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Gene Melchiorre
Eugene "Gene" "Squeaky" Melchiorre (born August 10, 1927) is a retired American basketball player. He was drafted by the Baltimore Bullets and was the first overall pick in the 1951 NBA Draft, although he never played a game due to his ban from professional basketball for point shaving.
He was the fifth of six children born in Highland Park, Illinois, to a gardener who moved his family there from Joliet in 1936. Though short stature and having pigeon toes, Melchiorre excelled in nearly ever sport he tried. He was a starting wingback on the Highland Park football team, a basketball player, a baseball player, a tennis player and, in his later years, a golfer. After joining the Army, Melchiorre joined the basketball team at Fort Sheridan, known as the Ramblers, that won 58 out of 63 games during his two-year tour (1945–47).
Melchiorre played guard for Bradley University in the 1947-48 to 1950-51 seasons. Standing only 5'8" and weighing 175 lbs, he was famous for his passing abilities and his ability to score. During his tenure, Bradley won 119 games while losing only 22. He participated in both the NIT and NCAA Tournament in 1950, in which Bradley lost to CCNY in both games.
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Geoff Petrie
Geoffrey Michael Petrie (born April 17, 1948) is a former American basketball player and current basketball team executive. A native of Pennsylvania, he played professional basketball in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Portland Trail Blazers where he won NBA Rookie of the Year in 1971. After retirement as a player he entered management, and is the current President of Basketball Operations for the Sacramento Kings in the NBA.
Geoff Petrie was born in Darby, Pennsylvania, on April 17, 1948. He attended Springfield High School, in Springfield, Pennsylvania, and played collegiate ball at Princeton University.
In Petrie's sophomore season at Princeton, the team was co-champion of the Ivy League with a 20-6 (12-3 Ivy) record. Despite the fact that Princeton had three of the five first-team All-Ivy team members, including Petrie plus second-team member John Hummer, they lost the one-game league playoff to the Jim McMillian-led 1968 Columbia Lions men's basketball team. That year the team rose to as high as 8th in the AP Poll. The following season, Petrie led the Ivy League in scoring (23.9 points/game in conference games), and the team accumulated a 19-7 (14-0) record, including an appearance in the 1969 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. They lost to St. John's in the tournament, but Petrie was again on the first-team All-Ivy squad. As a senior, Petrie was second-team All-Ivy, but the Tigers placed third in the conference to the undefeated (in Ivy League games) Corky Calhoun-led Penn Quakers men's basketball team and McMillian's Lions. Although Princeton did not appear in the 1970 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, they hosted Penn's game. All three of his varsity years were spent under head coach Pete Carril. Petrie was co-captain of the 1969-70 team with classmate Hummer. Petrie was All-East both as a junior and a senior.
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George Gervin
George "The Iceman" Gervin (born April 27, 1952) is a retired American professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Virginia Squires, San Antonio Spurs, and Chicago Bulls. Gervin averaged at least 14 points per game in all 14 of his ABA and NBA seasons, and finished with an NBA career average of 26.2 points per game. Gervin is widely regarded to be one of the greatest shooting guards in NBA history.
Nicknamed Iceman for his cool demeanor on the court, Gervin was primarily known for his scoring talents. He led teams at both Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan and Long Beach State. After leaving college due to an altercation, Gervin was set to try out for the Virginia Squires of the ABA. According to legend, Gervin made 22 of 25 three-point attempts at the tryout; he was immediately signed despite the fact that Virginia officials had never seen him play competitively.
His first scoring crown came in 1978, when he narrowly edged David Thompson for the scoring title by seven hundredths of a point (27.22 to 27.15). Although Thompson came up with a memorable performance for the last game of the regular season, scoring 73 points, Gervin maintained his slight lead by scoring 63 points (including an NBA-record at the time 33 points in the second quarter) in a loss in his last game of the season. With the scoring crown in hand, he sat out some of the third, and all of the fourth quarter. Gervin went on to lead the NBA in scoring average three years in a row from 1978 to 1980 (with a high of 33.1 points per game in 1979-80), and again in 1982. The Spurs drafted high scoring guards Oliver Robinson of UAB and Tony Grier from South Florida to take some offensive pressure off Gervin. Prior to Michael Jordan, Gervin had the most scoring titles of any guard in league history.
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George Mikan
George Lawrence Mikan, Jr. (June 18, 1924 – June 1, 2005), nicknamed Mr. Basketball, was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBL, the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). Invariably playing with thick, round spectacles, the 6 ft 10 in 245 lb. Mikan is seen as one of the pioneers of professional basketball, redefining it as a game of so-called big men with his prolific rebounding, shot blocking and his talent to shoot over smaller defenders with his ambidextrous hook shot, result of his own Mikan Drill.
Mikan had a successful player career, winning seven NBL, BAA and NBA championships, an All-Star MVP trophy, three scoring titles and being member of the first four NBA All-Star and the first six All-BAA and All-NBA Teams. Mikan was so dominant that he caused several rule changes in the NBA, among them widening the foul lane—known as the "Mikan Rule"—and introducing the shot clock.
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Gerard King
Gerard King (born (1972-11-25)November 25, 1972 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American professional basketball player, formerly for the San Antonio Spurs and the Washington Wizards in the NBA.
He played for the US national team in the 1998 FIBA World Championship, winning the bronze medal.
King attended and played college basketball at Nicholls State University in Louisiana, and finished his career as the fourth leading scorer and sixth leading rebounder in school history. He was inducted into the Louisiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
He was a member of the San Antonio Spurs' 1999 NBA championship team. Then he played his two final NBA seasons (1999–2001) for the Washington Wizards. In 126 games, he averaged 4.5 points and 3.1 rebounds.
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Gerry McNamara
Gerry McNamara (born August 28, 1983) is a former American basketball player and current assistant coach of the Syracuse University men's basketball team. He is a former guard for the Orange, from 2002 to 2006, where he helped lead the team to a title in 2003.
After leaving Syracuse, McNamara played professionally for Panionios BC, Olympiacos BC, the Bakersfield Jam,BK Ventspils and the Reno Bighorns. In 2009, McNamara announced his retirement from basketball and returned to Syracuse as a graduate student and assistant coach.
McNamara was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He is the youngest of the four children of Gerard and Joyce McNamara. He has a brother Timothy and two sisters, Bridget and Maureen. He married Katie Marie Stott on July 21, 2007. He enjoys fishing almost as much as he enjoys basketball.
McNamara attended Bishop Hannan High School. In his four seasons at Hannan, the Golden Lancers compiled a record of 109-17. McNamara was named the Lackawanna League Division II Player of the Year for four years in a row, was a three-time Associated Press Pennsylvania Small School All-State First Team selection and was the AP's Pennsylvania State Player of the Year in 2001 and 2002. McNamara finished as Pennsylvania's seventh all-time leading scorer with 2,917 points.
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Glen Rice
Glen Anthony Rice (born May 28, 1967) is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the NBA. The 6'8" tall Rice was a three-time NBA All-Star guard/forward, ranking 11th in NBA history with 1,559 three-point field goals made during his 15-year career. As a player, Rice won an NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship and an NBA Championship. Rice has won both the NBA All-Star Game MVP and the NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player awards. In recent years, Rice has taken up MMA fight promotion as owner and head of G-Force Fights, based out of Miami, Florida.
Rice played college basketball for the University of Michigan Wolverines for four seasons (1985–1989), a starter for three of those seasons. He became the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,442 points. He led Michigan to the 1989 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, scoring an NCAA-record 184 points in tournament play, a record that still stands. Rice was also voted the tournament's Most Outstanding Player and was part of the Associated Press All-America second-team, after averaging 25.6 points for the season, while shooting 58% from the floor and 52% from three-point range. After Rice's junior year, he was invited to try out for the 1988 United States Olympic basketball team, but was cut before reaching the group of 48. On February 20, 2005, Rice's No. 41 jersey was retired during a ceremony at Michigan's Crisler Arena. Rice made the cover of Sports Illustrated on April 10, 1989.
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Glenn Robinson
Glenn A. "Big Dog" Robinson (born January 10, 1973) is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA. He last played during the 2004–05 season.
Robinson was born to Christine Bridgeman in Gary, Indiana. With his mother being an unmarried teenager, Glenn rarely saw his father. In a city known for its crime and drugs, his mother kept him straight. Not receiving the best of grades at school, his mom once pulled him off of the basketball team, and he took a job at an air-conditioning and refrigeration shop.
Robinson attended Gary Roosevelt High School, in Gary, where he started playing organized basketball during the 8th grade. During his senior season, he led his school to an Indiana state basketball championship, winning the final game against Brebeuf Jesuit and their star Alan Henderson. Glenn also won the 1991 Indiana Mr. Basketball award. He was selected as a McDonald's All-American. He was one of the MVPs of the Dapper Dan Roundball classic, along with Chris Webber.
After high school, Glenn Robinson attended Purdue University to play under head coach Gene Keady and his recruiter/assistant coach Frank Kendrick. Due to struggles with NCAA eligibility, resulting from Proposition 48 which requires minimum academic standards, he had to redshirt for his freshman season. He worked as a welder during the summers while at Purdue. Eligible for his sophomore season, Glenn led the Boilermakers with 24.1 points and 9.4 rebounds a game in his first season as a Boilermaker. He led them to an 18–10 record on the season, which included a victory against the Michigan "Fab Five" in the regular season, and an NCAA appearance. He received First Team All-Big Ten and Second Team All-American honors.
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God Shammgod
God Shammgod (born April 29, 1976, in New York City, New York) is an American professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association with the Washington Wizards during 1997-98 after being drafted by them in the 2nd round (17th pick) of the 1997 NBA Draft. He played in the Chinese Basketball Association for several teams, including the Zhejiang Cyclones and Shanxi Yujun. He has also played professionally in Poland and Saudi Arabia.
When he was known as Shammgod Wells, he played high school basketball at La Salle Academy in Manhattan. His teammates at La Salle Academy included current NBA player Ron Artest and former Providence College center Karim Shabazz [1]. He was selected to the 1995 McDonald's All-American Team and recorded 9 points in the All-American game. He also played with Kobe Bryant during a summer on an AAU team. Kobe learned the cross-over dribble move from Shammgod during this time.
Shammgod played for two seasons at Providence College, where he averaged 10.3 PPG for his college career. He was selected to the Big East All-Rookie Team as a freshman in 1996 after setting the Big East freshman assist record, which has since been broken. As a sophomore, Shammgod teamed with future NBA player Austin Croshere in leading the Friars to the 1997 Elite Eight, where they lost to eventual NCAA Champion Arizona in overtime. Shammgod registered 23 points and 5 assists while matching up against current NBA player Mike Bibby in the loss.
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Gordon Malone
Gordon Malone (born July 17, 1974) is a former basketball player for West Virginia University. He was selected 44th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1997 NBA Draft.
He is currently playing for the Strong Island Sound of the American Basketball Association. Previously, he had spent time with the Saskatchewan Hawks in the Continental Basketball Association.
He has now switched his career to dominating insurance offices like the one they call State Farm in Charles Town, WV.
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Grant Hill
Grant Henry Hill (born October 5, 1972) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the NBA. As a collegian with Duke University and early in his professional career with the Detroit Pistons, Hill was widely considered to be one of the best all-around players in the game, often leading his team in points, rebounds and assists. His time in the league has been hampered by career-threatening injuries, notably during the prime of his career. At age 39, Hill is the second-oldest player in the NBA, one day younger than the oldest player, Kurt Thomas.
Grant Hill was born in Dallas, Texas. His father, Calvin Hill, graduated from Yale University with a degree in history, later attended Southern Methodist University and was a three-time All-Pro running back for the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys, winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award in 1969. His mother, Janet, is a Wellesley College graduate. After his father's NFL career ended, the family settled in Reston, Virginia, where Grant became a high-school superstar at South Lakes High School and he was selected for the 1990 McDonald's All-American Team.
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Greg LeMond
Gregory James LeMond (born June 26, 1961 in Lakewood, California) is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Lakewood, California and raised in Reno, Nevada.
In 1986, LeMond became the first American and the first non-European cyclist to win the Tour de France. The following year he was shot and seriously injured in a hunting accident. He was able to return to the Tour in 1989, winning it dramatically in its final stage. He won again for the third time the following year in 1990. He is one of only nine cyclists to have won the Tour three or more times.
Greg LeMond was a standout junior rider who quickly established himself as one of the most talented cyclists in the professional circuit. After his initial success on the junior circuit he began competing against older, more seasoned competitors. He gained the attention of the US Cycling Federation's national team, riding for them at the 1979 Junior World Championships held in Argentina. There he won gold, silver and bronze medals, the highlight being his spectacular victory in the road race. He was selected for the 1980 U.S. Olympic cycling team, the youngest ever, at 18, to make the U.S. team; however, the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow prevented him from competing there.
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Greg Oden
Gregory Wayne Oden, Jr. (born January 22, 1988) is an American basketball player at the center position who is currently a free agent. Oden played basketball for Ohio State University for one season, during which the team was the Big Ten Champion and the tournament runner-up in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
On June 28, 2007, Oden was selected first overall in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. He underwent microfracture surgery of the knee in September 2007, and missed the entire 2007–08 NBA season as a result. He recovered and made his NBA debut on opening night 2008. On March 15, 2012 he was waived from the Trail Blazers after a long history of injuries.
Oden is currently the "Team Oden" spokesperson for Oregon Mentors, promoting mentoring for kids.
Oden was born in Buffalo, New York, and moved with his family to Terre Haute, Indiana at the age of nine. He attended Sarah Scott Middle School in Terre Haute, where he first played interscholastic basketball. He then relocated with his mother and brother and attended Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis, Indiana which he led to three consecutive Indiana Class 4A basketball championships before graduating in 2006. He was named Parade's High School Co-Player of the Year 2005 (along with Monta Ellis) and 2005 National Boys Basketball Player of the Year, becoming the first junior since LeBron James to be named such. He repeated as Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year in 2006. Oden was named the 2006 Indiana Mr. Basketball. He was also on the McDonald's All-American Team and played in the All-American game.
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Gregg Popovich
Gregg Popovich (born January 28, 1949) is an American basketball coach, and is currently the head coach of the National Basketball Association's San Antonio Spurs. Taking over as coach of the Spurs in 1996, Popovich is the longest tenured coach in both the NBA and all Big Four sports leagues. He is often referred to as "Coach Pop" or simply "Pop." He has won four championships as head coach of the Spurs.
Popovich was born in East Chicago, Indiana to a Serbian father and mother of Croatian descent.. He attended Merrillville High School and graduated in 1970 from the United States Air Force Academy. He played basketball for four seasons at the Academy, and in his senior year was the team captain and the leading scorer. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Soviet Studies, and he underwent Air Force intelligence gathering and processing training. At one point, Popovich considered a career with the Central Intelligence Agency.
Popovich served five years of required active duty in the United States Air Force, during which he toured Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union with the U.S. Armed Forces Basketball Team. In 1972, he was selected as captain of the Armed Forces Team, which won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championship. This earned him an invitation to the 1972 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team trials.
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Greivis Vásquez
Greivis Vásquez (full name: Greivis Josué Vásquez Rodríguez; born (1987-01-16)January 16, 1987) is a Venezuelan basketball player with the New Orleans Hornets. He was chosen after a stellar U.S. college career with the University of Maryland men's basketball team. Vásquez finished second on the Terrapins' all-time scoring list, with 2,171 career points.
He was born in Caracas and moved to the United States to attend high school at Montrose Christian School in Rockville, Maryland in 2004. During his senior year at Montrose, he committed to the University of Maryland to play under head coach Gary Williams.
In 2007, Vásquez played on the Venezuelan national basketball team in the FIBA America Championships. In his final college season of 2009–10, he was one of three Venezuelans playing in NCAA Division I men's basketball, with the others being David Cubillan of the Marquette Golden Eagles and Gregory Echenique of the Creighton Bluejays.
Vásquez grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, where he lived with his parents, Ivis Rodriguez and Gregorio Vásquez, and brother, Ingerman Sanoya. At Montrose Christian, Vásquez played under head coach Stu Vetter, and helped the Mustangs post a 43–5 record over his junior and senior seasons. While at Montrose Christian he played with future college and NBA star Kevin Durant.
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Hakeem Olajuwon
Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon (/ɵˈlaɪdʒəwɒn/; [olaɟuwɔ̃]; born January 21, 1963) is a retired Nigerian-American professional basketball player. From 1984 to 2002, he played the center position in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors. He led the Rockets to back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and 1995. In 2008, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Listed at 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) (but closer to 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) by his own admission), Olajuwon is considered one of the greatest centers ever to play the game.
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Hal Greer
Harold Everett Greer (born June 26, 1936, in Huntington, West Virginia) is a retired American professional basketball player.
He attended Douglass Junior and Senior High School in Huntington. He played college basketball at Marshall University and was drafted by the Syracuse Nationals of the NBA in 1958. Greer played for Syracuse for five seasons, raising his scoring average to 22.8 points a game in 1961. He was selected for the NBA All-Star team that year. In 1963, the Syracuse Nationals moved to Philadelphia to become the Philadelphia 76ers. There, Greer became well known as a teammate of Wilt Chamberlain, and starred on the powerful 1966-67 team that ended the eight-year championship reign of the Bill Russell-led Boston Celtics. In the 76ers' 15 playoff games that season, Greer averaged a team-best 27.7 points. Greer had an unusual but highly effective free throw technique, shooting a jump shot from the charity stripe. He is usually considered the third-best guard of the 1960s, behind Oscar Robertson and Jerry West.
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Hank Egan
Hank Egan (born August 17, 1937) is a professional basketball coach in the National Basketball Association. He has most recently served as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers (to Mike Brown). He has also been an assistant with the Golden State Warriors (to Eric Musselman) and San Antonio Spurs (to Gregg Popovich).
Egan was the head coach of the University of San Diego from 1984 to 1994. Prior to coaching at USD, he was the head coach at the United States Air Force Academy from 1971 to 1984.
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Hank Gathers
Eric "Hank" Gathers (February 11, 1967 – March 4, 1990) was an American college basketball star at Loyola Marymount University who collapsed and died during a game. He was the second player in NCAA Division I history to lead the nation in scoring and rebounding in the same season. He originally played at the University of Southern California, but transferred with teammate Bo Kimble to LMU after his freshman year. Gathers was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was listed as 6'7" in height.
Gathers played prep ball with Kimble at Dobbins Technical High School in Philadelphia with the pair leading the team to the Public League City championship in 1985.
Both Gathers and Kimble were recruited to the University of Southern California by Head Coach Stan Morrison and his top assistant, David Spencer. They were joined by high school All-American, Tom Lewis, and Rich Grande as the "Four Freshmen" star recruiting class. Following an 11-17 season coaching USC, Morrison and Spencer were fired after the 1985-86 season was over, despite winning the Pac-10 Conference the previous year. It was reported that the players would not remain unless certain conditions were met, including having a say in the next coaching staff. USC hired George Raveling as the next head coach of the Trojans. Raveling gave the players a deadline to respond whether they would remain on the team. When they did not respond, he revoked the scholarships of Gathers, Kimble, and Lewis. Raveling's controversial statement was, "You can't let the Indians run the reservation," he said. "You've got to be strong, too. Sometimes you have to tell them that they have to exit." Kimble and Gathers transferred together from USC to Loyola Marymount. Lewis transferred to Pepperdine. Grande remained at USC.
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Hasheem Thabeet
Hasheem Thabeet (born Hashim Thabit Manka on February 16, 1987 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) is a Tanzanian professional basketball player. A member of the Portland Trail Blazers, he is the tallest active player in the NBA. He was drafted as the 2nd pick overall by the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2009 NBA Draft after playing with the Connecticut Huskies. At 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) and 263 lb (119 kg), Thabeet was the tallest player ever to play for the Huskies. He did not begin to play basketball until the age of 15, when he began to watch pickup games in Tanzania.
As a freshman, he averaged 6.2 points and 3.8 blocks per game. On December 3, 2006, Thabeet tied a UConn record with 10 blocks. Thabeet was named to the 2007 All-Big East Rookie Team, along with teammate Jerome Dyson.
As a sophomore he saw increased minutes and he averaged 10.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, 4.5 blocks on the season. On January 5, 2008, he tied his career high in blocks with 10 in the Huskies' 73-67 loss at University of Notre Dame. Thabeet was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year and to the Second Team All Big East.
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Hedo Türkoğlu
Hidayet "Hedo" Türkoğlu (Turkish pronunciation: [hid̪aːˈjet̪ ˈt̪yɾkoːɫu]; born March 19, 1979) is a Turkish professional basketball player in the NBA currently playing for the Orlando Magic. He plays the small forward position, although he has played four positions in his career. He possesses above-average ballhandling and playmaking skills for a forward, and is sometimes used in a point forward role.
Türkoğlu joined Efes Pilsen in 1996 and played four seasons with the team. He averaged 8.4 points on 58 percent shooting in 50 games in the Euroleague. Türkoğlu helped the team reach the 2000 Euroleague Final Four, averaging 13.6 points and 4.6 rebounds in 22 games.
Türkoğlu was selected by the Sacramento Kings with the 16th pick of the 2000 NBA Draft. He was the first Turkish-born player in NBA history. He played alongside other European stars such as Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic.
He earned consideration for the NBA's Sixth Man Award in his sophomore season, after averaging 10.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
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Hersey Hawkins
Hersey R. Hawkins, Jr. (born September 29, 1966, in Chicago, Illinois) is a retired American professional basketball player. After starring at Westinghouse High School in Chicago, the 6' 3" (1.90 m) shooting guard attended Bradley University. Hawkins was known for his stealing skills and outside-shooting ability. He wore numbers 3, 32 and 33 in his 12-year basketball career.
Hersey spent four seasons at Bradley University. In the 1987-1988 season, he averaged an NCAA Division I-high 36.3 points per game and was National College Player of the Year. He led NCAA Division 1 in scoring. His basketball career in college was successful. Before being drafted into the NBA, he was a member of the USA men's national basketball team at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul with 11 other future NBA stars coached by John Thompson. They disappointingly finished with the bronze medal after losing to the Soviet Union in the semifinals.
He was then drafted 6th overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in first round of the 1988 NBA Draft, but his rights were immediately traded to the Philadelphia 76ers for the draft rights to former 1988 Olympic teammate Charles Smith. On the 76ers, "Hawk" was the second scoring option after Charles Barkley. Hawkins earned NBA All-Rookie First Team Honors in 1989. In 1991 he averaged 22.1 points and appeared in the NBA All-Star Game. In a game against the Boston Celtics, he made 9 steals. He also scored a career-high 43 points in a game against the Orlando Magic.
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Horace Grant
Horace Junior Grant (born July 4, 1965) is a retired American basketball player. He attended and played college basketball at Clemson University, before playing professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he became a four-time champion with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. He was easily recognizable by many NBA fans because of his trademark wraparound protective eyeglasses. His twin brother, Harvey Grant, also played in the NBA. His nephew Jerai Grant played for Clemson's basketball team.
Grant was born in Augusta, Georgia and attended Clemson University. He was drafted by the Chicago Bulls with the 10th overall pick of the 1987 NBA Draft. The 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) tall power forward/center immediately teamed with fellow draft-day acquisition Scottie Pippen to form the Bulls' forward tandem of the future, although he initially backed up incumbent Charles Oakley, one of the league's premier rebounders and post defenders.
In 1989, Grant moved into the starting lineup when Oakley was traded to the New York Knicks for center Bill Cartwright. He immediately became the Bulls' main rebounder, and established himself as the Bulls' third scoring option after Michael Jordan and Pippen, forming one of the league's best trios. Grant was noted for his defensive play; he was selected four times for the NBA All-Defensive Team. He helped Chicago win three consecutive NBA championships (1990–91, 1991–92, and 1992–93), securing the third with a last-second block.
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Howie Shannon
Howie Shannon was the first overall pick in the 1949 BAA Draft[dubious – discuss], selected by the Providence Steamrollers. Shannon averaged 13.4 points per game during the 1948–49 BAA season and was named the league's Rookie of the Year — a designation not currently sanctioned by the NBA for that season. He attended Kansas State University.
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Ian McGinnis
Ian McGinnis (born September 27, 1978) is a former American basketball player for Dartmouth College's men's basketball team. He is best known for leading NCAA Division I in rebounding during his sophomore season in 1998–99. He averaged 12.2 rebounds per game and was the first Dartmouth player to average a double-digit number of rebounds in 38 years. To date, McGinnis is the only Dartmouth player to have ever led the nation in this statistical category.
McGinnis grew up in Manhattan, New York. He attended the Collegiate School in the Upper West Side, and as a senior in 1996–97, averaged 23 points, 15 rebounds and six blocks per game. He chose Dartmouth over other Ivy League schools Penn, Princeton and Harvard largely in part because his father is an alumnus and his brother was a student there at the time. He also cited the potential of getting a lot of playing time as a freshman as another reason for choosing the Big Green. A 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) center, McGinnis finished his career at Dartmouth with close to 900 points and over 1,000 rebounds.
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Ingemar Johansson
Jens Ingemar Johansson (September 22, 1932 – January 30, 2009) was a Swedish boxer and former heavyweight champion of the world. Johansson was the fifth heavyweight champion born outside the United States. In 1959 he defeated Floyd Patterson by TKO in the third round, after flooring Patterson seven times in that round, to win the World Heavyweight Championship. As a result, Johansson won the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the year and was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year".
Johansson enjoyed a successful career as a heavyweight. When he retired in 1963 he had a record of 26 wins, 17 by KO, and only 2 losses. He called his right fist "toonder and lightning" for its concussive power (it was also called "Ingo's Bingo" and the "Hammer of Thor"), and in 2003 he was ranked at #99 on The Ring's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. He reputedly had bone trouble in his right hand on and off throughout his career as a result.
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Isiah Thomas
Isiah Lord Thomas III ( /aɪˈzeɪ.ə/; born April 30, 1961), nicknamed "Zeke", is a retired American basketball player who played collegiately for the Indiana University Hoosiers. He went on to play professionally as point guard for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1981 until 1994 and led the "Bad Boys" to the NBA Championship in the 1988–89 and 1989–90 seasons. He was a 12-time NBA All-Star and named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. After his playing career, he was an executive with the Toronto Raptors, a television commentator, an executive with the Continental Basketball Association, head coach of the Indiana Pacers, and an executive and head coach for the New York Knicks. He was later the men's basketball coach for the Florida International University (FIU) Golden Panthers for three seasons from 2009 to 2012.
Thomas was born on April 30, 1961, in Chicago, Illinois. The youngest of nine brothers and sisters, he commuted from the North Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago to play high school basketball at St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois for Gene Pingatore. He would wake up at 5 am and commute 90 minutes to attend the private school. During his junior year, he led St. Joseph to the State Finals and was considered one of the top college prospects in the country.
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Jabari Parker
Jabari Parker (born March 15, 1995) is an American high school basketball player from Chicago, Illinois. He has completed his 2011–12 junior season for Simeon Career Academy. Many experts consider Parker the top player in the recruiting class of 2013, including ESPN, Scout.com and Rivals.com. Before his junior season, Dime Magazine declared him the best high school basketball player in the country, while a ten-member panel at ESPN HS rated him second. Following his junior season, ESPN HS's panel again rated him as the second best basketball player in the country. He was the feature of a Sports Illustrated cover with the title "The Best High School Basketball Player Since LeBron James is...Jabari Parker But There's Something More Important To Him Than Instant NBA Stardom: His Faith". Parker is the son of former NBA player Sonny Parker and is of the Mormon faith.
At the end of his junior season he was named national boys' basketball Gatorade Player of the Year. He was the ESPN HS National Player of the Year for his class and an Illinois High School Association (IHSA) state champion as a freshman, sophomore and junior. As a junior, he was also named MaxPreps.com National Junior of the Year. He was named USA Basketball's 2011 Male Athlete of the Year at the start of his high school junior season. As a junior, he also won numerous regional Player of the Year awards, including being honored as the first non-senior Illinois Mr. Basketball and being selected as the Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year. That year, he was also named first team All-American by several selectors including ESPN HS and USA Today. Parker draws comparisons to many elite basketball players and continues to be measured against former Simeon standout and 2011 NBA MVP Derrick Rose.
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Jack Nicklaus
Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed "The Golden Bear", is an American professional golfer. By winning a total of 18 career major championships while producing 19 second place and 9 third place finishes in major events on the PGA Tour over a span of 25 years, he is widely regarded as the most accomplished professional golfer of all time. Nicklaus did not play that many tournaments because he wanted to focus on the Majors, but is still second on the PGA-tournament winning list, with 73 victories.
After winning two U.S. Amateurs in 1959 and 1961, and challenging for the 1960 U.S. Open, Nicklaus turned professional toward the end of 1961. The 1962 U.S. Open was both Nicklaus' first major championship victory and his first professional win. This win over Arnold Palmer began the on-course rivalry between the two. In 1966, Nicklaus won the Masters Tournament for the second year in a row, becoming the first golfer to achieve this, and also won The Open Championship, completing his career slam of major championships. At age 26, he became the youngest to do so at the time. In 1968 and 1969, Nicklaus did not win a major tournament. He then won another Open Championship in 1970.
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Jackie Butler
Jackie Butler (born March 10, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player.
Butler was born in McComb, Mississippi and attended McComb High School and originally committed to play at Mississippi State University but failed to qualify academically. He later enrolled at Laurinburg Institute, then transferred to Coastal Christian Academy prep school in Virginia Beach. Although he wanted to sign with the University of Tennessee in 2004, he decided to declare for the 2004 NBA Draft, the first player that year to do so.
No team drafted Butler in 2004. Butler signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Timberwolves and was cut training camp. Butler played briefly with the New York Knicks for the 2004-05 NBA season. He scored ten points over three games, by successfully making all four of his field goals and both free throw attempts. Butler finished the 2004-2005 season with the Continental Basketball Association where over 40 games with the Great Lakes Storm he averaged 18.1 points (tenth in CBA), 10.7 rebounds (third) and 1.45 blocks (third) per game. He later was drafted in the 2005 AAPBL Draft. However the league folded soon thereafter.
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Jackie Stewart
Sir John Young 'Jackie' Stewart, OBE (born 11 June 1939) is a Scottish former racing driver. Nicknamed the 'Flying Scot', he competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Championships. He also competed in Can-Am. He is well known in the United States as a color commentator (pundit) of racing television broadcasts, and as a spokesman for Ford, where his Scottish accent has made him a distinctive presence. Between 1997 and 1999, in partnership with his son, Paul, he was team principal of the Stewart Grand Prix Formula One racing team. In 2009 he was ranked fifth of the fifty greatest Formula One drivers of all time by journalist Kevin Eason who wrote: "He has not only emerged as a great driver, but one of the greatest figures of motor racing."
Stewart's family were Austin, later Jaguar, car dealers and had built up a successful business, Dumbuck Garage, in Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland where Stewart was born and was educated at Dumbarton Academy. His father had been an amateurmotorcycle racer, and his brother Jimmy was a racing driver with a growing local reputation who drove for Ecurie Ecosse and competed in the 1953 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, until he went off at Copse Corner in the wet.
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Jacque Vaughn
Jacque Vaughn (born February 11, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. He last played for the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA and is currently serving as an assistant coach for the team.
A native of Altadena, California, Vaughn attended John Muir High School in nearby Pasadena, becoming the best high school player in that area since former Muir High and NBA standout Stacey Augmon. Vaughn excelled both on and off the court, and by his senior year was ranked as high as the #7 high school recruit in the country and the #2 point guard in the class of 1993 behind arguably the nation's top player that year, Randy Livingston. Over the course of the season, Vaughn averaged over 21 points and 19 assists per game, while also compiling six triple-doubles. Named a First-Team All-American by nearly every publication on the market, Vaughn rounded off his special season with a selection to participate in the prestigious McDonald's All-American Game where he put on a show, scoring only 6 points but amassing 13 assists (still a McDonald's record), while also thoroughly outplaying the higher-ranked Livingston once again—this time on a national stage (they had both matched up against each other in the All-Star Game of the 1992 Nike Camp), and was named co-MVP with the North Carolina's Jerry Stackhouse in the process. After considering Georgetown, Indiana, UNLV, Arizona and UCLA, Vaughn decided to play for coach Roy Williams at Kansas, continuing, along with fellow recruit and college roommate Scot Pollard, the California pipeline of high school hoopsters to Lawrence, Kansas, started by former standouts Adonis Jordan and Rex Walters, and continuing in later years with Paul Pierce, and Eric Chenowith.
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Jamaal Wilkes
Jamaal Abdul-Lateef (born Jackson Keith Wilkes on May 2, 1953) , better known as Jamaal Wilkes, is a retired American basketball player who played the small forward position and won four NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors. He was a three-time NBA All-Star and the 1975 NBA Rookie of the Year. Wilkes was also a key player on two National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship teams under coach John Wooden for the UCLA Bruins.
Wilkes converted to Islam and legally changed his name to Jamaal Abdul-Lateef in 1975, but he continued to use his birth surname only for purposes of public recognition.
Wilkes was born in Berkeley, California and grew up in Ventura, California. His father, L. Leander Wilkes, was a Baptist minister. Wilkes attended Santa Barbara High School.
One of the smoothest, steadiest and most productive forwards to ever play in the NBA (he possessed a deadly accurate jump shot from the corner that Hall of Fame Laker announcer Chick Hearn dubbed the "20 foot layup") Jamaal "Smooth as Silk" Wilkes won championships at the scholastic, collegiate and professional levels.
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Jameer Nelson
Jameer Nelson (born February 9, 1982) is an American professional basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the NBA. He played college basketball at Saint Joseph's University and was drafted in the first round of the 2004 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets but was traded to the Orlando Magic, where he has played for his entire professional career.
Nelson attended Chester High School in Chester, Pennsylvania and was a student and a letterman in basketball. In basketball, he helped lead his team to two PIAA state championships.
Nelson began his play at Saint Joseph's University in the 2000–2001 NCAA season. He had a breakout freshman season in which he was named unanimous National Freshman of the Year. During his junior season in 2002–2003, he averaged 19.7 points per game, 5.1 rebounds per game, and 4.7 assists per game. He declared for the NBA Draft in 2003, but remained for his senior season because he wanted to improve his draft status.[citation needed]
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James Michael McAdoo
James Michael Ray McAdoo (born January 4, 1993) is an American college basketball player at the University of North Carolina. He was one of the top rated high school basketball players in the class of 2011.
He was rated as the #4 player in the class of 2011 by Scout.com, the #5 player in the ESPNU 100, and the #8 player by Rivals.com. During his junior season, McAdoo led Norfolk Christian to the Virginia Division II state championship, where he averaged 22.5 points and 9.9 rebounds, and shot 44 percent from 3-point range. In July 2010, McAdoo was a part of the gold medal winning team in the FIBA U-17 World Championships in Hamburg, Germany. For his performance in the 2009 FIBA U-16 tournament, USA Basketball named McAdoo their 2009 male athlete of the year. On August 5, 2010, McAdoo was selected to play in the 5th annual Boost Mobile Elite 24.
In 2009, during his junior year in high school, McAdoo's committed to join the North Carolina Tar Heels. After Travis and David Wear transferred from UNC, McAdoo considered graduating a year early so he could join the Tar Heels in 2010, but he ultimately decided to stay at Norfolk Christian through his senior year.
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James Worthy
James Ager Worthy (born February 27, 1961) is a retired Hall of Fame American college and professional basketball player. Named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, "Big Game James" was a seven-time NBA All-Star and three-time NBA champion. A standout for the North Carolina Tar Heels, the 6 ft 9 in (2.05 m) small forward was the MOP of the 1982 NCAA Tournament and #1 pick of the 1982 NBA Draft. He was born in Gastonia, North Carolina.
Worthy was an All-American high school basketball player at Ashbrook High School in Gastonia. Worthy averaged 21.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists during his senior season, for a team that lost in the state championship game. Worthy was also selected to play in the 1979 McDonald's All-American game that also featured future Naismith Hall of Famers Isiaih Thomas, Dominique Wilkins and Ralph Sampson.
After graduating high school, Worthy attended the University of North Carolina (UNC). He quickly became a standout at UNC but saw his freshman year cut short by a broken ankle suffered near mid-season. As a sophomore he was a key member of that school's 1981 NCAA runner-up team, playing with Al Wood and Sam Perkins.
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Jared Dudley
Jared Anthony Dudley (born July 10, 1985 in San Diego, California) is an American professional basketball player. He is a forward for the NBA's Phoenix Suns. During his college years he played with the Boston College Eagles. Along with fellow senior Sean Marshall, he was one of the team's two captains, and was the leading scorer and rebounder on the team during his final season. Dudley was a four-year starter for the Eagles, and played in every BC game in his first three years. He had a streak of over 100 consecutive starts snapped when he suffered a stress fracture in December 2006. In his college days he earned the nickname "Junkyard Dog" for his toughness and nose for the ball.
Jared Dudley scored 30 points on November 29, 2006 against Michigan State on national television. His career-high in points is 36, which he scored against Villanova in a January 19, 2005 victory during his sophomore season. He averaged 19 points and 3 assists per game during his senior year.
After his senior season, Dudley was voted the ACC Player of the Year for 2007 and was a second team All-American.
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Jaren Jackson
Jaren Jackson (born October 27, 1967 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a retired American professional basketball player.
A 6'4" (1.93 m) guard, Jackson played at Georgetown University from 1985 to 1989. Upon graduating with a bachelor's degree in finance, he set out on a 13 season (1989–2002) professional basketball career which included stints in the National Basketball Association, the Continental Basketball Association, and the World Basketball League. He is best known for his four season stint (1997–2001) with the NBA's San Antonio Spurs, with whom he won an NBA Championship in 1999. In the NBA he also played for New Jersey Nets (his first NBA franchise, with whom he signed as undrafted free agent), Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, Philadelphia 76ers, Houston Rockets, Washington Bullets and Orlando Magic.
Since retiring as a player, Jackson has held several basketball coaching positions at both the college and minor league level. He has been the head coach of the Saint John Millrats of the National Basketball League of Canada.
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Jarvis Varnado
Jarvis Varnado (born March 1, 1988 in Brownsville, Tennessee) is an American basketball player. Varnado was selected by the Miami Heat in the 2010 NBA Draft.
Varnado is known as a defensive specialist and is especially adept at shot blocking aided by his 7'4" wingspan. He led the NCAA in blocks for the 2007–08 season with 157 blocks which tied Shaquille O'Neal for the most blocks in a season in the SEC. In the 2008–09 season, he would break that single season record with 170 blocks. Varnado was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 3 consecutive years (2008, 2009 and 2010) becoming the first person to ever do so. Collegeinsider.com named Varnado their National Defensive Player of the Year for 2008.
On November 21, 2009, Jarvis Varnado became the SEC's all-time career block record holder with 413 total blocks in his career. This passed O'Neal's career block record of 412. On January 23, 2010, Varnado surpassed Adonal Foyle on the NCAA's Division I all-time career blocks list to become the second-leading shot-blocker. Needing 8 blocks for the record, Varnado became the NCAA's Division I all-time shot blocker against Alabama on February 24, 2010 passing Wojciech Myrda's record of 535 career blocks.
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Jason Kidd
Jason Frederick Kidd (born March 23, 1973) is an American professional basketball point guard who plays for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. Raised in Oakland, California, Kidd played college basketball at the University of California, Berkeley and was drafted second overall by the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the 1994 NBA Draft. Then, from 1996 to 2001, Kidd played for the Phoenix Suns and later for the New Jersey Nets from 2001 to 2008. In the middle of the 2007–2008 season, Kidd was traded back to Dallas. Along with his three NBA Finals appearances including a championship win in 2011, Kidd won two Olympic gold medals with the US national team in 2000 and 2008.
He led his former team, the New Jersey Nets to two consecutive NBA Finals appearances (2002 and 2003) before winning in 2011 with Dallas. His on-court versatility also makes him a regular triple-double threat, and he is in third place all-time for regular season triple-doubles in the NBA with a career total of 107 and second in playoffs triple-doubles with a career total of 11.
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Jason Lawson
Jason L. Lawson (born September 2, 1974, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a former American professional basketball player.
The 6'11", 211 pound center went to college at Villanova University. He played with the Orlando Magic in the 1997-98 NBA season after being selected by the Denver Nuggets in the 1997 NBA Draft. In his only NBA season he played in 17 games, averaging 4.7 minutes per game, he had a field goal percentage of 60.0%. He had an 80.0% free throw accuracy. He had an average of 1.6 rebounds per game. He also averaged .3 assists per game, .2 steals per game, .2 blocks per game and 1.5 points per game.
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Jeff Van Gundy
Jeffrey William "Jeff" Van Gundy (born January 19, 1962) is a former American basketball head coach. He has coached two teams in the National Basketball Association: the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets. Van Gundy attended Yale University before transferring to Menlo College and ultimately graduated from New York's Nazareth College in 1985.
His older brother Stan Van Gundy has served as head coach of the NBA's Miami Heat and Orlando Magic.
Van Gundy was born in Hemet, California. He grew up in the town of Brockport N.Y. He was the son of a basketball coach, Bill Van Gundy, the former head coach at Brockport State University in Western New York. As a high-school point guard, he was a two-time All Greater Rochester selection in 1979 and 1980, leading Brockport Central to the Class AA finals. He continued his career at Nazareth College where he earned All American honors while leading the Golden Flyers to an NCAA Tournament berth in 1984. He remains the Nazareth career leader in free throw percentage at 87%.
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Jerald Honeycutt
Jerald DeWayne Honeycutt (born October 20, 1974, in Shreveport, Louisiana) is an American professional basketball player who was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2nd round (39th overall) of the 1997 NBA Draft. Honeycutt played 2 years in the NBA for the Bucks and the Philadelphia 76ers, averaging 5.1 ppg in his career. He played collegiately at Tulane University where he finished his career as the leading scorer and fifth leading rebounder in school history. He was inducted into the Louisiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Honeycutt has played for the CBA's Grand Rapids Hoops, and in the Philippines, Greece, Russia,Lebanon and elsewhere.
Honeycutt played high school basketball at Grambling Lab in Grambling, Louisiana.
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Jeremy Bishop
Jeremy Bishop (born April 23, 1981) is an American basketball player who is best known for leading NCAA Division I in rebounding in 2001–02. While playing for Quinnipiac, Bishop averaged 12.0 rebounds per game as a junior to claim the rebounding title. Prior to playing at Quinnipiac he had played junior college at Champlain Community College. Bishop played the forward position. He stands 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) tall and weighs 225 pounds.
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Jerome Kersey
Jerome Kersey (born June 26, 1962) is a retired American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association for a number of teams, but most notably for the Portland Trail Blazers. He also has served in various coaching roles in the NBA. Kersey is currently a resident of Happy Valley, Oregon in Altamont/Mt. Scott area, a suburb of Portland.
Kersey attended the then Longwood College, at the time a NCAA Division II school, where he set school records for points, rebounds, steals and blocked shots while making 57% of his baskets. As a senior, his rebounding average of 14.2 led all Division II players. However, it was not until May 2006 that Kersey graduated from Longwood, having only needed two more college courses to graduate, for some years.
Coming from a school that was not known as a basketball powerhouse, Kersey was selected in the second round of the 1984 NBA Draft (46th overall pick) by Portland. He was a regular contributor from the bench, eventually becoming a starter, and by his third year, he began to shine, even coming in second behind Michael Jordan in the NBA Slam-Dunk Competition.
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Jerome Lambert
Joseph Jerome Lambert (May 29, 1971 – August 11, 2007) was an American expatriate basketball player who is best known for leading NCAA Division I in rebounding in 1993–94 while playing for Baylor. A 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m), 215 pound power forward, Lambert accomplished the feat as a junior in his first season of Division I basketball. He had previously played for Westark Community College before enrolling at Baylor.
During Lambert's recruitment to Baylor, then-assistant coach Gary Thomas had committed a major recruiting violation to acquire him. Thomas had faxed a term paper to Westark assistant basketball coach Troy Drummond on April 5, 1993, which was a slight re-write of an article that had previously appeared in a women's magazine. Lambert then handed the faxed paper in to an English class to pass it off as his own. He ultimately chose to play at Baylor, with Drummond "coincidentally" becoming a new assistant coach at that school, and news of this violation did not come out until after the 1993–94 season, the season in which Lambert's 14.8 rebounds per game led the NCAA. He also garnered many accolades that season, including First Team All-Southwest Conference (SWC), SWC Newcomer of the Year, SWC All-Newcomer Team, one-time SWC Player of the Week and a three-time SWC Newcomer of the Week.
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Jerome Lane
Jerome Lane (born December 4, 1966, in Akron, Ohio) is a retired American professional basketball player. Lane attended Akron Saint Vincent-Saint Mary High School. He played collegiately at the University of Pittsburgh, where he led the Big East Conference in rebounding during the 1986-87 and the 1987-88 regular seasons. He led the nation in rebounding during the 1986-87 season. He left school after his junior season and was selected in the first round of the 1988 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets with the 23rd pick overall. Lane played in the NBA for five seasons with the Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Although best known for his rebounding skills, Lane was also an adept ball handler. His jump shot and foul shooting were never consistent. He was voted as the best rebounder in the history of the ACB.
On January 25, 1988 in a game against Providence, Lane broke the glass backboard with a one-handed dunk with Sean Miller assisting on the play, famously called by color analyst Bill Raftery when he exclaimed "Send it in, Jerome!!" The play is on ESPN's list of the "100 Greatest Sports Highlights."
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Jerry Lucas
Jerry Ray Lucas (born March 30, 1940) is a former basketball player who played from the 1950s to the 1970s. He is now a memory education expert. In 1996, the NBA's 50th anniversary, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in National Basketball Association history. He was named to Sports Illustrated's five-man College All-Century Team in 1999.
Lucas was born in Middletown, Ohio, then a community of 30,000+ halfway between Dayton and Cincinnati, that in the 1940s and 1950s boasted one of the most respected high school basketball programs in the United States. Greatly encouraged, Lucas began pouring hours each day into the town's game during his early teens.
Lucas had become a local playground legend by age 15, in Sunset Park. Sunset Park was then a regional summer hotbed for high school, college and even some pro players. Future Cincinnati Royals teammates Wayne Embry and Oscar Robertson were visitors there. Lucas was already at almost his full-grown height of 6 ft 8 in (2.06 m) by age 15, out-playing college players with his advanced game.
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Jerry Stackhouse
Jerry Darnell Stackhouse (born November 5, 1974) is an American professional basketball player who plays both shooting guard and small forward for the Atlanta Hawks. He has also worked as an NBA TV analyst.
Stackhouse was a premier player from the time he was a sophomore in high school. He was the state player of the year for North Carolina in 1991–1992, leading Kinston (N.C) High School to the state finals. His senior year, he played for Oak Hill Academy with future college teammate Jeff McInnis, leading them to an undefeated season. He was a two-time first team Parade All-America selection, and was the MVP of the McDonald's Game. At the 1992 Nike Camp, was considered along with Rasheed Wallace to be the top player at the camp.
Stackhouse attended the University of North Carolina, where he was a teammate of future NBA players Rasheed Wallace, Jeff McInnis and Shammond Williams. In his sophomore season at UNC, Stackhouse led the team in scoring with 19.2 points per game and averaged 8.2 rebounds per contest. He led UNC to a Final Four appearance and was named as the National Player of the Year by Sports Illustrated and earned first-team All-America and All-ACC honors. Following the season, Stackhouse declared his eligibility for the 1995 NBA Draft.
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Jerry West
Jerry Alan West (born May 28, 1938) is a retired American basketball player who played his entire professional career for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames include "Mr. Clutch," for his ability to make a big play in a clutch situation, such as his famous buzzer-beating 60-foot shot that tied Game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks; "The Logo," in reference to his silhouette being incorporated into the NBA logo; and "Zeke from Cabin Creek," after the creek near his birthplace of Chelyan, West Virginia. Playing the small forward position early in his career, West was a standout at East Bank High School and at West Virginia University, leading the WVU Mountaineers to the 1959 NCAA championship game, earning Most Valuable Player honors despite the loss. He then embarked on a 14-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and was the co-captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic gold medal team in Rome, a squad that would be inducted as a unit into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
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Jim McIlvaine
James Michael McIlvaine (born July 30, 1972 in Racine, Wisconsin) is a retired American professional basketball player who spent seven seasons in the National Basketball Association with the Washington Bullets, Seattle SuperSonics and New Jersey Nets. The 7-foot-1 shot-blocking specialist never made a major impact in the NBA, and is perhaps best remembered for the fall-out that occurred after he signed with the Seattle SuperSonics in 1996.
McIlvaine is married to Gwendolyn, a 6'7" center of the North Carolina's 1994 championship women's basketball team. He currently works as a radio color analyst for Marquette men's basketball and also as part of the online support staffer for Optima Batteries in Milwaukee.
After he dominated at St. Catherine's High School in Racine (averaging 22.9 points, 11.1 rebounds and 8.1 blocked shots as a senior) and blocked a school-record 399 shots at Marquette University, McIlvaine was named NABC Defensive Player of the Year and was drafted with the fifth pick in the second round of the 1994 draft by the Washington Bullets (now Washington Wizards). He spent two years for the team, primarily in a backup role to Gheorghe Muresan. In limited playing time, McIlvaine exhibited tremendous defensive potential, although he was never given enough playing time to really prove himself in a full-time capacity (he averaged fewer than 15 minutes a game during his "breakout" second year). The young and inexperienced Bullets team displayed tremendous up-side in the 1995-96 NBA season, McIlvaine and young star Juwan Howard's second year in the league. However, the team's roster was already crowded with potential, and in 1996, Jim McIlvaine entered free agency.
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Jim Ryun
James Ronald ("Jim") Ryun (born April 29, 1947) is an American former track athlete and politician, who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1996 to 2007, representing the 2nd District in Kansas. In the 2006 election, Ryun was defeated by Democratic challenger Nancy Boyda. In the Kansas Republican primary on August 5, 2008, he was defeated by Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins.
Years prior to his political career, Ryun had an athletic career that saw him become a world-class runner and the last American to hold the world record in the mile run. His career was highlighted by many world record times and a silver medal in the 1500 m at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
In 1966, at age nineteen, Ryun set world records in the mile and the half-mile runs, and received Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award, as well as the James E. Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete, the ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year, and was voted Track & Field News' Athlete of the Year as the world’s best track & field athlete. Ironically, Ryun did all of this before he was permitted to run for the school he attended, University of Kansas, since NCAA rules at the time did not allow freshmen to compete in NCAA competition. In 1967 Ryun ran a world record in the indoor half mile (1:48.3) and outdoors lowered his world-record time in the mile from 3:51.3 to 3:51.1, a record that stood for almost eight years. That same year he set the world record for the 1500 meters in 3:33.1, running his last lap in a blazing 53.3 seconds and his final 1,200 meters in an amazing 2:46.6.
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Jimmer Fredette
James Taft "Jimmer" Fredette (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, the Naismith Award, the Adolph Rupp Trophy, and the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Fredette is a native of Glens Falls, New York.
James Taft Fredette was born in Glens Falls, New York to parents Al and Kay Fredette, as the youngest of three children. 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. 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."
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Jo Jo White
Joseph Henry "Jo Jo" White (born November 16, 1946) is an American former professional basketball player.
White was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of a minister. He played college basketball at the University of Kansas, entering the NCAA Tournament and losing a double overtime thriller to UTEP, then known as Texas Western, in the Midwest regional final (UTEP went on to win the championship).
After college, White played on the 1968 USA Olympic basketball team in Mexico, which went undefeated (9-0), beating Yugoslavia 65-50 in the title game.
After the Olympics, White was drafted in 1969 in the first round (9th pick overall) by the NBA's Boston Celtics, who at that time had just won their 11th championship in 13 years. However, before White even reported to training camp, the Celtics' center and player-coach Bill Russell announced his retirement. White would endure a rebuilding season while the Celtics got back on track, drafting Dave Cowens and trading for Paul Silas. Along with these two and veteran John Havlicek, White would be the cornerstone of two Celtic championship teams in the 1970s (1973–74 and 1975–76).
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Joe Barry Carroll
Joe Barry Carroll (born July 24, 1958 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas) is a retired American professional basketball player who spent ten seasons in the NBA.
Joe Barry Carroll, a 7'1" center, attended Denver East High School, located in Denver, Colorado. There, he was selected as an All-American by Midwest Coach and Athlete Magazine. In his senior year, he averaged 20.3 points and 12.2 rebounds a game, while scoring 41 points in one contest.
After high school, Carroll moved onto play college basketball at Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. Under head coach Fred Schaus, he helped lead the Boilermakers to a 20-8 record. In Carroll's first national televised appearance against Indiana, he scored 12 points, had 6 rebounds and 3 blocks in 20 minutes coming off the bench in the 86–76 win. On December 10, 1977, he recorded the school's only triple-double with 16 points, 16 rebounds and a single-game school record 11 blocks. He recorded 206 rebounds and averaged 7.4 a game in his first season, the most for a Purdue Freshman. Carroll also holds the freshman record for most blocks in a season with 82.
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Joe Dumars
Joe Dumars III (born May 24, 1963), nicknamed Joe D, is a retired American basketball player in the NBA, and currently the Detroit Pistons' President of Basketball Operations. At 6'3" (190 cm) Dumars could play either shooting guard or point guard on offense and was a highly effective defender. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Dumars and Isiah Thomas combined to form one of the best backcourts in NBA history. Initially a shooting guard, Dumars moved over to point guard following Thomas's retirement in 1994, sharing ball-handling duties with Grant Hill. Dumars was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Dumars was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. Dumars' mother, Ophelia, was a custodian at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches while his father, Joe (Big Joe), was a truck driver.
Dumars grew up in an athletic family, but, surprisingly, basketball was not his favorite sport as a child. Football was more popular in the region and all five of his brothers were defensive standouts at Natchitoches Central High School. His brother David later played professional football in the USFL. Dumars followed in his brothers’ footsteps playing defensive back on the football team until junior high school when a big hit on the field directed him toward basketball. Ever the supportive father, Big Joe built a hoop, made of an old bicycle wheel and half of a wooden door, in the Dumars' backyard where Little Joe spent hours practicing his jumper.
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Joe Holup
Joseph J. "Joe" Holup (February 26, 1934 – January 28, 1998) was an American professional basketball player.
A 6'6' forward, Holup starred at George Washington University from 1953 to 1956. He tallied 2,226 points and 2,030 rebounds in 104 varsity games, and led the NCAA in rebounds per game (25.6) during the 1955–56 season. Holup held George Washington's record for most career points until 2003, when he was surpassed by Chris Monroe.
After college, Holup was selected with the fifth overall pick of the 1956 NBA Draft by the Syracuse Nationals. He played three seasons in the NBA with the Nationals and Detroit Pistons, averaging 7.0 points per game and 4.4 rebounds per game.
Holup died in Rexford, New York in 1998.
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Joe Montana
Joseph Clifford "Joe" Montana, Jr. (born June 11, 1956), nicknamed Joe Cool, Golden Joe, The Golden Great and Comeback Joe, is a retired professional football player, a hall of fame quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs. Montana started his NFL career in 1979 with San Francisco, where he played for the next 14 seasons. Traded before the 1993 season, he spent his final two years in the league with Kansas City. While a member of the 49ers, Montana started in four Super Bowl games and won all of them. Montana was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000, his first year of eligibility.
In 1989, and again in 1990, the Associated Press named Montana the NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP), and Sports Illustrated magazine named Montana the 1990 "Sportsman of the Year". Four years earlier, in 1986, Montana won the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. Montana was elected to eight Pro Bowls, as well as being voted 1st team All-Pro by the AP in 1987, 1989, and 1990. Montana had the highest passer rating in the National Football Conference (NFC) five times (1981, 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1989); and, in both 1987 and 1989, Montana had the highest passer rating in the entire NFL.
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Joe Paterno
Joseph Vincent "Joe" Paterno (pronounced /pəˈtɜrnoʊ/; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), often referred to as "JoePa", was an American college football coach who was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions for nearly 46 years, from 1966 through 2011. At the time of his death he held the record for the most victories by an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) football coach with 409 and was the only FBS coach to reach 400 victories. He coached five undefeated teams that won major bowl games and, in 2007, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach. Despite his achievements as a coach, Paterno's career ended abruptly in 2011 after he was fired for his "failure of leadership" in the child sex abuse scandal surrounding his former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
Paterno was born in Brooklyn, New York and attended Brown University, where he played football both as the quarterback and a cornerback. Originally planning to be a lawyer, he instead signed on as an assistant football coach at Penn State in 1950, persuaded by his college coach Rip Engle who had taken over as Penn State's head coach. Sixteen years later, in 1966, Paterno was named as Engle's successor. Before long, he had coached the team to two undefeated regular seasons in 1968 and 1969. He went on to win two national championships—in 1982 and again in 1986. In all, he led the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl appearances with 24 wins all while turning down offers to coach NFL teams, including the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots. Paterno became the winningest coach in Division I history on October 29, 2011.
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Joe Prunty
Joe Prunty is an assistant basketball coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA.
Born in Sunnyvale, California, Prunty attended Fremont High School in Sunnyvale and went on to graduate in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in Speech Communications from Cal Poly Pomona. He began his coaching career in San Diego, California at University of San Diego High School and St. Augustine High School.
In 1996, Prunty joined the coaching staff of the San Antonio Spurs as an assistant video coordinator, eventually being promoted to assistant coach in 2002. In 2005, he joined the coaching staff of the Dallas Mavericks. In 2008, he joined the coaching staff of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Prunty served as the Blazers' head coach during the NBA Summer League in 2008 and 2009.
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Joel Shankle
Joel Shankle (born March 2, 1933) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the 110 meter hurdles.
He competed for the United States in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia in the 110 meter hurdles where he won the bronze medal.
Shankle attended Duke University and was honored as the first ACC Male Athlete of the Year in 1954
Sports Reference
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Johann Olav Koss
Johann Olav Koss (born 29 October 1968) is a former speed skater from Norway, considered to be one of the best in history, and current assistant coach of Norway's speed skating team.
Johann Olav Koss was born in Drammen, Buskerud County, Norway. Johann Olav Koss became the Norwegian Junior Champion in 1987, but he could not compete with the world top skaters in the 1986 and 1987 World Junior Championships. In 1988, he debuted with the seniors at the World Championships in Alma-Ata, but failed to qualify for the final distance. The following year, he finished eighth in the same tournament (after a fifteenth place in the European Allround Championships), placing second on the 1,500 m. His breakthrough came in 1990, winning the World Allround Championships in Innsbruck, Austria. The following four years, he would win two more world titles (1991 and 1994), while finishing second in 1993 and third in 1992. He won the European Allround Championships in 1991 and finished second in the next three editions. Koss had a total of twenty-three World Cup wins, while winning four overall World Cup titles (the 1,500 m in 1990 and 1991, and the combined 5,000/10,000 m in 1991 and 1994).
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John Havlicek
John J. "Hondo" Havlicek (pronounced /ˈhævlɨtʃɛk/ HAV-lə-chek; born April 8, 1940 in Martins Ferry, Ohio) is a retired American professional basketball player who competed for 16 seasons with the Boston Celtics, winning eight NBA titles, half of them coming in his first four seasons.
In the NBA, only teammates Bill Russell and Sam Jones won more championships during their playing careers. Havlicek is considered one of the best NBA players in history, especially on defense, and was inducted as a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984. He was a three sport star at Bridgeport High School in Bridgeport, Ohio and one of his boyhood friends was Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro. The Bridgeport High School Gymnasium was renamed the "John J Havlicek Gymnasium" in January 2007. He shares the honor with National High School Hall of Fame member Frank Baxter, a long time coach at Bridgeport High School. The court is named after Baxter.
One of the most famous play-by-play calls in NBA history came on April 15, 1965, when Celtics broadcaster Johnny Most exclaimed "Havlicek steals it! Havlicek stole the ball!" after Havlicek intercepted Hal Greer's inbound pass to clinch the Eastern Conference Championship against the Philadelphia 76ers.
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John Lucas II
John Harding Lucas II (born October 31, 1953 in Durham, North Carolina) is a retired American professional basketball player.
Lucas attended the University of Maryland where he was an all-American in basketball, and also in tennis. Lucas was a Second-team All-American for the excellent Terrapins team in 1973 - 74, along with his teammates Len Elmore and Tom McMillen. The Terrapins has a record of 23 - 5 in the regular season, and 9 - 3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). However, they lost during the ACC Tournament, and they could not go to the NCAA Tournament. Elmore and McMillan graduated in 1974, but in the following 1974 - 75 season, Lucas was a First-team All-American. The Terrapins recorded a 24 - 5 regular season record, 10 - 2 in the ACC, and they won the ACC regular season crown. However, they lost to NC State in the semifinals of the ACC tournament. The NCAA tournament, however, had been expanded to include 32 teams. Also, for the first time, more than one team per conference was allowed into the tournament. Maryland gained entry and advanced to the Elite Eight before losing to Louisville.
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John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles (three at Wimbledon and four at the US Open), nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title. McEnroe also won a record eight season ending championships, comprising five WCT Finals titles and three Masters Grand Prix titles from twelve final appearances at these two events, a record he shares with Ivan Lendl. He posted the best single season win-loss record in the Open Era in 1984 at 96.47% (82/3). In addition he won 19 Championship Series top tier events of the Grand Prix Tour that were the precursors to the current Masters 1000.
He is best remembered for his shot-making artistry and superb volleying; for his famous rivalries with Björn Borg, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl; for his confrontational on-court behavior which frequently landed him in trouble with umpires and tennis authorities; and for the catchphrase "You cannot be serious!" directed toward an umpire during a match at Wimbledon in 1981. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999, and is regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
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John Stockton
John Houston Stockton (born March 26, 1962) is a former American professional basketball player who spent his entire career as a point guard for the Utah Jazz of the NBA from 1984 to 2003. John Stockton is regarded as one of the best point guards of all time, holding the NBA records for most career assists and steals by considerable margins. Stockton is a former All-Star and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.
Stockton was born in Spokane, Washington to Clementine Frei and Jack Stockton and had Irish and Swiss German ancestry. He attended grade school at St. Aloysius and moved on to high school at Gonzaga Prep, graduating in 1980. He then played college basketball for Gonzaga University in his hometown where he averaged 20.9 points per game while shooting 57% from the field in his senior year. His grandfather, Houston Stockton had also been a well known athlete at Gonzaga University. John Stockton was selected by the Utah Jazz with the 16th overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft.
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John Wooden
John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period—seven in a row—as head coach at UCLA, an unprecedented feat. Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games. He was named national coach of the year six times.
As a player, Wooden was the first to be named basketball All-American three times and he won a national championship at Purdue. Wooden was named a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player (inducted in 1961) and as a coach (in 1973), the first person ever enshrined in both categories. Only Lenny Wilkens and Bill Sharman have since had the same honor.
He was one of the most revered coaches and was beloved by his former players, among them Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton. Wooden was renowned for his short, simple inspirational messages to his players, including his "Pyramid of Success". These often were directed at how to be a success in life as well as in basketball.
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Johnny Dawkins
Johnny Earl Dawkins, Jr. (born September 28, 1963) is a retired American basketball player and the current head coach of the Stanford Cardinal men's basketball team, a position he assumed in 2008. He was a two-time All-American and national player of the year as a senior in 1986 at Duke. Dawkins subsequently played nine seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the San Antonio Spurs (1986–1989), Philadelphia 76ers (1989–1994), and Detroit Pistons (1994–1995). From 1998 to 2008, he served at an assistant basketball coach as his alma mater, Duke.
Dawkins was born and raised in Washington, D.C. He played basketball at Mackin High School in Washington, D.C. before enrolling at Duke University. At Duke, he became the team's all-time leading scorer with 2,556 points, which stood until 2006 when J. J. Redick surpassed it. In Dawkins' senior year at Duke, the 1985–86 season, the Duke Blue Devils attained a win-loss record of 37–3, which was an NCAA record for both games played and games won in a single season. They reached the 1986 NCAA championship game, where they lost to Louisville, 72–69. In his senior season, Dawkins averaged 20.2 points per game and won the Naismith College Player of the Year Award, presented to the nation's top Collegiate Basketball Player. He also served as alternate on the 1984 United States Olympic basketball team. He graduated with a degree in political science.
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Johnny Podres
John Joseph Podres (September 30, 1932 – January 13, 2008) was an American left-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who spent most of his career with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. He is perhaps best remembered for being named the Most Valuable Player of the 1955 World Series, pitching a shutout in Game 7 against the New York Yankees to help bring the Dodgers their first World Series title. He later led the National League in earned run average and shutouts in 1957, and in winning percentage in 1961.
Podres helped the Dodgers win World Series championships in 1955, 1959, 1963 and 1965, although he did not pitch in the 1965 World Series itself. After the Dodgers lost the first two games to the New York Yankees, Podres pitched a complete game, seven-hit victory on his 23rd birthday in Game 3. In the climactic Game 7, Podres pitched a 2–0 shutout to bring Brooklyn its only World Series championship. Podres was given the first-ever World Series MVP Award by Sport magazine and presented with a red two-seater Corvette. Later he was honored as the Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine.
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Jon Brockman
Jonathan (Jon) Rodney Brockman (born March 20, 1987 in Snohomish, Washington) is an American basketball player who currently plays for the Milwaukee Bucks. He was the starting power forward and team captain for the University of Washington men's basketball team. He is the all-time leading rebounder and 2nd all-time scorer in University of Washington history. He grabbed the 1,000th rebound of his career on December 30, 2008 in a win over Morgan State, and became Washington's all-time leading rebounder on January 15, 2009 in a win over Oregon, breaking Doug Smart's school record of 1,051.
Games: 33
Games Started: 32
Team Record: 26-7
Field Goal Pct: 51.8%
Point Avg: 8.4
Rebound Avg: 6.5
F-Throw Pct: 66.7%
Steals: 35
Avg Minutes: 22.1
Played with future NBA players Brandon Roy and Bobby Jones. Was named to the PAC-10 all Freshman team. Played in the NCAA Tournament, lost to UConn in the Sweet 16. Led Huskies in rebounds and was 7th in the Pac-10. He ended the season with 4 double-doubles. Second highest total rebounds by a freshman in Husky history. Was ranked 2nd in the Pac-10 with his 51.8 field goal percentage.
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Joseph Forte
Joseph Xavier "Joe" Forte (born March 23, 1981 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American professional basketball player, currently playing for Petrochimi Bandar Imam BC in the Iranian Basketball Super League.
Forte got his start at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. There, Forte played under the instruction of legendary high school prep coach Morgan Wootten. Forte's teammate at DeMatha, Keith Bogans, has played for several teams in the NBA. Forte was named Washington Post All Met Basketball Player of the Year in his senior year in 1999.
After a 2-year college career at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (highlights of which included winning the 2000 ACC Rookie of the Year as well as 2001 ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year) that was marked by flashes of brilliant play, he was selected by the Boston Celtics with the 21st pick in the 2001 NBA Draft (at a time when later star players Tony Parker and Gilbert Arenas were still available on the guard position).
Unfortunately, his most memorable moment with the Celtics came when he wore a Scooby-Doo shirt on the sidelines during the playoffs. In two seasons with the Celtics and the Seattle SuperSonics, Forte averaged 1.2 points and 0.7 assists per game, struggling to convert from his natural shooting guard position to point guard. He was eventually waived by the Sonics due mostly to attitude and legal problems. While with the Sonics, he was arrested on gun and drug charges in Maryland, as well as an assault charge in which he allegedly punched a man in the face during a pickup game.
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Josh Howard
Joshua Jay Howard (born April 28, 1980) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). At 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) and 210 lb (95 kg; 15 st), he plays as a small forward.
Howard attended Glenn High School in Kernersville, North Carolina, where he was a First-Team All-State selection in his senior year and averaged six blocks per game while shooting 70%. He also averaged a double-double during his junior and senior years, during which time he also received the Frank Spencer Award (for the top player in Northwest North Carolina) twice. During his senior year Howard was handcuffed outside of a BP gas station the night before his SAT examination. Howard had been loitering on the premises with some of his friends, and undercover cops, believing the teenagers had been selling drugs, detained them.
In order to get into Wake Forest University Howard needed an SAT score of at least 950. He did not get a 950, saying his score was "somewhere in the 500s". In lieu, he spent a year at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia, where he averaged a double-double, with 19.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. Howard led Hargrave to a 27–3 record, shooting well on the floor with 56%. He also averaged 44% from behind the three-point line and 85% from the free throw line. Howard participated in the ACC-SEC game between new signings from the two conferences. Howard scored 14 points in 15 minutes to help lift the ACC team to a 145–115 win over the SEC.
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Juan Dixon
Juan Dixon (born October 9, 1978) is an American professional basketball player. Dixon led the University of Maryland Terrapins to their first NCAA championship in 2002 and earned Most Outstanding Player honors at the 2002 Final Four.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Dixon played high school basketball at Calvert Hall College High School in Baltimore and scored 1,590 career points under the tutelage of head coach Mark Amatucci. Both his mother, Juanita, and father, Phil, were heroin addicts, and died of AIDS-related illnesses before Dixon was 17 years old. He was then raised by his grandparents Roberta and Warnick Graves in Baltimore, Maryland.
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Judi Brown
Judith ("Judi") Lynne Brown-King (born July 14, 1961) is an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metre hurdles.
She competed for the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where she won the silver medal in the women's 400 metre hurdles event.
Brown was a two-time gold medalist at the Pan American Games (1983, 1987), and was a twelve-time Big Ten champion in track and field events. In 1987, she was selected Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine for her community involvement.
Brown holds two degrees from Michigan State University, a Bachelors degree in Audiology and Speech Science, and a Masters degree in Education. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration and Public Policy from Western Michigan University, from which she graduated with honors. She also is a member of the Michigan Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Consortium.
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Julius Erving
Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is a retired American basketball player who helped launch a modern style of play that emphasizes leaping and play above the rim. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA). He was the best known player in the ABA when the ABA-NBA merger joined it with the National Basketball Association (NBA) after the 1976 season.
Erving won three championships, four Most Valuable Player Awards, and three scoring titles while playing with the ABA's Virginia Squires and New York Nets, and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. He is the fifth-highest scorer in professional basketball history, with 30,026 points (NBA and ABA combined). He was well known for slam dunking from the free throw line in Slam Dunk Contests and was the only player to have been voted Most Valuable Player in both the ABA and the NBA.
Erving was named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time team and in 1993 was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2004, he was inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame. Many consider him among the most spectacular basketballers ever, and one of the best dunkers of all time. While players such as Connie Hawkins, "Jumping" Johnny Green, Elgin Baylor, and Gus Johnson were performing spectacular dunks before Erving's time, "Dr. J" is usually the one most people credit with bringing the practice into the mainstream. His signature dunk was the "slam" dunk, since incorporated into the vernacular and basic skill set of the game, in the same manner as the "cross-over" dribble and the "no look" pass.
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Julius Hodge
Julius Melvin Hodge (born November 18, 1983) is an American professional basketball player. Hodge was selected 20th overall in the 2005 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets. He played four years at North Carolina State University. ACC Player of the Year during the 2003-2004 season, Hodge finished his college career by leading State to the Sweet 16.
As a senior at St. Raymond High School for Boys, operated by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, in the Bronx, New York, Hodge was part of the 2001 McDonald's All-American Team and the First-team Parade All-American, New York State Mr. Basketball, New York Daily News Player of the Year, New York All-Metro Squad, and Sports Illustrated's Old Spice Athlete of the Month. He scored a total of 684 points his senior season, setting the school record at St. Raymond High School, and left rated as the No. 1 shooting guard by ESPN and No. 5 nationally.
As a freshman with the Pack, he was the leading freshman scorer in the ACC, averaging 10.7 points per game. He was named to second-team All-ACC Tournament team, after averaging 12.3 points. He earned the Lorenzo Charles Offensive Rebounding Award for 2002, Dick Vitale's "Diaper Dandy" and ranked 20th in the ACC in rebounding. He scored a double-double in his first collegiate game and his first ACC game. He was the only Pack player with multiple double-doubles for the 2001-2002 season.
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Karl Malone
Karl Anthony Malone (born July 24, 1963), nicknamed "The Mailman," is a retired American professional basketball power forward. In his basketball career, Malone spent his first 18 seasons (1985–2003) with the Utah Jazz and formed a formidable duo with his teammate John Stockton. He played his final season (2003–04) with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Malone grew up in rural Summerfield, Louisiana and played college basketball at Louisiana Tech University. In his three seasons with Louisiana Tech, he helped the Bulldogs basketball team to its first-ever NCAA tournament in 1984 and to first place in the Southland Conference in 1985. The Jazz drafted Malone in 1985 with the 13th overall pick in the first round.
Having scored 36,298 points in his career, the second most career points in NBA history, and holding the record for most free throws both attempted and made, Malone is generally considered one of the greatest NBA power forwards. In 1997 and 1999, Malone won the NBA Most Valuable Player award. Malone appeared in the playoffs every season in his career, including three NBA Finals: in 1997 and 1998 with the Jazz and in 2004 with the Lakers. Internationally, Malone competed with the United States national team in the Summer Olympic games of 1992 and 1996; in both years he won gold medals. After retiring from the NBA, Malone joined the staff of the Louisiana Tech basketball team in 2007 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
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Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard (born June 29, 1991) is an American professional basketball player with the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Leonard attended Martin Luther King High School in his hometown Riverside, California. In 2009, as a senior, he was named Mr. Basketball California, and was ranked the #48 prospect in the nation by Rivals.com.
As a freshman at San Diego State, Leonard averaged 12.7 points per game and 9.9 rebounds along with shooting 45.5% from the field. Leonard was the 2010 Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament MVP, first team all MWC Conference selection and led the MWC in rebounding. Leonard led the Aztecs to a 25-9 record including a 11-5 record in the MWC to make the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. San Diego State faced Tennessee in the first round and lost 62-59 as Leonard scored 12 points and added 10 rebounds.
As a sophomore, Leonard stood out for the Aztecs as he averaged 15.7 points per game along with 10.4 rebounds. He was picked to the Second Team All-America by Fox Sports, and helped lead SDSU to a 34-3 record, and a trip to the Sweet 16. Leonard could not guide the Aztecs past eventual national champion UConn. In addition to getting to the tournament, Leonard helped guide his SDSU Aztecs to back to back Mountain West Championships.
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Kebu Stewart
Kebu Stewart (born December 19, 1973) is an American retired basketball player. He played in the NBA and had a rich international career, playing in several countries.
Stewart was a star high school player at national powerhouse Oak Hill Academy and later on at Our Saviour Lutheran in the Bronx, where he averaged nearly 36 points per game and earned honorable mention All American honors in the 1992–92 season.
Stewart signed to play at UNLV, but was ineligible his freshman year due to poor grades. He redshirted, and played the 1993–94 season with the Runnin' Rebels. Although Stewart wasn't eligible until January, he won Big West Conference Newcomer of the Year and Player of the Year honors, averaging 19 points and 12 rebounds per game. Stewart, who reportedly clashed with the coaching staff several times (even during the time when he on redshirt status), was suspended from the team after the following season. He later transferred to Division II Cal State Bakersfield, where he went on to become Division II Player of the Year and California Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Year as a senior, leading the team to the NCAA Division II national championship. He also led the nation (Division II) in rebounding as a senior in 1996–97 with 13.4 rpg.
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Keith Bogans
Keith Ramon Bogans (born May 12, 1980 in Washington, D.C.) is an American professional basketball player.
Bogans attended DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland, and was a First-Team All American in his senior year. He was coached by Morgan Wootten, leading DeMatha to a 34–1 record and a number three national ranking in 1999. He was recruited by the University of Kentucky, and was a four-year starter for the Wildcats under coach Tubby Smith. In his senior year at UK, he led the 2002–2003 Wildcats to a 16–0 sweep of the Southeastern Conference and the SEC Tournament title, finishing with an Elite Eight run in the NCAA Tournament. He was an All-American as a college senior when he averaged 15.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.2 steals. He was also 80-for-209 from three. After his sophomore season in which he averaged 17 points and 4.6 rebounds it looked like he may be a future first rounder. His illustrious collegiate career ended as he limped off the court at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, after playing the game on a severely sprained ankle. The Wildcats ended up losing to Dwyane Wade's Marquette squad in the Elite 8.
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Keith Booth
Keith Eugene Booth (born October 9, 1974 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American basketball coach and former player. Booth played college basketball at the University of Maryland from 1994 to 1997. He was an assistant coach at his alma mater under Gary Williams from 2004 to 2011. In October 2011, Booth was named an assistant women's basketball coach at Loyola University Maryland.
Booth was born and raised in Baltimore and attended Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. Heavily recruited by coach Gary Williams, he was the first player from Baltimore City in many years to play for Maryland. After the resignation of Williams' predecessor, Bob Wade, due to NCAA violations, a de facto boycott of the university was put in place by the high-school coaches in Baltimore. Because of this boycott, many star high-school players avoided Maryland as a choice to play their college ball. In becoming one of the members of Maryland's 1993 recruiting class, Booth broke the ice, and the school once again had access to talent-rich Baltimore City.
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Keith Van Horn
Keith Adam Van Horn (born October 23, 1975) is a retired American professional basketball player. The 6-foot-10, 240-pound forward graduated from Diamond Bar High School in Diamond Bar, California and attended the University of Utah where he went on to be a consensus First Team All-American in 1997. Van Horn finished his career at Utah as the school and Western Athletic Conference (WAC) all time leading scorer and holds numerous other school records. He led Utah to three NCAA Division I top 25 finishes, including their highest ranking ever in school history (#2). He received the 1997 ESPN Men’s College Basketball Performer of the Year award.
Van Horn was selected with the second pick of the 1997 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers and was traded to the New Jersey Nets on a draft night trade. Van Horn played for the Nets from 1997–2002, leading the Nets in scoring in the 1997–1998 and 1998–1999 seasons where he averaged over 20 points per game and ranked fifth in the NBA in scoring in the 1999 season. He was a major contributor to the Nets 2002 Eastern Conference Championship team, leading the team in rebounding and placing second on the team in scoring. During his NBA career, Van Horn also played for the Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks. While with the Dallas Mavericks, he was an important member of the 2005–2006 Western Conference Championship team.
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Kelvin Cato
Kelvin T. Cato (born August 26, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player.
Cato was an obscure player averaging six points and six rebounds at the University of South Alabama in 1992-93. At that time, he struck up a relationship with then University of New Orleans coach Tim Floyd, who recognized Cato's potential. In 1994, Floyd took over as head coach at Iowa State University and convinced Cato to transfer to Iowa State. Cato averaged 11 points, eight rebounds and four blocks per game for an Iowa State team that reached the Sweet Sixteen of the 1997 NCAA Basketball Tournament.
Drafted 15th overall in the 1997 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks, Cato's draft rights were immediately traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for the draft rights to Chris Anstey and cash considerations. Cato averaged 3.8 and 3.5 points per game in his two seasons in Portland before being bundled in a six-for-one deal with the Houston Rockets that sent Scottie Pippen to the Blazers.
He spent five years in Houston, averaging a career-high 8.7 points per game in 1999-2000, and started all but two of the games he played in both the 2001-02 and 2003-04 seasons. On October 28, 1999, Cato signed a six-year, $42,000,000 contract extension that increased in controversy as his playing statistics cooled. With Yao Ming as the Rockets' new starting center, the Rockets traded Cato in a seven-player deal that sent Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley, and Cato to the Orlando Magic for Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue, and Reece Gaines. While he started 50 games in the 2004-05 season for the Magic, his playing minutes went down significantly the following season as he battled shoulder injuries.
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Ken Venturi
Kenneth Venturi (born May 15, 1931) is an American former professional golfer and golf broadcaster.
Venturi was born in San Francisco, California. He learned golf from an early age, and developed his game at Harding Park Golf Course and other public courses in the area. In the early 1950s, Venturi had been a pupil of the great Byron Nelson, and was also influenced by playing partner Ben Hogan. He won the California State Amateur Championship in 1951 and 1956, serving in the Army in Korea in the interim. Venturi first gained national attention in 1956 while still an amateur; he finished second in that year's Masters, by one shot to Jack Burke, Jr., after leading from the first round. Venturi shot a final-round 80 in very windy conditions, and relinquished a four-shot lead, which prevented him from winning outright and thus becoming the first amateur to do so in the history of The Masters. Years later it would be compared to Greg Norman's back nine collapse in 1996.
Venturi was a regular winner during his early years on the PGA Tour after turning pro at the end of 1956. He again come close to winning the Masters in 1958 and 1960, both times being edged out by Arnold Palmer.
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Kenneth Faried
Kenneth Bernard Faried Lewis (born November 19, 1989), nicknamed the "Manimal", is an American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the NBA. He was a power forward at Morehead State University, where he was named Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and an All-American in 2010.
Faried attended Technology High School in Newark, New Jersey. He received recruiting interest from Marist and Iona colleges in New York, but chose to attend Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky.
Faried, a 6'8 (2.03 m) post player, came to Morehead State in 2007 and became one of the best players in school and conference history. Faried led the Ohio Valley Conference in rebounding as both a sophomore and a junior (13.0 rebounds per game in each season) – ranking him third in the NCAA in 2008–09 and second in 2009–10. Faried also chipped in double-digit scoring in each of his three varsity seasons.
Faried also led the Eagles to team success, as Morehead claimed a berth in the 2009 NCAA tournament by winning the Ohio Valley conference tournament. Faried led the way, scoring 15 points and grabbing 17 rebounds in the final against Austin Peay, and was named tournament Most Valuable Player. In his junior year, Faried again led the Eagles to the post-season as they advanced to the second round of the College Basketball Invitational. At the end of the season, Faried was named OVC player and defensive player of the year and an AP honorable mention All-American. He also passed 1000 rebounds for his career.
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Kent Benson
Michael Kent Benson (born December 27, 1954 in New Castle, Indiana) is a retired American collegiate and professional basketball player.
Kent Benson attended New Castle Chrysler High School, located in New Castle, Indiana, home of the New Castle Trojans. He was named Indiana's "Mr. Basketball" in 1973.
Kent attended Indiana University, located in Bloomington, Indiana, where he played college basketball for coach Bobby Knight. As a freshman, Benson averaged 9.3 points per game, while shooting 50.4 percent. He helped lead Indiana to the CCAT Championship, and onto a 23-5 record and a Big Ten title.
In his sophomore season, Kent Benson helped lead the Hoosiers to an undefeated conference record (18-0) and onto an Elite Eight appearance, where they lost their only game on the season to Kentucky. Helping lead the team to a 31-1 record on the season, he averaged 15 points and 8.9 rebounds a game.
With seniors Quinn Buckner and Scott May, he led Indiana to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship in the 1975-76 season. That season, they were undefeated throughout the entire regular and post season. That team was the last Division I Men's Basketball team to accomplish that feat. He averaged 17.3 points and 8.8 rebounds a game on the season with his college season high of 57.8 percent from the field. He scored his career high of 38 points against Michigan State.
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Kenyon Martin
Kenyon Lee Martin (born December 30, 1977) is an American professional basketball player. Nicknamed "K-Mart", he plays for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He previously played for the New Jersey Nets and the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, and the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of China. He is 6'9" and 240 lbs, and was the first overall pick of the 2000 NBA Draft.
Martin played for the Cincinnati Bearcats under the direction of Bob Huggins. As a senior, he averaged 18.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game. He was the consensus National Player of the Year, earning numerous awards from various organizations, but suffered a broken leg in the Conference USA Tournament, keeping him out of the NCAA Tournament that year. Cincinnati retired his #4 jersey on April 25, 2000. Later that year, he was selected first overall in the 2000 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets. Martin is currently the last American-born college senior to have been the top overall pick; the top picks since him consist of three high school players (Kwame Brown, LeBron James and Dwight Howard), one international player with two years of U.S. college experience (Andrew Bogut), two international players with no American college experience (Yao Ming and Andrea Bargnani), four college freshmen (John Wall, Greg Oden, Derrick Rose and Kyrie Irving) and a college sophomore (Blake Griffin).
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Kermit Washington
Kermit Alan Washington (born September 17, 1951 in Washington, D.C.) is an American former professional basketball player. Washington is best remembered for punching opposing player Rudy Tomjanovich during an on-court fight in 1977. The punch nearly killed Tomjanovich, and it resulted in severe medical problems that ultimately ended his playing career. During his pro years and after his retirement, Washington has struggled with the negative perception of him that resulted from the punch.
Washington was not a highly coveted player coming out of high school and barely got into college on an athletic scholarship. He averaged a mere four points per game (ppg) during his senior season of high school. He improved rapidly once at American University, and became one of only seven players in NCAA history to average 20 points and 20 rebounds throughout the course of their career.
A big defensive forward, Washington was known for his ability to gather rebounds. He averaged 9.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in ten National Basketball Association (NBA) seasons and played in the All-Star Game once. Washington was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers with the fifth overall pick in the 1973 NBA Draft. He played sparingly his first three seasons, and sought the help of retired basketball coach Pete Newell before his fourth season. Under Newell's tutelage, Washington's game rapidly improved and he became a starter for several teams. He played for the Lakers, Boston Celtics, San Diego Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors.
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Kerry Kittles
Kerry Kittles (born June 12, 1974 in Dayton, Ohio) is an American former professional basketball player who last played with the Los Angeles Clippers in the National Basketball Association in 2004-05. He was raised in New Orleans and attended St. Augustine High School.
The 6' 5", 179 lb (81 kg) shooting guard attended Villanova University and was later selected by the New Jersey Nets with the eighth pick in the 1996 NBA Draft. He sat out his entire fifth season, in 2000-01, due to rehabilitation from offseason surgery on his right knee. After seven seasons with the Nets, Kittles was finally traded to the Clippers in a salary purge. After one injury-riddled year in Los Angeles, Kittles departed from the Clippers. Kittles now works for the Nets as a part time scout. Kittles is also a Merchant Banking Associate at Ledgemont Capital Group LLC and completed an MBA at Villanova University's School of Business.
He holds the Villanova University record for most points scored, with 2,243. Kittles is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
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Kevin Durant
Kevin Wayne Durant (born September 29, 1988) is an American professional basketball forward with the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A 6'9" small forward, Durant was the consensus 2007 National College Player of the Year and the 2006–2007 Big 12 Player of the Year, amongst other awards. After a standout freshman season at the University of Texas, Durant opted to enter the NBA Draft, where he was selected second overall by the Seattle SuperSonics. There he went on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award after his debut season. In 2007, Durant signed an endorsement contract with Nike. In the 2009–10 season Durant led the NBA in scoring and became the youngest player ever to win the NBA scoring title. He would later be named to the 2010 All NBA First Team.
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Kevin Garnett
Kevin Maurice Garnett (born May 19, 1976) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays power forward for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). In high school, Garnett was a 1995 McDonald's All-American at Farragut Career Academy and won a national player of the year award. Garnett entered the 1995 NBA Draft, where he was selected with the 5th overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves and became the first NBA player drafted directly out of high school in 20 years.
Garnett made an immediate impact with the Minnesota Timberwolves leading them to eight-consecutive playoff appearances. In 2004, Garnett led the Timberwolves to the Western Conference Finals and was voted Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the 2003–04 season. Since his second season in the NBA, Garnett has been named to 14 All-Star Games, winning the All-Star MVP award in 2003, and is currently tied for 3rd-most All-Star selections in NBA history. He was awarded the regular season's NBA Defensive Player of the Year in the 2007–08 season and has been a nine-time member of the All-NBA Teams selection and a twelve-time member of the All-Defensive Teams selection. Garnett currently holds several all-time Timberwolves franchise records.
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Kevin Willis
Kevin Alvin Willis (born September 6, 1962) is a retired American professional basketball player who last played for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA. He is a 7-foot power forward/center. During the 2004-05 season, Willis was the oldest player in the league at age 42, and he would continue to be until his retirement at the conclusion of the 2006-07 season at the age of 44.
Born in Los Angeles, Willis graduated from Pershing High School in Detroit and joined the basketball team in his junior year. Willis played competitively at Jackson Community College for his freshman season and transferred to Michigan State University, where he would play three seasons as a fashion and textiles major. He was selected in the 1984 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks. He played with the Hawks for nine seasons (plus two games of a tenth season) until 1994. Willis teamed with Dominique Wilkins, Spud Webb, and Doc Rivers to often guide the Hawks to Playoffs appearances as well as providing a fierce rebounding presence in the post. Near the end of his stint with the Hawks, he and Wilkins were both made team captains. Willis was traded to the Miami Heat in 1994. Since then he has played with the Golden State Warriors, two separate stints with the Houston Rockets, the Denver Nuggets, the Toronto Raptors and the San Antonio Spurs. It was in 2003 with the Spurs that he finally won an NBA Championship ring. Willis is one of 15 players in NBA history with over 16,000 career points and 11,000 career rebounds. He was named to the NBA Eastern Conference All-Star Team in 1992, when he finished the season with a career-high average of 15.5 rebounds a game.
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Kipchoge Keino
Kipchoge ("Kip") Keino (born 17 January 1940), chairman of the Kenyan Olympic Committee (KOC), is a retired Kenyan track and field athlete and two-time Olympic gold medalist. Kip Keino was among the first in a long line of successful middle and long distance runners to come from the country and has helped and inspired many of his fellow countrymen and women to become the athletics force that they are today.
Keino was born in Kipsamo, Nandi District, Kenya. Both of his parents died while he was young. He was then brought up by his aunt. After finishing school, he joined Kenya Police. Before taking athletics, he played rugby
He began his international career at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia where he came eleventh in the three miles. At the 1964 Summer Olympics he finished fifth in 5000 m and barely missed the 1500 m final.
On 27 August 1965, Keino lowered the 3000 m world record by over 6 seconds to 7:39.6 at his first attempt at the distance. He won two gold medals (1500 & 5000 metres) at the inaugural All-Africa Games. Later in that year he broke the 5000 m world record held by Ron Clarke clocking 13:24.2. At the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica he won both the mile run and three mile run. In the next Commonwealth Games, Keino won the 1500 metres and was third in the 5000 metres.
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Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryant (born August 23, 1978) is an American professional basketball player who plays shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Bryant enjoyed a successful high school basketball career at Lower Merion High School, where he was recognized as the top high school basketball player in the country. He decided to declare his eligibility for the NBA Draft upon graduation, and was selected with the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets, then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. As a rookie, Bryant earned himself a reputation as a high-flyer and a fan favorite by winning the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest.
Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. A heated feud between the duo and a loss in the 2004 NBA Finals was followed by O'Neal's trade from the Lakers after the 2003–04 season. Following O'Neal's departure Bryant became the cornerstone of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise. He led the NBA in scoring during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons, setting numerous scoring records in the process. In 2006, Bryant scored a career-high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, the second most points scored in a single game in NBA history, second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962. He was awarded the regular season's Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) in 2008. After losing in the 2008 NBA Finals, Bryant led the Lakers to two consecutive championships in 2009 and 2010, earning the NBA Finals MVP Award on both occasions.
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Kris Benson
Kristin James Benson (born November 7, 1974) is a former Major League Baseball starting pitcher. Benson pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1999 to 2004, New York Mets from 2004 to 2005, Baltimore Orioles in 2006 to 2007, Texas Rangers in 2009, and Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010.
Benson was born in Superior, Wisconsin. The future All-American pitcher was born to baseball fan parents who chose names for each of their children that began names with "K," a nod to the letter used as the scorecard designation for a strikeout. Benson attended Sprayberry High School in Marietta, Georgia with future MLB All-Star Marlon Byrd. Benson was not drafted out of high school.
Benson attended Clemson University from 1993 to 1996. His teammates included fellow future major-leaguers Billy Koch and Matthew LeCroy both of whom played with him in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. (Koch reported teammates referred to Benson as "The Messiah".) Benson went undefeated during the regular season of his junior year (14–0 with a 1.40 ERA) with 178 strikeouts in 142 innings pitched.
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Kwame Brown
Kwame James Brown (born March 10, 1982) is an American professional basketball player currently with the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m), 270 lb (120 kg; 19 st) center was the 1st overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards, and was the first number one draft pick to be selected straight out of high school. He has also played for the Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Detroit Pistons, Charlotte Bobcats, and Golden State Warriors.
Brown was consistently rated as the "best high school player" in his class, which also included high school standouts Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler. He was the high school player of the year as a senior in Georgia. Brown finished his high school career at the historic Glynn Academy (in Brunswick, Georgia) as the school's all-time leading rebounder (1,235) and shot-blocker (605), and also finished second all-time as a scorer and he was named to the 2001 McDonald's All-American Team.
Originally signing a letter of intent to play for the University of Florida, he later declared for the 2001 NBA Draft. The Washington Wizards, under team president Michael Jordan, decided to use their first overall pick on him. Additionally, the expectations upon Brown were increased by the fact that Jordan, acclaimed as the greatest basketball player ever, had chosen him. Following a pre-draft workout with the Wizards, it has been reported that Brown told then-Wizards coach Doug Collins, "If you draft me, you'll never regret it."
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Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving (born March 23, 1992) is an Australian-American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played as a point guard for Duke University as a freshman before being selected as the 1st overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by Cleveland. He won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 2012. Irving was born in Melbourne and grew up in New Jersey.
Irving was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia where his father, Drederick Irving, played professional basketball for the Bulleen Boomers. Irving subsequently lived in Australia before relocating to the United States at the age of 2. He has dual citizenship in the United States and Australia. Irving's mother, Elizabeth, died from an illness when he was four, so Drederick raised him with the help of Irving's aunts. Growing up in New Jersey, Irving was a fan of the New Jersey Nets. His father took him and his sister to Continental Airlines Arena during the 2003 NBA Finals.
Irving played for Montclair Kimberley Academy his freshman and sophomore years, where he averaged 26.5 points, 10.3 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 3.6 steals and became only the school's 2nd 1,000 point scorer, before transferring to St. Patrick. While at St. Patrick High School, Irving played with Michael Gilchrist, who was widely regarded as one of the best players in the class of 2011. On January 20, 2010, it was announced that Irving was selected to the 2010 Junior National Select Team. The team played at the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon, on April 10. He was also selected to play in the 2010 McDonald's All-American Game and the 2010 Jordan Brand Classic, where he was named as co-mvp with Harrison Barnes. In June 2010 Irving was a part of the gold medal winning team at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship. Irving was the #2 player in the class of 2010 by Scout.com, #3 player in the ESPNU 100, and rated as the #4 player by Rivals.com.
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Lamar Odom
Lamar Joseph Odom (born November 6, 1979) is an American professional basketball forward with the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA.
Odom was born in South Jamaica, Queens, New York City, New York. His father was a heroin addict and his mother died of colon cancer when he was twelve years old. He was raised by his grandmother Mildred.
In his first three years of high school, Odom played for Christ The King Regional High School in Middle Village, Queens. He transferred first to Redemption Christian Academy in Troy, New York for the basketball season and then to St. Thomas Aquinas High School in New Britain, Connecticut. Odom was named the Parade Magazine Player of the Year in 1997. He was named to the USA Today All-USA 1st Team as a senior. During his youth, Odom was teamed with Elton Brand of the Philadelphia 76ers and Ron Artest of the Los Angeles Lakers on the same AAU team.
In 1997, Odom attended the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and was enrolled in summer classes. Following an academic scandal, an NCAA inquiry found Odom received payments amounting to $5,600 from booster David Chapman. Coach Bill Bayno was fired and UNLV was placed on probation for four years. Odom transferred to the University of Rhode Island but was forced to sit out the 1997–98 season.
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Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong (born Lance Edward Gunderson on September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support. He last rode for UCI ProTeam Team RadioShack, a team he helped found.
In October 1996 he was diagnosed as having testicular cancer with a tumor that had metastasized to his brain and lungs. His cancer treatments included brain and testicular surgery and extensive chemotherapy, and his prognosis was originally poor. He went on to win the Tour de France each year from 1999 to 2005, and is the only person to win seven times having broken the previous record of five wins shared by Miguel Indurain, Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx, and Jacques Anquetil.
In 1999, he was named the ABC Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year. In 2000 he won the Prince of Asturias Award in Sports. In 2002, Sports Illustrated magazine named him Sportsman of the Year. He was also named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the years 2002–2005. He received ESPN's ESPY Award for Best Male Athlete in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, and won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 2003. Armstrong announced his retirement from racing on July 24, 2005, at the end of the 2005 Tour de France but returned to competitive cycling in January 2009 and finished third in the 2009 Tour de France. He confirmed he had retired from competitive cycling for good on February 16, 2011.
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Larry Bird
Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is a former American NBA basketball player and coach. Drafted into the NBA sixth overall by the Boston Celtics in 1978, Bird started at small forward and power forward for thirteen seasons, spearheading one of the NBA's most formidable frontcourts that included center Robert Parish and forward Kevin McHale. Due to chronic back problems, he retired as a player in 1992. Bird was voted to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996 and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. He served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. In 2003, he assumed the role of president of basketball operations for the Pacers, which he currently holds. He is the only person in NBA history to be named Most Valuable Player, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.
Larry Bird was born in West Baden, Indiana, the son of Georgia (née Kerns) and Claude Joseph "Joe" Bird. He grew up in both West Baden and the adjacent town French Lick, which earned him the nickname "the Hick from French Lick" in his professional basketball career. Bird recalled how his mother would make do on the family's meager earnings: "If there was a payment to the bank due, and we needed shoes, she'd get the shoes, and then deal with them guys at the bank. I don't mean she wouldn't pay the bank, but the children always came first." According to Bird, his being poor as a child "motivates me to this day". He sometimes was sent to live with his grandmother due to the family's struggles. The Bird family's struggle with poverty was compounded by the alcoholism and personal difficulties of Joe Bird, who likely suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from serving in the Korean War. Joe Bird committed suicide on February 3, 1975, when Larry was 18 years old.
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LaRue Martin
LaRue Martin (born March 30, 1950 in Chicago, Illinois) is a retired American professional basketball player. Martin was taken first overall by the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Portland Trail Blazers in 1972, drafted ahead of future Hall of Famers Bob McAdoo and Julius Erving. Martin has been cited as the worst first overall draft pick in NBA history.
A 6-foot-11 center out of Loyola University Chicago, LaRue Martin entered the NBA with much fanfare in 1972. Martin set the basketball world abuzz when he outplayed Bill Walton in a game between Loyola and UCLA, in the midst of their storied title runs, in 1971–72. The Portland Trail Blazers were so impressed with Martin that they made him the first overall pick in the 1972 NBA Draft.
However, Martin never caught on in the NBA, and after the Blazers drafted Walton in 1974, he never had the chance. In four seasons Martin averaged 7.0 points per game and shot .452 from the field. He notched both of those numbers during the 1974–75 season, when Walton missed most of the year with injuries. Over his 4-year stint, Martin totaled over 1,400 points; number 2 overall pick McAdoo totaled over 1,400 points in his rookie year alone.
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LaSalle Thompson
LaSalle Thompson III (born June 23, 1961 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American former professional basketball player, who spent most of his 15-year career with the Kansas City/Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers. The 6'10", 245-pound Thompson spent time at both the center and power forward positions during his playing career. He later served as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Bobcats, during head coach Larry Brown's tenure.
Nicknamed "Tank", Thompson finished his career at Texas as the school's all-time leader in rebounds with 1,027, despite the fact he played only three years. The record would stand for 21 years until it was broken by James Thomas in 2004.
Thompson was drafted by the Kings with the fifth overall pick in the 1982 NBA Draft, making him the highest Texas player taken until LaMarcus Aldridge was selected second overall in 2006. In 1989-1990, he averaging 13.9 points and 9.4 rebounds per game while spending a half-season in Sacramento and the other half in Indiana.
A regular starter for most of the first part of his career, in 1992-1993 Thompson moved to a role as the tough-nosed veteran off the bench, as Rik Smits and Dale Davis started every game in which they played. Thompson was a key reserve on the first Pacers team to reach the Eastern Conference Finals series, in 1993-1994.
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Latrell Sprewell
Latrell Fontaine Sprewell (born September 8, 1970) is a former American professional basketball player; he played for the Golden State Warriors, the New York Knicks, and the Minnesota Timberwolves. During his time as a professional, Sprewell was named to the annual NBA All-Star game four times; he also helped the Knicks reach the NBA Finals and the Timberwolves the Western Conference finals. Despite his accomplishments, his career was overshadowed by a 1997 incident in which he choked coach P.J. Carlesimo during a practice, which ultimately resulted in a 68-game suspension.
Sprewell's career came to an unexpected end in 2005 when he refused a $21-million three-year contract offer from the Timberwolves, which he implied would not be enough to feed his children. Since that time, he has made headlines for grounding his million dollar yacht, having two of his homes foreclosed upon, and being prohibited from seeing his children.
After attending Washington High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sprewell played competitively with the Three Rivers Community College Raiders Basketball Team in Poplar Bluff, Missouri from 1988–1990, and from 1990–1992 with the University of Alabama, where he was a teammate of future NBA players Robert Horry, Jason Caffey and James Robinson.
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LeBron James
LeBron Raymone James (/ləˈbrɒn/; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he was a three-time "Mr. Basketball" of Ohio in high school, and was highly promoted in the national media as a future NBA superstar while a sophomore at St. Vincent – St. Mary High School. He was selected with the number one pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Listed as a small forward, James has set numerous youngest player records since joining the league. He was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2003–04, was named the NBA Most Valuable Player in 2009, 2010, and 2012 and has been both an All-NBA selection and an All-Star every season since 2005. In 2010, a much-publicized free agency process ended with James signing with the Miami Heat.
James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to consecutive playoff appearances from 2006 through 2010. In 2007, the Cavaliers advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, but lost to the San Antonio Spurs. In 2011, James and the Miami Heat advanced to the NBA Finals but lost to the Dallas Mavericks. James has been a member of the USA national team, winning a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics and gold at the 2008 Olympics.
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Lee Shaffer
Lee Philip Shafer II (born February 23, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American former professional basketball player.
A 6'7" forward, Shaffer starred at the University of North Carolina, where he was the ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 1960. He then played three seasons (1961–1964) in the National Basketball Association as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers franchise. An NBA All-Star in 1963, Shaffer held career averages of 16.8 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game.
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Lee Trevino
Lee Buck Trevino (born December 1, 1939) is a Mexican American professional golfer. He is an icon for Mexican Americans, and is often referred to as "The Merry Mex" and "Supermex". He won six major championships over the course of his career.
Trevino was born in Dallas, Texas into a family of Mexican ancestry. He was raised by his mother, Juanita Trevino, and his grandfather, Joe Trevino, a gravedigger. Trevino never knew his father, Joseph Trevino, who left when his son was small. Trevino's childhood consisted of attending school occasionally and working to earn money for the family. At age five, he started working in the cotton fields.
Trevino was introduced to golf when his uncle gave him a few golf balls and an old golf club. He then spent his free time sneaking into nearby country clubs to practice, and began as a caddy at the Dallas Athletic Club. He soon began caddying full-time. Trevino had to leave school at 14 to go to work. He earned $30 a week as a caddy and a shoeshiner. He was also able to practice golf, since the caddies had three short holes behind their shack. After work, he would hit at least 300 balls. Trevino has claimed to have earned extra money by challenging competitors to rounds of golf where he used only a shovel and taped-up 32-ounce glass Dr. Pepper bottle.
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Len Bias
Leonard Kevin "Len" Bias (November 18, 1963 – June 19, 1986) was a first team All-American college basketball forward at the University of Maryland. He was selected by the Boston Celtics as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft on June 17, but died two days later from cardiac arrhythmia induced by a cocaine overdose. He is considered by some sportswriters to be one of the greatest players not to play at the professional level.
Bias was known to friends and family by his childhood nickname "Frosty". He was given the nickname by his good friend and pastor Rev. Gregory Edmond because he was "tall and cool and quiet and unassuming".
From Landover, Maryland, Bias graduated from Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Maryland, and subsequently attended the University of Maryland, where he became an All-American player.
Bias impressed basketball fans with his amazing leaping ability, his physical stature and his ability to create plays, and was considered one of the most dynamic players in the nation. By his senior year, scouts from various National Basketball Association teams viewed Bias as the most complete forward in the Class of 1986. According to Celtics scout Ed Badger, "He's maybe the closest thing to (Chicago guard) Michael Jordan to come out in a long time. I'm not saying he's as good as Michael Jordan, but he's an explosive and exciting kind of player like that." Jordan was then in his second professional season with the Chicago Bulls.
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Len Chappell
Leonard R. "Len" Chappell (born January 31, 1941 in Portage, Pennsylvania) is a retired American basketball player.
A 6'8" power forward/center, Chappell was a star at Wake Forest University, where he was named ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 1961 and 1962. He was the ACC tournament's all-time leading scorer until Duke University's J. J. Redick surpassed him in 2006. Chappell was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team in 2002, honoring him as one of the 50 greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history.
After his college career, he spent nine years (1962–1971) in the National Basketball Association as a member of the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Cincinnati Royals, Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Atlanta Hawks. Chappell played in the 1964 NBA All-Star Game, and he scored 5,621 NBA career points. He also played one season (1971–1972) with the Dallas Chaparrals of the now defunct American Basketball Association.
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Lennie Rosenbluth
Leonard Robert "Lennie" Rosenbluth (born January 22, 1933, in New York City, United States) is an American former basketball player.
Rosenbluth attended Staunton Military Academy in Staunton, Virginia. In 1957 he led the University of North Carolina Tar Heels to a 32–0 record. At 6’ 5” Rosenbluth averaged 27.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game during the regular season. The Helms Hall of Fame named him “Collegiate Player of the Year,” over Kansas's Wilt Chamberlain. This was North Carolina's first NCAA national championship, and it brought credibility to the Atlantic Coast Conference. He was named the ACC Male Athlete of the Year in 1957.
His first year of varsity basketball in 1955, he was the leading scorer of the Tar Heels. He was named third team All-America, averaging 25.5 ppg and 11.7 rebounds. In 1956 he also achieved All-America honors, but this time they were split between various first and second team selections. He again led the Tar Heels in scoring with a 26.7 average.
In Rosenbluth’s senior season his Tar Heels defeated Chamberlain’s Kansas Jayhawks 54–53 in triple overtime for the NCAA championship. The UNC forward scored 20 points in the championship final, was the tournament’s overall top scorer, 28.0 ppg, and was named to the All-Tournament Team. North Carolina had defeated Michigan State 74-70 the previous night also in a triple overtime game.
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Lenny Wilkens
Leonard Randolph "Lenny" Wilkens (born October 28, 1937, in Brooklyn, New York, U.S.) is a retired American basketball player and coach in the NBA. He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as a player, as a coach in 1998, and as part of the US Olympic "The Dream Team" for whom he was an assistant coach.
He is only three victories behind Don Nelson for most career regular season wins as an NBA coach, with 1332, but he has five more playoff wins than Nelson.
Wilkens grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. His father was African American and his mother was Irish. Wilkens was raised in the Roman Catholic faith.
At Boys High School, Wilkens was a basketball teammate of longtime Major League Baseball star Tommy Davis.
Wilkens was a two-time All-American (1959 and 1960) at Providence College. He led the team to their first NIT appearance in 1959, and to the NIT finals in 1960. When he graduated, Wilkens was, with 1,193 points, the second-ranked scorer in Friar history (he has since dropped to twentieth as of 2005). In 1996, Wilkens' No. 14 jersey was retired by the college, the first alumnus to receive such an honor.
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Leroy Wright
James Leroy Wright is a retired American professional basketball player. He played two seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) in 1967–68 and 1968–69, winning the ABA Finals in 1968 as a member of the Pittsburgh Pipers.
Wright grew up in Texas and graduated from Aycock High School (Rockdale) in 1956. He was a four-sport star, playing football, basketball and track and field. He won state championships in both football and basketball during his senior year of 1955–56.
Wright played basketball at the College of the Pacific from 1957–58 to 1959–60 (freshmen were not allowed to play varsity sports according to NCAA rules when he was in college.) When he became eligible as a sophomore in 1957–58, Wright burst onto the national basketball scene with per game averages of 13.2 points and 17.1 rebounds. A 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) forward, his points per game average increased in each his junior and senior seasons (14.8 and 15.9, respectively) while his rebounding averages were tops in the nation. Wright's average of 25.1 rebounds per game as a junior and 22.4 per game as a senior are the top two in Pacific history, and he became the first player ever to repeat as the NCAA Division I season rebounding champion. He was named the West Coast Conference Co-Player of the Year in his final two collegiate seasons as well, first sharing the honors with San Francisco's Mike Farmer followed by LaRoy Doss of Saint Mary's.
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Linton Johnson
Linton Johnson III (born June 13, 1980 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American professional basketball player who is currently playing in Italy for Air Avellino.
After a four-year college career at Tulane University, he began his professional career in 2003–04 as an undraftedfree agent playing 41 games including 20 starts for the Chicago Bulls. He also played for the Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets and the Phoenix Suns, with whom he signed a 10-day contract late in the 2007–08 season. The Suns did not renew his contract, and on March 27, 2008, Johnson signed another 10-day contract with the Toronto Raptors. After the contract expired, Johnson re-signed with the Suns on April 16, 2008.
Linton Johnson is the nephew of former NBA player Mickey Johnson.
On March 11, 2009, Johnson was signed to the first of two 10-day contracts by the Chicago Bulls. It was his second stint with the Bulls. He was signed for the remainder of the season after initially being released when his second 10-day contract expired. He was waived on July 30, 2009.
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Lionel Simmons
Lionel James "L-Train" Simmons (born November 14, 1968 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a retired American professional basketball player.
Simmons led South Philadelphia High School to a Philadelphia Public League boys’ championship in 1986. He was inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
A 6'7" small forward from La Salle University, where he won the Naismith College Player of the Year and John R. Wooden Award as a senior. Simmons is third in all-time NCAA career points with 3,217 and trails only Pete Maravich and Freeman Williams. Simmons became the only player in NCAA history to score more than 3,000 points and pull down more than 1,100 rebounds. He holds the NCAA Basketball record for most consecutive games scoring in double figures with 115. He led the Explorers to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances (1988–90). Simmons was Player of the Year in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for three years. He was a four-time First Team All Big 5 selection and won the Robert V. Geasey Trophy as Big 5 MVP three times. During his career, the Explorers had a 100-31 record. Simmons was inducted into the La Salle University Hall of Athletes in 1995. Simmons was inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame in 1996.
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Loren Woods
Loren Woods (born 21 June 1978, in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American professional basketball player, currently playing with Zob Ahan Isfahan in the Iranian Basketball Super League. He is also a former NBA player.
He attended high school at Cardinal Ritter College Prep, where he teamed with ex-NBA player Jahidi White and Duke University standout Chris Carrawell. He started his college career at Wake Forest University, where was supposed to take over the center position once Tim Duncan left. However he transferred to the University of Arizona.
Woods was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of the 2001 NBA Draft. After leaving the Timberwolves, Woods played for the Miami Heat and the Toronto Raptors, where he appeared in 45 games during the 2004–05 season and posted a career best 3.9 points per game. On August 15, 2006, he signed with the Sacramento Kings as a backup center, but he was waived before the season began.
Woods joined the Lithuanian giants Žalgiris Kaunas in 2007. In June 2007, he joined the Turkish side Efes Pilsen. He signed two 10-day contracts with the Houston Rockets on March 21 and April 1, 2008. After being waived by the Rockets on July 14, 2008, he signed again with Žalgiris Kaunas on July 16. He joined CAI Zaragoza in 2009.
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Lorenzen Wright
Lorenzen Vern-Gagne Wright (November 4, 1975 – July 2010) was an American professional basketball player.
Raised in Oxford, Mississippi, Wright played all levels of basketball in Memphis – high school, collegiate and professional. Wright was selected a Third Team All-America by the Associated Press as a sophomore at the University of Memphis.
After being selected seventh overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1996 NBA Draft out of the University of Memphis, Wright moved on to the Atlanta Hawks in 1999. He was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001, but returned to the Hawks in 2006.
On February 16, 2008, he was involved in a multi-player trade, going from Atlanta to Sacramento for Mike Bibby.
He held career averages of 8.0 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, playing in 778 (793 including playoffs) NBA games over 13 seasons.
Wright founded the Sierra Simone Wright Scholarship Fund after the death of his infant daughter in March 2003. During the summer of 2003, he returned to the University of Memphis to finish his degree. His father Herb was a professional basketball player who competed in Finland.
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Lou Pucillo
Lou Pucillo (born 1936 in Philadelphia is best known for being an outstanding college basketball player for North Carolina State University Wolfpack from 1956-1959. Being only 5 foot 9 inches and 155 lbs., he was the smallest player to ever be recruited by Everett Case. As a guard for the Wolfpack he scored 944 points in 74 games. He was named on the first-team for the ACC in 1958 and 1959, the first team for the ACC Tournament in 1958 and 1959, and in 1959 he was named ACC Player of the Year.
After graduating from N.C. State, Pucillo played for the Wichita Vickers in National Industrial League and later played for Sunbury in the Eastern Professional League. After quitting his professional basketball career, he later coached freshman basketball at N.C. State for three seasons before leaving to enter private business.
In 1991 he was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
NC State Hall of Hame bio
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Magic Johnson
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers. He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season, and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996, at age 36, to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.
Johnson's career achievements include three NBA MVP Awards, nine NBA Finals appearances, twelve All-Star games, and ten All-NBA First and Second Team nominations. He led the league in regular-season assists four times, and is the NBA's all-time leader in average assists per game, at 11.2. Johnson was a member of the "Dream Team", the U.S. basketball team that won the Olympic gold medal in 1992.
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Malik Rose
Malik Jabari Rose (born November 23, 1974 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American former professional basketball player, and current broadcaster for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Rose graduated from Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, the same high school as Wilt Chamberlain. He graduated from Drexel University with All-American honors after leading the Dragons to their lone NCAA Tournament victory with an upset of the University of Memphis 75-63. At Drexel, Malik averaged over 16 points and 12 rebounds per game throughout his four-year college career. He was a student teacher at Robert E. Lamberton School. In 2011, the 1995-96 men's basketball team, led by Rose, was inducted into the Drexel athletic Hall of Fame.
Rose was drafted in 1996 in the second round by the Charlotte Hornets. Rose is the second Drexel basketball player to participate in the NBA, following Michael Anderson. He was traded to the San Antonio Spurs in 1997, and quickly became one of their more popular players due to his displays of hustle, defense, and skill despite being undersized. Rose was on the Spurs' NBA championship teams in 1999 and 2003. On February 24, 2005, Rose was traded along with a pair of first-round draft picks to the New York Knicks for Nazr Mohammed and Jamison Brewer, much to the dismay of Spurs fans. A highlight during his tenure with the Knicks was a 10-point, 15-rebound and 9-assist performance in a 94–93 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on April 18, 2007, just missing a triple-double. After being relegated to a minor supporting role for the Knicks for four years, Rose was traded from the Knicks to the Oklahoma City Thunder on February 19, 2009 for Chris Wilcox.
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Manu Ginóbili
Emanuel David "Manu" Ginóbili (born 28 July 1977) is an Argentine professional basketball player. Coming from a family of professional basketball players, he is a member of the Argentine men's national basketball team and the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Ginóbili spent the early part of his basketball career in Argentina and Italy, where he won several individual and team honors. His stint with Italian side Kinder Bologna was particularly productive, earning two Italian League MVP awards, the Euroleague Finals MVP and the 2001 Euroleague and Triple Crown championships. The shooting guard was selected as the 57th overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft and is considered one of the biggest draft steals of all time. Ginóbili returned to Italy and only joined the Spurs in 2002. He did not take long to establish himself as a key player for the Spurs, and has since earned three NBA championship rings as well as being named an All-Star in 2005 and 2011. In the 2007–08 season, he was named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year.
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Marc Jackson
Marc Anthony Jackson (born January 16, 1975 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American former professional basketball player.
After attending college at Temple University, he was drafted in the second round (37th overall) of the 1997 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, but didn't play with them until 2000. Before February 2002, however, the Warriors feared Jackson wouldn't sign a second contract with them, so they traded him to the Minnesota Timberwolves where he played for 1½ seasons. He then signed with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2003 and two years later was traded to the New Jersey Nets after a deal to bring in Shareef Abdur-Rahim from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Nets fell through. Before the 2005-06 trade deadline, he was traded by the Nets to the New Orleans Hornets and was named to the 2000-2001 NBA All-Rookie team as a member of the Golden State Warriors. In 2007, he signed with the Greek League team Olympiacos, but was released after not fitting in the system of the team's new coach, Panagiotis Giannakis. In August, 2008, Jackson was signed by UNICS Kazan of the Russian Super League, and he announced his retirement shortly after signing for Obradoiro CAB in 2009.
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Marcus Camby
Marcus D. Camby (born March 22, 1974 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American professional basketball center with the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was named Defensive Player of the Year during the 2006–07 NBA season, leading the league in blocked shots per game. Camby is also a four-time member of the NBA all-defensive team.
Camby, a native of Connecticut, began his high school career at Conard High School in West Hartford. He transferred to Hartford Public High School where he finished his high school education. In his senior season, Camby averaged 27 points, 11 rebounds, 8 blocks and 8 assists, en route to a 27-0 record and state title. He was named Gatorade's Connecticut Player of the Year.
Camby played three seasons for the UMass Minutemen. He is second all-time in total blocked shots (336) at UMass and the fourth-ever college player to have at least 300 total career blocked shots. He had an NCAA freshman record 105 total rejections during his first year at UMass, and was named the Atlantic 10's Freshman of the Year. Camby was named to the A-10's First Team during his sophomore season in 1994-95, as the Minutemen reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
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Mario Elie
Mario Antoine Elie (born November 26, 1963 in New York City) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. Currently, he works as an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets.
Elie, who is of Haitian heritage, grew up in New York City. He was named "Mario" for opera singer Mario Lanza. His father died after Elie graduated from college. He had a brother named Clark, an amateur basketball player who died in a car accident in October 2009. He also has a sister named Nancy.
Elie attended Power Memorial Academy (same high school as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), where he was a teammate of Chris Mullin under coach Steve Donohue. Elie played street ball in Central Park and other locations in New York City during the 1980s, trying and failing several times to get into the NBA. His nickname on the New York playgrounds was "The Jedi".
He played college basketball at American International College in Springfield, MA. Though Elie led AIC to their conference's first NCAA Division II Tournament Quarter-Final, he was at first overlooked by NBA teams. Elie was selected with the 160th pick (out of 162 total) in the 1985 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. However, he was waived by the Bucks less than two months later. He was also on the pre-season roster for the 1990-91 Los Angeles Lakers, but was waived before the season started.
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Mark Aguirre
Mark Anthony Aguirre (born December 10, 1959 in Chicago, Illinois) is a retired American basketball player in the National Basketball Association. Aguirre played from 1981–1994 and won two championships with the Detroit Pistons after being sent to Detroit from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Adrian Dantley. Aguirre was a three-time All-Star for Dallas.
While playing at DePaul University, he averaged 24.5 points over three seasons with the Blue Demons, and in 1981 was The Sporting News College Player of the Year. He also was the USBWA College Player of the Year and James Naismith Award winner in 1980, and a 2 time member of The Sporting News' All-America first team. As a freshman in 1978–1979, he led the Demons to the Final Four, where they lost to Indiana State, led by future NBA Hall of Famer Larry Bird.
The Chicago native played on the same DePaul team as future NBA star Terry Cummings and found himself in the national spotlight during his three years at the university. He averaged 24.0 points as a freshman in 1978–79 and led the Blue Demons to the NCAA Final Four. Over the next two seasons he scored 26.8 and 23.0 points per game, respectively, and he was named College Player of the Year in 1980–81. A member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic basketball team, Aguirre left school after his junior year. The Dallas Mavericks took him with the first overall pick in the 1981 NBA Draft.
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Mark Blount
Mark D. Blount ( /ˈblʌnt/ BLUNT; born November 30, 1975 in Yonkers, New York) is an American former professional basketball player. He was a 7'0" (2.13 m) tall, 250 lb (113 kg) center with several teams in the National Basketball Association.
Blount spent his freshman year of high school in Summerville, South Carolina, playing for Summerville High School. He then transferred to Oak Hill Academy. He then went to Dobbs Ferry High School for his senior year and was named Mr. Basketball for Westchester County. He played his collegiate basketball at the University of Pittsburgh before being drafted 54th overall in the 1997 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, and spent three seasons in the minor American leagues.
He was first signed by the Boston Celtics as a free agent on August 1, 2000 and led the team with 76 blocks that season, the most by a Celtics rookie since Kevin McHale in 1980–81.
During the 2003–04 NBA season, Blount emerged as a dependable center, putting up 10.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.29 blocks per game in 29.3 minutes per game. He had a 28-point, 21-rebound game vs. the Orlando Magic on March 1, 2004.
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Mark McGwire
Mark David McGwire (born October 1, 1963), nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American former professional baseball player who played his major league career with the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals. He is currently the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.
For his career, McGwire averaged a home run once every 10.61 at bats, the lowest at bats per home run ratio in baseball history (Babe Ruth is second at 11.76). In 1987, he broke the single-season home run record for rookies, with 49. In 1998, McGwire and Sammy Sosa achieved national fame for their home run-hitting prowess in pursuit of Roger Maris' single season home run record; McGwire broke the record and hit 70 home runs that year.Barry Bonds now holds the record, after hitting 73 home runs during the 2001 season.
After three years at Southern California and a stint on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team, McGwire was drafted 10th overall by the Oakland Athletics in the 1984 Major League Baseball Draft.
McGwire made the major leagues in August. As a rookie in 1987 he hit 33 homers before the All-Star break and was a unanimous choice for AL Rookie of the Year after finishing with 49 homers, 118 RBI and a .289 average. His 49 longballs smashed the old rookie record of 38, jointly held by Frank Robinson and Wally Berger. He sat out the season's final two games and gave up a chance at 50 home runs to be present at the birth of his first child.
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Mark Workman
Mark Cecil Workman (born March 10, 1930 in Charleston, West Virginia - December 21, 1983) was an American professional basketball player. Workman played two years for the NBA's Philadelphia Warriors and Baltimore Bullets. He was the first overall pick in the 1952 NBA Draft, selected by the Milwaukee Hawks. He attended West Virginia University.
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Marko Milič
Marko Milič (born May 7, 1977, in Kranj, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Slovenian professional basketball player. Milič's father, Vladimir, was a shot putting champion in the former Yugoslavia. His mother, Metka Papler, is a former successful sportswoman of the same origin. Milic (6'7", 280 lbs.) is an athletic power forward.
After being selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1997 NBA Draft (34th overall), Milič's rights were traded to the Phoenix Suns. After seeing limited NBA duty (44 career games) during his two seasons with the Suns, he returned to Europe and played for Union Olimpija (where he started playing senior basketball, now serving his third stint), Real Madrid (two stints), Fortitudo Bologna (Italian League runner-up), Pesaro (2004 Italian Cup finalist) and Virtus Bologna. He also represented Fenerbahçe in the first part of the 1998-99 season, due to the NBA season's lockout, returning to Phoenix in January 1999.
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Marques Johnson
Marques Kevin Johnson (born February 8, 1956) is an American retired professional basketball player. The small forward played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1977–1989, where was a five-time All-Star. He spent a majority of his career with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Johnson was a Los Angeles City Section player of the year in high school before attending the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins and won a national championship in 1975. In his senior year, he won multiple national player of the year awards. Johnson was the third overall pick in the 1977 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. He played seven seasons with Milwaukee before finishing his NBA career with the Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Warriors. He is currently a basketball analyst for Fox Sports Net.
Johnson was born in Nachitoches, Louisiana and raised in south Los Angeles, where he played high school basketball at Crenshaw High School, winning the Los Angeles City Section 4-A Division Player of the Year in 1973. He later attended UCLA, and became a star player on its basketball teams, under the guidance of legendary coach John Wooden. In his sophomore season in 1974–75, Johnson helped to lead the Bruins to Coach John Wooden's 10th and final NCAA Men's Division I basketball championship. Wooden retired from coaching after the season, and Gene Bartow became the head coach. Johnson continued to excel, averaging 21.1 points and 11.1 rebounds per game in his senior season and won the inaugural John R. Wooden Award in addition to the USBWA College Player of the Year as the nation's top collegiate basketball player. Johnson also majored in Theater Arts at UCLA. In 1996, UCLA retired his number.
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Marvin Barnes
Marvin Jerome Barnes (born July 27, 1952, in Providence, Rhode Island) is a former professional American basketball player.
As 6'8" forward, Barnes played at Providence College. In 1973, he was the first player to score 10 times on 10 field goal attempts in the NCAA playoffs, and remains tied for second behind Kenny Walker, who went 11-for-11 in 1986. He led the nation in rebounding in 1973-74. On December 15, 1973, Barnes scored 52 points against Austin Peay, breaking the single-game school record. He was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the second overall pick in the first round of the 1974 NBA Draft and by the Spirits of St. Louis in the 1974 ABA Draft. Barnes opted for the ABA and played for the Spirits in the American Basketball Association from 1974 to 1976 before playing in the National Basketball Association from 1976 to 1980. He had his greatest success in the ABA, where he starred for the Spirits of St. Louis and was named Rookie of the Year for the 1974–75 season. He also shares the ABA record for most two-point field goals in a game, with 27. In 2005, the ABA 2000, the second incarnation of the ABA, named one of their divisions after him.
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Mary Decker
Mary Slaney (born Mary Teresa Decker August 4, 1958, Bunnvale, Hunterdon County, New Jersey) is an American former track athlete. During her career, she won gold medals in the 1500 meters and 3000 meters at the 1983 World Championships, and set 17 official and unofficial world records and 36 US national records.
Mary Decker was born in Bunnvale, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. A decade later her family moved to Southern California, where Decker started running. A year later, aged 11, she won her first local competition.
She joined her school athletics club and a local track club, and completely immersed herself in running, for which she would pay an injury-laden price later in her career. Aged 12, in one week she completed a marathon and four middle- and long-distance races, ending the week with an appendectomy operation.
In her early teens, Decker was already recognized as a world-class runner. Unable to attend the 1972 Olympics as she was too young, the pigtailed 89 pounds (40 kg) 14 year old nicknamed "Little Mary Decker," won international acclaim in 1973 with a win in the 800 meters at a US-Soviet meet in Minsk, beating the later Olympic silver medallist.
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Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton (born January 24, 1968) is an American gymnast and Olympic gold medalist. She was the first female gymnast from outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title.
Retton was born in Fairmont, West Virginia, of Italian heritage (her family's original surname was "Rotunda"). Her father, Ronnie, operated a coal-industry transportation equipment business. She attended Fairmont Senior High School, but did not graduate. She competed in the Olympic games during her sophomore year.
Retton lived in Houston, Texas until 2009, when her family returned to West Virginia. She is married to former Houston real estate developer Shannon Kelley, who now works for the Fairmont State University athletic department. Together they have four daughters: Shayla Rae Kelley (born 1995), McKenna Lane Kelley (born 1997), Skyla Brae Kelley (born 2000), and Emma Jean Kelley (born 2002).
Inspired by watching Nadia Comăneci on television, Retton took up gymnastics in her hometown of Fairmont. She was coached by Gary Rafaloski. She then decided to move to Houston, Texas, to train under Romanians Béla and Márta Károlyi, who had coached Nadia Comăneci before their defection to the United States. Under the Károlyis, Retton soon began to make a name for herself in the United States, winning the American Cup in 1983 and placing second to Dianne Durham (another Károlyi student) at the US Nationals that same year. Retton missed the World Championships in 1983 due to a wrist injury. Nevertheless, Retton won the American Classic in 1983 and 1984, as well as Japan's Chunichi Cup in 1983.
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Matt Bonner
Matthew Robert Bonner (born April 5, 1980) is an American professional basketball player with the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Bonner played college basketball for the University of Florida, and was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the second round of the 2003 NBA Draft. In addition to the San Antonio Spurs, he has also previously played for the Toronto Raptors.
Matt Bonner was born in Concord, New Hampshire in 1980. He attended Concord High School, where he played for the Concord Crimson Tide high school basketball team, helping the Crimson Tide win three state championships. Due to the strong support by his father, a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier, and his mother, an elementary school teacher in Concord, Matt graduated at the top of his class in academics.
Matt has two younger siblings, Luke and Becky. Matt's brother, Luke Bonner, attended the University of Massachusetts and played basketball there. He then played for the Austin Toros of the NBA D-League, and has also played for Klaipėda Neptunas in Lithuania.
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Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon (born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting (1997) from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck. The pair won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay for their work. Damon alone received multiple Best Actor nominations, including an Academy Award for his lead performance in the film.
Damon has since starred in commercially successful films such as Saving Private Ryan (1998), the Ocean's trilogy, and the Bourne series, while also gaining critical acclaim for his performances in dramas such as Syriana (2005), The Good Shepherd (2006), and The Departed (2006). He garnered a Golden Globe nomination for portraying the title character in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Invictus (2009). He is one of the top 40 highest grossing actors of all time. In 2007, Damon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine. Damon has been actively involved in charitable work, including the ONE Campaign, H2O Africa Foundation, and Water.org.
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Maurice Stokes
Maurice Stokes (June 17, 1933 – April 6, 1970) was an American professional basketball player in the 1950s, whose career was cut short by a debilitating injury. He was born in Rankin, Pennsylvania and graduated from Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania in 1955.
Playing for the National Basketball Association's Rochester Royals (which became the Cincinnati Royals in 1957) from 1955 to 1958, Stokes grabbed 38 rebounds in a single game during his rookie season, averaged 16.3 rebounds per game overall, and was named NBA Rookie of the Year. The next season, he set a league record for most rebounds in a single season with 1,256 (17.4 per game). Stokes played in the All-Star Game all three years of his career, and was named to the All-NBA Second Team three times. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in September 2004.
On March 12, 1958 in the last game of the 1957–58 NBA season, in Minneapolis, Stokes drove to the basket, drew contact and fell to the floor, hit his head, and was knocked unconscious. He was revived with smelling salts and returned to the game. Three days later, after a 12-point, 15-rebound performance in an opening-round playoff game at Detroit against the Pistons, Stokes became ill on the team's flight back to Cincinnati; "I feel like I'm going to die," he told a teammate. Stokes reported feeling ill during the flight back to Cincinnati; he later suffered a seizure, fell into a coma and was left permanently paralyzed. In the end, he was diagnosed with "post-traumatic encephalopathy, a brain injury that damaged his motor control center."
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Maurice Taylor
Maurice De Shawn Taylor (born October 30, 1976) is an American professional basketball power forward.
Taylor attended the University of Michigan. The athletic forward, from Henry Ford High School in Detroit, burst onto the national scene during the 1994 Maui Invitational with fellow freshman Maceo Baston. He won Big Ten Freshman of the Year for the 1994-1995 season, averaging 12.4 points and 5.1 rebounds and playing in the NCAA Tournament. As a sophomore he averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds and was picked 2nd Team All-Big Ten. Off the court that year, Taylor was involved in a traffic accident while out with potential recruit Mateen Cleaves that left teammate Robert Traylor with a broken arm and that led to the University of Michigan basketball scandal. After considering entering the NBA draft, Taylor returned to help lead a talented (if underachieving) Michigan team to the 1997 NIT Championship while averaging 12.3 points and 6.2 rebounds.
In 1997, he was drafted 14th overall by the Los Angeles Clippers. In 2000, Taylor told the Clippers he would not re-sign with them in free agency or accept any sign-and-trade situations. When he became a free agent, Taylor announced his intention of hoping to sign with the Orlando Magic to join newly acquired players Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady. No contract offer from Orlando ever came. He then signed with the Houston Rockets instead. He was then traded to the New York Knicks in 2005, before joining the Sacramento Kings in 2006. He was released on January 23, 2007.
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Melvin Ely
Melvin Anderson Ely (born May 2, 1978 in Harvey, Illinois) is an American professional basketball player.
A 6'10", 261 lb (118 kg), forward-center from Fresno State, Ely was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round (12th overall pick) of the 2002 NBA Draft. At Fresno State, he enjoyed a prolific career under the coaching of Jerry Tarkanian.
While attending Harvey Thornton High School, Ely earned All-American honors from McDonald's and Parade. As a senior in 1997, he averaged 15.5 points per game, 9.3 rebounds per game and 5.2 blocked shots per game during the regular season and was named the Chicago Sun-Times player of the year and first team all-state. Ely led his Wildcats to a second-place finish in 1995 and 1996 and third-place in 1997. During Ely's 3 years as a starter, Thornton Township posted a combined record of 93 wins and 4 losses, including marks of 32-1 in 1997, 31-1 in 1996 and 30-2 in 1995.
In 2007, Ely was voted one of the "100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament," recognizing his superior performance in his appearances in the tournament.
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Mengke Bateer
Mengke Bateer or Menk Batere (Mongolian: ᠮᠥᠩᠬᠡᠪᠠᠭᠠᠲᠤᠷ; Monghbatar, simplified Chinese: 孟克·巴特尔; traditional Chinese: 孟克·巴特爾; pinyin: Mèngkè Bātè'ěr; born November 20, 1975), commonly referred to simply as Bateer, is a Chinese professional basketball player, formerly in the NBA. He currently plays center for Xinjiang Guanghui.
Bateer is an ethnic minority from China's Inner Mongolia region. Like many other ethnic Mongols, he does not have a family name, and his full name is a composition of two words: Mönkh (Eternal) and Baatar (Hero). In China, he is only referred to as "Ba Te Er" in the country's tradition. In China, Bateer is sometimes affectionately called "Da Ba" (大巴).
At 210 cm and 132 kg, Bateer is a strong center who is an accomplished screen-setter and passer (having dished out 6 assists in one NBA game, on March 30, 2002, against the Chicago Bulls). However, he is severely hindered by his lack of speed.
As a member of the Beijing Ducks, Bateer made his debut for China's basketball team in the 1994 Asian Games, aged 19. Three years later, although a regular fixture, he was cut from the team after "disciplinary problems". A filial son, Bateer had several times in his career attempted to voluntarily leave his teams to be back in his hometown with his family.
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Michael Beasley
Michael Paul Beasley, Jr. (born January 9, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays both forward positions, and shoots his jump shot left-handed, though he is also ambidextrous. Beasley played college basketball for Kansas State University for one year before declaring for the NBA draft on April 14, 2008. He is regarded as one of the greatest freshman college basketball players of the 2000s.
Beasley was born in Frederick, Maryland. While growing up in Maryland, Beasley played for one of the country's most successful AAU youth teams at the time, the PG Jaguars. Beasley won multiple national championships with this team alongside future fellow blue-chip recruits Kevin Durant (Texas) and Chris Braswell (UNC Charlotte). Beasley later moved on to play AAU ball for DC Assault's 17 & Under team, playing alongside such players as former KSU teammate Ron Anderson, Nolan Smith (Duke), Chris Wright (Georgetown), Austin Freeman (Georgetown), and Julian Vaughn (Georgetown). During this time Beasley also attended a number of high schools including Bowie High School (Bowie, Maryland), National Christian Academy (Fort Washington, Maryland), The Pendleton School (a section of the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida), Riverdale Baptist School (Upper Marlboro, Maryland), Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Virginia), and Notre Dame Preparatory School (Fitchburg, Massachusetts)). As a high school senior he averaged 28 points and 16 rebounds per game.
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Michael Finley
Michael Howard Finley (born March 6, 1973) is a retired American professional basketball player. He won an NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA.
Finley attended Proviso East High School in Maywood, Illinois, graduating in 1991. In Finley's senior season, Proviso East won the 1991 IHSA class AA boys basketball tournament, and Finley was named to the all-tournament team. Finley's teammates, known collectively as the "Three Amigos", included future NBA draftees Sherrell Ford and Donnie Boyce.
In 2007, Finley was voted one of the "100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament," recognizing his superior performance in his appearances in the tournament.
The 6' 7" shooting guard/small forward was originally drafted out of University of Wisconsin–Madison by the Phoenix Suns as the 21st overall pick of the 1995 NBA Draft. Finley held the all-time scoring record at Wisconsin for eleven years, but was passed by Alando Tucker on March 10, 2007.
Finley had an impressive rookie season, being named to the 1995–96 NBA All-Rookie First Team, finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting after averaging fifteen points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. He became only the third rookie in Suns history to score over 1,000 points in a season. Despite his solid play, he was traded by the Suns on December 26, 1996 to the Dallas Mavericks along with Sam Cassell, A. C. Green and a second-round draft pick for Jason Kidd, Tony Dumas and Loren Meyer.
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Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
After a three-season career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards.
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Michael Olowokandi
Michael Olowokandi (born April 3, 1975) is a retired Nigerian British professional basketball center who played in the American National Basketball Association from 1998 to 2007.
Olowokandi was born in Lagos, Nigeria; his father was a diplomat in Nigeria. His family moved to London, England. Olowokandi attended the Newlands Manor School in Seaford, East Sussex and Brunel University. At Brunel, Olowokandi was an athlete in track and field, cricket, and rugby union and began playing basketball when he was 18. In 1995, he enrolled at the University of the Pacific in the United States after discovering it through Peterson's Guide to American Colleges and Universities. At a 7-foot height, Michael Olowokandi called the basketball office at Pacific in the hopes that he would be accepted. During his junior year, Olowokandi led his team to the NCAA tournament, and after his senior year he was drafted with the first overall pick of the 1998 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. He averaged 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game his senior year and graduated with a degree in economics in 1998. Because of the NBA lockout, Olowokandi signed for Italian team Kinder Bologna. When he eventually signed for the Clippers he played there for five seasons before signing with the Minnesota Timberwolves as an unrestricted free agent before the 2003-04 NBA season.
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Michael Phelps
Michael Fred Phelps (born June 30, 1985) is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions. In doing so he has twice equaled the record eight medals of any type at a single Olympics achieved by Soviet gymnast Alexander Dityatin at the 1980 Moscow Summer Games. His five gold medals in individual events tied the single Games record set by compatriot Eric Heiden in the 1980 Winter Olympics and equaled by Vitaly Scherbo at the 1992 Summer Games. Phelps holds the record for the most gold medals won in a single Olympics; his eight at the 2008 Beijing Games surpassed American swimmer Mark Spitz's seven-gold performance at Munich in 1972. Phelps' Olympic medal total is second only to the 18 Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina won over three Olympics, including nine gold. Phelps also holds the all-time record for most gold Olympic medals, at 14.
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Mike Budenholzer
Mike Budenholzer is a former professional basketball player and currently an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association.
A native of Holbrook, Arizona, Budenholzer attended Pomona College, where he was a four-year letterman in basketball and golf and was named the Outstanding Senior Athlete in 1993. In the same year, he received his bachelor’s degree in politics, philosophy and economics. Subsequently, he spent the 1993–94 season in Denmark, playing professionally for Vejle Basketball Klub, where he averaged a team-high 27.5 points per game. At the same time, he also served as head coach for two teams of the club's system.
At the start of the 1994–95 season, Budenholzer was hired by the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association as a video coordinator. He held that position for two years, before being named an assistant coach at the beginning of the 1996–97 campaign. Since the 2007–08 season, Budenholzer has been the team's number one assistant.
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Mike Gminski
Michael Thomas Gminski (born August 3, 1959 in Monroe, Connecticut) is a retired American college and professional basketball player. Gminski played his high school ball for Masuk High School in Monroe, CT. From there he played four seasons with the Duke Blue Devils, from 1977 to 1980. He led the team in scoring during his junior and senior years. Gminski was named the ACC Rookie of the Year (tied) in 1977, first team All-ACC three years, 1978, 1979, and 1980, and ACC Player of the Year in 1979. He was also named an AP Second Team All-American in 1979 and 1980, and a UPI First Team All-American in 1979 and Second Team All-American in 1980.
At the time of graduation, he was the Duke career leader in points (2,323), rebounds (1,242), and blocked shots (345). As of early 2006, he is seventh all time in the ACC in points and rebounds. He is sixth in blocked shots all-time in the ACC and second in Duke history, respectively. He is also second in Duke career rebounds behind Shelden Williams and fourth in points behind J. J. Redick, Johnny Dawkins, and Christian Laettner. His jersey number '43' is retired by the Duke men's basketball team. In 2002, Gminski was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team as one of the 50 greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history.
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Mike Krzyzewski
Michael William "Mike" Krzyzewski ( /ʃəˈʃɛvski/ shə-SHEV-ski; Polish: Krzyżewski [kʂɨˈʐɛ(f)ski]; nicknamed "Coach K"; born February 13, 1947) is an American basketball coach and former player. Since 1980, he has served as the head men's basketball coach at Duke University. At Duke, Krzyzewski has led the Blue Devils to four NCAA Championships, 11 Final Fours, 12 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) regular season titles, and 13 ACC Tournament championships. Krzyzewski is also the coach of the United States men's national basketball team, whom he led to a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2010 FIBA World Championship. He was an assistant coach on the 1992 "Dream Team".
From 1975 to 1980, Krzyzewski was the head basketball coach at the United States Military Academy, where he played from 1966 to 1969 under Bob Knight. Krzyzewski has amassed a record 79 NCAA tournament victories, while averaging 25 wins per season. He was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame following the 2001 season. On November 15, 2011, Krzyzewski led Duke to a 74–69 victory over Michigan State at Madison Square Garden to become the winningest coach in NCAA Division I men's basketball history. Krzyzewski's 903rd victory surpassed the previous record of 902, held by his former coach, Bob Knight.
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Mitch Kupchak
Mitchell "Mitch" Kupchak (born May 24, 1954) is a retired American basketball player and current general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers since the 2000–01 NBA season after predecessor Jerry West moved to the Memphis Grizzlies organization.
Kupchak played for Brentwood High School, Brentwood, Long Island, NY, and was instrumental in Brentwood's Division Titles from 1970-72.
Kupchak was an All-American on the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team. Kupchak played on the gold medal winning team at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.
Kupchak was drafted by the Washington Bullets in 1976 and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team. He had four productive seasons with Washington and was part of the team that won the NBA Championship in 1978. He signed a long term contract with the Lakers in 1981 on the behest of Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who told owner Jerry Buss, "If we could get Mitch Kupchak, I know we could win," after the team's playoff upset. Unfortunately, 26 games into the season, Kupchak injured his knee and did not play again until the 1983-84 season. However, Kupchak played a key role in the Lakers' 1985 championship team against the Boston Celtics, who had intimidated them in the prior year's Finals. Kupchak retired after the 1985-86 season, having played 510 regular season and 68 playoff games, with regular season averages of 10.2 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game (7.7 points per game and 4.7 rebounds per game in the playoffs).
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Mitch Richmond
Mitchell James "Mitch" Richmond (born June 30, 1965 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida) is a retired American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played collegiately at Kansas State University. He was a 6-time NBA All-Star, a 5-time All-NBA Team member and a former NBA Rookie of the Year. In 976 NBA games, Richmond averaged 21.0 points per game and 3.5 assists per game. His nicknames include "The Rock." #2 has been retired in his honor by the Sacramento Kings, for whom he played seven seasons. He was on the cover of video game NBA Live 97. Richmond is now a scout for the Golden State Warriors, for whom he played from 1988 to 1991.
Richmond was drafted 5th overall in the 1988 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, following two years at Kansas State, where he averaged 20 points per game, and two years at Moberly Junior College in Missouri.
Richmond captured the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in the 1988–89 season, after averaging 22 points per game for the Warriors. He was a key part of Don Nelson's fast-paced offense, which was dubbed "Run TMC" after the first names of its three main components, Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin, respectively. The trio were named after the influential rap group Run DMC. In addition to the shooting he provided, he complemented Hardaway's passing and fast break skills and Mullin's shooting skills by slashing to the hoop as part of the Warriors' attack.
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Monti Davis
Damon (Monti) William Davis (born July 26, 1958, in Warren, Ohio) is an American professional basketball player. He is a 6'7" (201 cm) 205 lb (93 kg) forward and played collegiately at Tennessee State University.
Davis was selected with the 21st pick of the first round of the 1980 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. In his only NBA season (1980-81), he played one game each for the Sixers and the Dallas Mavericks, tallying a total of 3 points and 4 rebounds.
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Moses Malone
Moses Eugene Malone (born March 23, 1955 in Petersburg, Virginia) is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who starred in both the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association. A three-time NBA MVP and one of the NBA's 50 greatest players, Malone was the most successful prep-to-pro player of his era, going straight from Petersburg High to a 21-year career in professional basketball. By the time Malone retired after 19 seasons in the NBA he was the last former ABA player active and held numerous distinctions in both leagues, including a championship ring and NBA finals trophy won with the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers.
Right after graduating from Petersburg High School, Malone signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Maryland. However, Malone was drafted by the ABA's Utah Stars in 1974 and became one of the first basketball players to jump straight from high school into the professional leagues.
Malone began his professional career with the Utah Stars. He later played for the ABA's Spirits of St. Louis. In two seasons in the ABA, Malone averaged 17.2 points and 12.9 rebounds per game. Malone's ABA career ended with the ABA–NBA merger in June 1976, when Malone moved to the NBA.
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Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942) is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist. Considered a cultural icon, Ali was both idolized and vilified.
Originally known as Cassius Clay, Ali changed his name after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964, subsequently converting to Sunni Islam in 1975, and more recently practicing Sufism.[clarification needed] In 1967, three years after Ali had won the World Heavyweight Championship, he was publicly vilified for his refusal to be conscripted into the U.S. military, based on his religious beliefs and opposition to the Vietnam War. Ali stated, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong... No Viet Cong ever called me nigger" – one of the more telling remarks of the era.
Widespread protests against the Vietnam War had not yet begun, but with that one phrase, Ali articulated the reason to oppose the war for a generation of young Americans, and his words served as a touchstone for the racial and antiwar upheavals that would rock the 1960s. Ali's example inspired Martin Luther King Jr. – who had been reluctant to alienate the Johnson Administration and its support of the civil rights agenda – to voice his own opposition to the war for the first time.
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Mychal Thompson
Mychal George Thompson (born January 30, 1955) is a retired Bahamian-American professional basketball player of the NBA. Thompson played both the power forward and center positions and played for the Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers.
Thompson was born in Nassau, in the Bahamas, but moved to the United States as a youth, playing high school basketball at Miami Jackson High School (1974) in Miami, Florida. He then attended the University of Minnesota where he had a standout collegiate career.
The Portland Trail Blazers made Thompson the number one pick in the 1978 NBA Draft, the first foreign-born player to be selected at that position.[citation needed]
Thompson was a fixture in the Portland lineup for eight years (though one season was missed due to injury), where he started at both power forward and center positions. He was named to the 1979 All-Rookie team, and had his statistically best season in 1981–82, where he averaged over 20 points and 11 rebounds per game. In the 1986 off-season, Thompson was traded to the Spurs in exchange for center/forward Steve Johnson.
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Nate Archibald
Nathaniel "Tiny" Archibald (born September 2, 1948, New York City) is a retired American professional basketball player. He spent 14 years playing in the NBA, most notably with the Kansas City Kings and Boston Celtics.
Archibald was a willing passer and an adequate shooter from midrange. However, it was his quickness and speed and shiftiness that made him difficult to guard in the open court, as he would regularly drive past defenders on his way to the basket.
Archibald, a playground legend while growing up in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood in the South Bronx, New York City, only played high school basketball for one-and-a-half seasons, and was cut from the varsity squad at DeWitt Clinton High School as a sophomore. He returned to the team as a junior. During his time without basketball, Archibald briefly flirted with dropping out of school after having been largely truant in past years. But with the help of two mentors, Floyd Layne and Pablo Robertson, Archibald turned it around. Robertson, a former standout at Loyola of Chicago and a Harlem, NY, playground impressario, had seen the gifted, mercurial Archibald in action on the playgrounds and convinced the young man's high school coach to re-instate him on the squad. Despite only playing in blowouts as a junior, the shy, quiet teen managed to blossom into a high-school star, being named team captain and an All-City selection in 1966. Off the court, Archibald began to attend school regularly and worked to improve his poor academic standing, which deterred most colleges from offering him a scholarship. To improve his chances of playing major college basketball, Archibald enrolled at Arizona Western College, transferring to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) the following year. He had three standout seasons at El Paso, from 1967 to 1970 under the legendary coach Don Haskins.
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Nate Erdmann
Nate Erdmann (born November 21, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player.
After graduating from Portales High School at Portales, New Mexico in 1993, Erdmann played college basketball at Washington State University, Hutchinson Community College, and the University of Oklahoma. He was selected by the Utah Jazz with the 57th pick in the 1997 NBA Draft as a shooting guard. Erdmann was cut by the Jazz in the Summer League, having not played in a single regular-season game.
Erdmann signed with the Idaho Stampede of the Continental Basketball Association in 1997.
He played with the Alerta Cantabria of the Spanish Liga ACB in the 2004–2005 season and for one month in the following season with the Polish team BC Anwil. In December 2005, Erdmann returned to Cantabria.
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Nazr Mohammed
Nazr Tahiru Mohammed [NAW-zee] (born September 5, 1977) is an American professional basketball player with the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder. He plays the center position. He is 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) and 250 lb (113.4 kg). He is aggressive in offensive rebounding and putbacks.
The son of an immigrant from Ghana, Mohammed was raised in Chicago and attended high school at Kenwood Academy. Mohammed entered the University of Kentucky in the fall of 1995 at a hefty 315 pounds, and saw little playing time during their NCAA Championship season. After slimming down for his sophomore year, Mohammed shared the starting center spot with Jamaal Magloire and was a key contributor in 1997, when the Cats were runners-up to Arizona. Mohammed would once again share the starting post position with Magloire in 1998, and once again they would bring the NCAA Championship home to Kentucky for the second time in three years.
After his junior year, Mohammed was faced with a decision on whether to come back to school or enter the draft, and ultimately decided to enter the 1998 NBA Draft. He was selected by the Utah Jazz in the first round, as the 29th pick overall. Utah traded his rights to the Philadelphia 76ers for a future first round pick, which would turn out to be Quincy Lewis in the 1999 NBA Draft. He would spend two and a half seasons in Philadelphia. He then played for the Atlanta Hawks through the middle of the 2004 season, at which point he went to the New York Knicks. Mohammed split the 2004–05 season between the Knicks and the Spurs (who acquired him in a trade for Malik Rose). In a combined 77 games for both teams, he averaged 9.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game. He won the 2005 NBA title with the San Antonio Spurs as a member of their starting lineup.
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Neal Walk
Neal Eugene Walk (born July 29, 1948) is a former American college and professional basketball player who was a center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for seven seasons during the late 1960s and 1970s. Walk played college basketball for the University of Florida, and still remains the Florida Gators' all-time rebounds leader. The Phoenix Suns picked Walk in the first round of the 1969 NBA Draft, and he played professionally for the Suns, the New Orleans Jazz, and the New York Knicks of the NBA.
Walk was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and moved to Miami Beach, Florida, with his parents at the age of 6. He attended Miami Beach High School, and played high school basketball for the Miami Beach Hi-Tides.
Walk received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Tommy Bartlett's Florida Gators men's basketball team for three seasons from 1966 to 1969. As a senior team captain, he led the Gators to the 1969 National Invitation Tournament—their first-ever post-season tournament. When Walk graduated from Florida, he was the Gators' all-time leading scorer, and still maintains the records for career rebounds (1,181) and average points per game (20.8).
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Ned Crotty
Ned Crotty (born September 26, 1986) of New Vernon, New Jersey is a MLL professional lacrosse player, formerly of the NCAA Division I college lacrosse team in Duke University. He also plays indoor lacrosse for the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League.
Ned attended and played lacrosse at the Delbarton School in New Jersey. Crotty plays attack at 6'2 and 190 pounds. Crotty entered the 2010 season ranked seventh in career assists (84) and 17th in career points (153) at Duke. Crotty was an All American and won the Tewaaraton Trophy for most outstanding college lacrosse player in 2010. On May 31, 2010, Ned and the Duke Lacrosse team won their first ever Division I NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship. He and teammate Max Quinzani were a scoring duo at Duke for two years following the departure of Matt Danowski and Zack Greer. Crotty played with the MLL team Chicago Machine after being chosen first overall in the 2010 MLL Draft for the 2010 season. He also played for the United States lacrosse team at the 2010 World Lacrosse Championship. Crotty is considered to be the best passer in Duke lacrosse history, posting 63 assists in a single season, a Duke University record. He is expected[by whom?] to rival All-Star Boston Cannons Midfielder Paul Rabil for the title of being considered the best field lacrosse player in the world.
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Ngonidzashe Makusha
Ngonidzashe Makusha (born 11 March 1987) is a Zimbabwean sprinter and long jumper. He is the national record holder over 100m and Long Jump for Zimbabwe with 9.89s (+1.3 m/s) and 8.40m (0.0 m/s) respectively. Both performances achieved during the 2011 NCAA Division I Championships in Des Moines, Iowa where he completed the 100m long jump double. Following the 2 gold medals victory, Makusha has becomes one of the only four athletes to win the double (100m & Long Jump) at the NCAA championships. The three others are DeHart Hubbard (1925), Jesse Owens (1935 & 1936), and Carl Lewis (1981).
In 2011, Makusha was named the men's winner of The Bowerman which is awarded to the top collegiate track & field athlete of the year.
In July 2006 in Windhoek, Makusha achieved decent results in several events. In addition to 7.87 metres in the long jump, he jumped 14.90 metres in the triple jump, ran the 100 metres in 10.64 seconds and the 200 metres in 21.57 seconds. The next month he entered in both long jump and the 100 metres at the 2006 World Junior Championships. In the 100 metres he reached the semi-final, where he was knocked out with a time of 10.84 seconds. He reached the final in the long jump event, but finished twelfth and last. The next year he competed at the 2007 All-Africa Games, where he won a bronze medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay, together with his teammates Gabriel Mvumvure, Brian Dzingai and Lewis Banda. He also competed in long jump and 100 metres, achieving 7.69 metres and 10.52 seconds in the two events.
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Nick Collison
Nicholas John Collison (born October 26, 1980) is an American professional basketball player, currently a power forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA, and well known in basketball circles for his accomplishments at the University of Kansas.
Nick Collison was born in Orange City, Iowa, and grew up in Fort Dodge, Iowa and transferred to Iowa Falls High School.
Nick Collison was a 1999 McDonald's All-American in high school while attending Iowa Falls, Iowa.
From 3rd grade to his Senior year in high school, the Iowa Falls Cadets only lost one game.
Teaming with fellow Iowan Kirk Hinrich to form one of the best duos in college basketball, Collison helped KU reach two consecutive Final Fours (2002, 2003). Collison finished his college career as the leading scorer in the history of the Big 12 Conference (since passed by Andre Emmett). In 2003, his Jayhawks lost to the Carmelo Anthony led Syracuse University Orangemen in the National Championship game, 81–78. He played for the US national team in the 2002 FIBA World Championship.
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Nolan Smith
Nolan Derek Smith (born July 25, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, having been selected with the 21st pick in the 2011 NBA Draft after four years at Duke University. As a senior, he was named a first team AP All-American and the ACC Player of the Year. As a junior, he started at shooting guard for Duke's national champion 2010 team.
Smith is the son of the late Derek Smith, a former swingman of nine-year NBA and University of Louisville fame. The elder Smith was a starting forward on Louisville's 1980 NCAA championship team. He also played for the Cardinals in the 1982 Final Four. He was a second-round draft choice of the Golden State Warriors in 1982 and went on to play for the San Diego and Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics before retiring in 1991. His career ended prematurely due to knee problems.
Derek battled Michael Jordan in a famous 1984 game at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, outscoring Jordan 66-20, and throwing down a huge dunk over him that is still famous on YouTube. Derek suffered a serious knee injury in the 11th game of the 1985-86 season. At the time he was the third-leading scorer in the NBA at 27.3 points per game.
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Orel Hershiser
Orel Leonard Hershiser IV (born September 16, 1958) is an American former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He is currently an analyst for Baseball Tonight and Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN and a professional poker player for PokerStars. In 1988, he won the Gold Glove, Cy Young Award, the NLCS MVP and the World Series MVP with the Dodgers.
Known for his slight frame and fierce competitive spirit, Hershiser was nicknamed "Bulldog" by team manager Tommy Lasorda.
Hershiser was born in Buffalo, New York to Mildred I. Gillman and Orel Leonard Hershiser III. From 1973 to 1975, he participated in ice hockey with the Don Mills Flyers of the Greater Toronto Hockey League. He attended Cherry Hill High School East in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where he was the star pitcher on the school's baseball team. He first caught the attention of pro scouts as a pitcher at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio where he was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.
Hershiser was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 17th round of the 1979 amateur draft and was assigned to their Class A farm team, Clinton Dodgers. He spent four more seasons in the minor leagues with AA San Antonio Dodgers and AAA Albuquerque Dukes before being called up to the major leagues.
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Oscar Robertson
Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938 in Charlotte, Tennessee), nicknamed "The Big O", is a former American National Basketball Association player with the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Robertson played the shooting guard/point guard position, and was a twelve-time All-Star, eleven-time member of the All-NBA Team, and one-time winner of the MVP award in fourteen professional seasons. He is the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season. He was a key player on the team which brought the Bucks their only NBA title in the 1970-71 NBA season. His playing career, especially during high school and college, was plagued by racism.
For his outstanding achievements, Robertson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980, and was voted one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996. The United States Basketball Writers Association renamed their college Player of the Year Award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in his honor in 1998, and he was one of five people chosen to represent the inaugural National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame class in 2006.
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Pat Summitt
Patricia "Pat" Head Summitt (born on June 14, 1952 in Clarksville, Tennessee) is a former women's college basketball head coach. She now serves as the head coach emeritus of the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team. She is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history of either a men's or women's team in any division. She coached from 1974 to 2012, all with the Lady Vols, winning eight NCAA national championships, second only to the record 10 titles won by UCLA men's coach John Wooden. Summitt is the only coach in NCAA history, and one of three college coaches overall, with 1,000 victories. She was named the Naismith Basketball Coach of the Century in April 2000. In 2009, the Sporting News placed her number 11 on its list of the 50 Greatest Coaches of All Time in all sports; she was the only woman on the list. In 38 years as a coach, she never had a losing season. On April 20, 2012, the White House announced that Pat Summitt would be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
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Patrick Ewing
Patrick Aloysius Ewing, Sr. (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-American retired Hall of Fame basketball player and current assistant coach for the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic. He played most of his career with the NBA's New York Knicks as their starting center and played briefly with the Seattle SuperSonics and Orlando Magic. Ewing was named as the 16th greatest college player of all time by ESPN. He won Olympic Gold Medals as a member of the 1984 and 1992 US Men's National Basketball teams. In a 1996 poll celebrating the 50th anniversary of the NBA, Ewing was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time. On April 7, 2008 he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame on September 5, 2008 along with former NBA coach Pat Riley and former Houston Rockets center, Hakeem Olajuwon. His number 33 was retired by the Knicks in 2003.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Ewing excelled at cricket and soccer. He was 11 years old when he arrived in the United States with his family, settling in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He learned to play basketball at Cambridge Rindge and Latin. In order to prepare for college, Ewing joined the MIT-Wellesley Upward Bound Program. Upward Bound is a federally-funded TRIO college-prep program for disadvantaged high school students. He went to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C..
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Patrick Mills
Patrick Sammy "Patty" Mills (born 11 August 1988) is an Indigenous Australian professional basketball player who currently plays for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the NBA, he has also played for the Portland Trail Blazers. He is one of the first Indigenous Australians to play basketball in the NBA, and is one of the youngest players ever to suit up for the Australian national basketball team, the Boomers.
Mills' father is a Torres Strait Islander and his mother is an Aboriginal from the Ynunga people of South Australia. He was first exposed to basketball as a four-year-old with The Shadows, an Indigenous Australian team that his parents established. Mills attended Marist College Canberra where he played a variety of sports in addition to basketball, such as Australian football and athletics. He served as ball boy for the Canberra Cannons of the NBL around 2000. During that time, his family developed a close relationship with Cannons player David Patrick, who would eventually play a key role in Mills' career.
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Patty Sheehan
Patty Sheehan (born October 27, 1956) is an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1980 and won six major championships and 35 LPGA Tour events in all. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Sheehan also hosts the Patty Sheehan & Friends, which is a tournament on the Legends Tour. Patty Sheehan & Friends helps aid women and children's charities all across Northern Nevada.
Sheehan was born in Middlebury, Vermont. She attended Earl Wooster High School in Reno, Nevada. She won three straight Nevada high school championships (1972–74), three straight Nevada State Amateurs (1975–78) and two straight California Women's Amateurs (1977–78). She was the runner-up at the 1979 U.S. Women's Amateur, then was the 1980 AIAW (predecessor of the NCAA) national collegiate champion. She went 4-0 as a member of the 1980 U.S. Curtis Cup team. She attended University of Nevada and San Jose State University.
Sheehan turned professional and joined the LPGA Tour in 1980. She won LPGA Rookie of the Year honors in 1981 with her first professional victory coming at the Mazda Japan Classic. She was strong throughout the 1980s, winning four times in both 1983 and 1984, and winning the LPGA Championship in both seasons. She won LPGA Tour Player of the Year in 1983 and was one of several athletes named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 1987.
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Pau Gasol
Pau Gasol i Sáez (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈpaw ɡəˈzɔɫ]) (born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was born to Marisa Sáez and Agustí Gasol, and he spent his childhood in Spain. Gasol was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2001 NBA Draft, but his rights were traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, with whom he won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He currently holds the Memphis Grizzlies franchise records for career games played, minutes played, field goals made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, offensive, defensive, and total rebounds, blocked shots, turnovers, and points. After seven seasons with the team, Gasol was traded to the Lakers on February 1, 2008. His younger brother, Marc Gasol, who was involved in that trade, is also a professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA.
Pau Gasol was born in Barcelona. He began playing basketball with his school team called Alvirne, and he eventually signed with Cornellà. When he was sixteen, he began playing for Barcelona's junior team. He also won both the 1998 Albert Schweitzer Tournament and the 1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. After moving to the senior team of Barcelona, Gasol played just 25 total minutes in the Spanish ACB League 1998–99 season, and averaged 13.7 minutes per game in the ACB the next year. However, in his final season in the ACB, Gasol averaged 12.4 points and 5.8 rebounds in 24.7 minutes per game. Barcelona was victorious in the Spanish National Cup championship game in 2001, and Gasol was named Most Valuable Player. After entering the NBA Draft, Gasol was selected third overall in the first round in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks, who traded his draft rights to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Shareef Abdur-Rahim.
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Paul Arizin
Paul Joseph Arizin (April 9, 1928 – December 12, 2006), nicknamed "Pitchin' Paul," was an American basketball player who spent his entire National Basketball Association career with the Philadelphia Warriors from 1950 to 1962. He retired with the third highest career point total (16,266) in NBA history, and was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History upon its 50th anniversary in 1996. He was a high-scoring forward at Villanova University before being drafted by the Warriors of the fledgling NBA.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Arizin did not play basketball at La Salle College High School, failing to make the team in his only tryout as a senior. Arizin graduated just a year before another NBA hall of famer, Tom Gola, entered La Salle College High School as a freshman.
During his freshmen year at Villanova, Arizin played CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) basketball in Philadelphia. Late in that season, Al Severance, the then Villanova varsity basketball coach, attended one of Arizin's CYO games. Afterwards, Severance approached Arizin and asked, "How would you like to go to Villanova?" His answer: "I go to Villanova."
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Paul Millsap
Paul Millsap (born February 10, 1985) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a 6'8", 253 pound power forward from Louisiana Tech University, Millsap was selected by the Jazz in the second round (47th overall) of the 2006 NBA Draft. His game was initially compared to that of Udonis Haslem. He was an early entrant to the draft as a junior. He is the only player in NCAA basketball history to lead the nation in rebounding for three consecutive years.
In late 2006, some sports journalists were referring to Millsap as a potential Rookie of the Year candidate, an award not traditionally given to players taken so late in the draft. Though the award would ultimately go to Brandon Roy, Millsap had a strong first season, leading all rookies with six double-doubles. He finished the 2006–07 season with averages of around 7 points per game, 5 rebounds per game, nearly one steal and one block; he had season highs of 20 points, 17 rebounds, 4 blocks, 4 steals, 3 assists, and 38 minutes. He played in all 82 of Utah's games. Early in the 2007–08 season, Millsap achieved a new career high of 24 points during a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He later extended his career high to 28 points against the Orlando Magic in late December 2007. His next career high came in December 2008 against the Boston Celtics when he scored 32 points. Millsap had played in 194 straight games since being drafted by the Jazz in 2006; he missed his first game of his professional career on December 26, 2008 against the Dallas Mavericks due to a sprained posterior cruciate ligament injury in his knee suffered against the Milwaukee Bucks on December 23, 2008.
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Paul Pierce
Paul Anthony Pierce (born October 13, 1977), nicknamed The Truth, is an American professional basketball forward with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Pierce was a high school McDonald's All-American and earned First Team All-America honors in his junior year at Kansas. Pierce has been a starter every season since being selected by the Celtics with the 10th overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft. He is a ten-time All-Star and four-time All-NBA team selection, and also led Boston to the NBA Finals in 2008 and 2010, winning the 2008 NBA Finals. He was named the 2008 NBA Finals MVP in his first trip to the NBA Finals. Pierce also is one of only three Celtics, alongside Larry Bird and John Havlicek, who have scored over 20,000 points in their career with the Celtics alone. He holds the Celtics' record for most three-point field goals made. He also ranks third in team history in games played, second in points scored, seventh in total rebounds, fifth in total assists, and second in total steals. His nickname "The Truth" was given to him by Shaquille O'Neal on March 15, 2001.
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Paul Pressey
Paul Matthew Pressey (born December 24, 1958 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American former professional basketball player. Pressey is widely, though unofficially, credited[by whom?] with being the originator of the point forward position, combining the attributes of a point guard and forward. While playing small forward for the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1980s, Pressey took on many of the ball handling duties, even leading the team in assists for five straight years. He participated in the 1986 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, finishing in 6th place out of 8.
Pressey, along with John Johnson, served as a model for later players taking on the point forward role.
In 1992–93 he came out of retirement while an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors to help the team deal with many injuries to other players. He played 18 games before getting injured too.
His daughter attended the University of California, Berkeley and was a member of the Golden Bear volleyball squad that was a semifinalist at the women's 2007 NCAA Final Four. One of his sons, Matt (Paul Jr.), completed his college basketball career at the University of Missouri in 2012, and another son, Phil, has two years of eligibility remaining at Missouri.
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Paul Silas
Paul Theron Silas (born July 12, 1943) is a retired American professional basketball player and former NBA head coach. He attended Creighton University, where he set an NCAA record for the most rebounds in three seasons and averaged 20.6 rebounds per game in 1963. In the NBA, Silas collected more than 10,000 points and 10,000 rebounds during his distinguished 16 year career, played in two All-Star games, and won three championship rings (two with the Boston Celtics in 1974 and 1976, and one with the Seattle SuperSonics in 1979). He was named to the All-NBA Defensive First Team twice, and to the All-NBA Defensive Second Team three times.
He was head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers until March 21, 2005. Prior to his job with the Cavaliers, he coached the San Diego Clippers and Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets. He worked for ESPN, although in April 2007 he interviewed for the vacant head coaching position with the Charlotte Bobcats which was eventually filled by Sam Vincent. Upon the firing of Sam Vincent in April 2008 he stated that coaching the Bobcats would be a "dream job." On December 22, 2010, Paul Silas was named interim head coach of the Bobcats, replacing the outgoing coach Larry Brown. On February 16, 2011, the Bobcats removed his interim status. On April 30, 2012, the Bobcats announced that Silas would not return to the Bobcats for the 2012–2013 season.
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Pervis Ellison
Pervis Ellison (born April 3, 1967 in Savannah, Georgia) is a former college and professional NBA basketball player.
Ellison was nicknamed "Never Nervous Pervis" for his play with the University of Louisville. At 6 ft 9 in and 242 lb, he started all four years as the center under coach Denny Crum. In his freshman year he led Louisville to its second national championship and was named the Most Outstanding Player—the second time a freshman had ever been awarded that honor, after Arnie Ferrin in 1944 for Utah.
Ellison was made the first overall pick in the 1989 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings. An injury kept him on the sidelines for 48 of 82 games of his rookie year, after which he was traded to the Washington Bullets. (A Sacramento teammate, Danny Ainge, had nicknamed him "Out of Service Pervis.") Although he was assigned as a backup in 1990-1991, the following year he became a starter and earned Most Improved Player honors after averaging 20.0 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.68 blocks per game.
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Pete Brennan
Peter Joseph "Pete" Brennan (born September 23, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York) is a retired American basketball player.
He played collegiately for the University of North Carolina, where he was chosen ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year in the 1957-58 season.
He was selected by the New York Knicks in the 1st round (4th pick overall) of the 1958 NBA Draft.
He played for the Knicks (1958–59) in the NBA for 16 games.
He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
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Pete Maravich
Peter "Pistol Pete" Press Maravich (June 22, 1947 – January 5, 1988) was an American professional basketball player. Born and raised in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Maravich starred in college at Louisiana State University (LSU) and played for three NBA teams until injuries induced him to retire in 1980. He is still the all-time leading NCAA Division I scorer with 3,667 points scored and an average of 44.2 points per game. (All of his accomplishments were achieved before the three-point line was introduced to NCAA basketball, and despite being unable to play varsity as a freshman under then-NCAA rules.) Maravich died suddenly at age 40 during a pick-up game as a consequence of a previously undetected congenital heart defect. One of the youngest players ever inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Maravich was cited by the Hall as "perhaps the greatest creative offensive talent in history". In an April 2010 interview, Hall of Fame player John Havlicek said "the best ball-handler of all time was (Pete) Maravich."
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Pete Rose
Peter Edward Rose (born April 14, 1941), nicknamed "Charlie Hustle", is a former Major League Baseball player and manager. Rose played from 1963 to 1986, and managed from 1984 to 1989.
Rose, a switch hitter, is the all-time Major League leader in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053) and outs (10,328). He won three World Series rings, three batting titles, one Most Valuable Player Award, two Gold Gloves, the Rookie of the Year Award, and made 17 All-Star appearances at an unequaled five different positions (2B, LF, RF, 3B & 1B).
In August 1989, three years after he retired as an active player, Rose agreed to permanent ineligibility from baseball amidst accusations that he gambled on baseball games while playing for and managing the Reds, including claims that he bet on his own team. In 1991, the Baseball Hall of Fame formally voted to ban those on the "permanently ineligible" list from induction, after previously excluding such players by informal agreement among voters. In 2004, after years of public denial, Rose admitted to betting on baseball and on, but not against, the Reds. The issue of Rose's possible re-instatement, and election, to the Hall of Fame remains a contentious one throughout baseball.
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Pete Rozelle
Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle (/rɵˈzɛl/; March 1, 1926 – December 6, 1996) was the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) from January 1960 to November 1989, when he retired from office. Rozelle is credited with making the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world.
Rozelle was born in South Gate, California and grew up in neighboring Lynwood, California during the Great Depression. He graduated from Compton High School in 1944, lettering in baseball and basketball. He was drafted into the Navy in 1944 and served 18 months in the Pacific on an oil tanker. Rozelle began his career at the University of San Francisco, working as a student publicist for the school's football team. He had already worked in public relations for the Los Angeles Rams front office and while in the athletic office at USF he marketed the Don's National Invitation Tournament championship basketball season of 1949 into a national media event. He graduated from USF in 1950.
He held a series of public relations jobs in Southern California, marketing the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia for a Los Angeles based company. He joined the Los Angeles Rams as its public relations specialist. By 1957, Rozelle was offered the GM job with the Rams. He turned a disorganized, unprofitable team, lost in the growing LA market, into a business success.
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Pete Sampras
Peter "Pete" Sampras (/ˈsæmprəs/; born August 12, 1971) is a retired Greek–American tennis player and former world number 1. During his 15-year tour career, he won 14 Grand Slam singles titles and became recognized as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
Sampras debuted on the professional tour in 1988 and played his last top-level tournament in 2002 when he won the US Open, defeating rival Andre Agassi in the final. He was the year-end world no. 1 for six consecutive years (1993–1998), a record for the open era. His seven Wimbledon singles championships are also an Open Era record. He spent 286 weeks at no. 1, the most of any male player. His five US Open singles titles is an Open Era record shared with former world no. 1 players Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer. Sampras is the last American male to win Wimbledon (2000) and the ATP World Tour Finals (1999).
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Philip Rivers
Philip Rivers (born December 8, 1981) is an American football quarterback for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He was one half of the Manning-Rivers draft trade which sent him to San Diego and the 1st overall pick, Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning, to the New York Giants. Rivers played college football at North Carolina State University. Rivers' career passer rating of 95.9 is third-best all-time among NFL quarterbacks with at least 1,500 passing attempts, behind Aaron Rodgers and Steve Young.
After starting Chargers quarterback Drew Brees went to the New Orleans Saints following the 2005 season, Rivers came off the bench to lead the Chargers to a 14-2 record in his first season as a starter. In 2007, he helped the Chargers win their first playoff game since 1994 after beating the Tennessee Titans in the wildcard round of the 2007 playoffs and eventually leading them to the AFC Championship game. He has a career total of 13 fourth quarter comebacks, his most recent being on September 11, 2011, when he led the Chargers to a 24-17 win over the Minnesota Vikings.
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Popeye Jones
Ronald Jerome "Popeye" Jones (born June 17, 1970 in Dresden, Tennessee) is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA. He is now an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets.
Jones played college basketball for Murray State University. He finished his college career as a three-time All-Ohio Valley Conference selection and was named OVC Player of the Year in 1990 and 1991. Jones was honored as the OVC's Athlete of the Year in 1991 and 1992. He is one of only seven MSU men's basketball players to have his jersey retired, his number 54 hangs in the rafters of the Regional Special Events Center in Murray, Kentucky. Jones ranks fourth on MSU's all-time scoring list with 2,057 points. He is also MSU's all-time leader in rebounds with 1,374, and led the nation in that category in the 1990-91 season. He is the only player in MSU history to record more than 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
After college, he was selected by the Houston Rockets in the second round (41st overall) of the 1992 NBA Draft but his rights were traded to the Dallas Mavericks for those of former University of Michigan center Eric Riley. After playing professionally in Europe for a season, he played for the Mavericks for three seasons until being traded to the Toronto Raptors for Riley's former Michigan Wolverines teammate, shooting guard Jimmy King. Jones also played with the Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards and Golden State Warriors. He had a second stint with the Mavericks during the 2002-03 season, but played in only 26 of 82 games.
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Predrag Drobnjak
Predrag "Peja" Drobnjak (Cyrillic: Предраг "Пеђа" Дробњак; born October 27, 1975 in Bijelo Polje) is a former Montenegrin basketball player. At 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m), he played at the power forward and center positions. Throughout his nineteen-year career, Drobnjak had also played in the NBA.
Drobnjak started his professional career with KK Partizan in the 1992–93 season. He played six seasons for Partizan, winning three national titles in a row (1995, 1996 and 1997). In his last year with the club, Drobnjak played in the Euroleague Final Four, where they finished fourth after losing in the semi-final to Kinder Bologna, and in the third-place game against Benetton Treviso.
Before the 1998–99 season, Drobnjak signed for Efes Pilsen SK in Turkey. Drobnjak stayed for the next three seasons with Efes.
Drobnjak was a second-round draft choice of the Washington Bullets in the 1997 NBA Draft. During his time in the NBA, Drobnjak played two seasons for the Seattle SuperSonics, one season for the Los Angeles Clippers, and one season for the Atlanta Hawks. In 2004, the Clippers made him available for selection by the Charlotte Bobcats in the expansion draft. After his selection by the Bobcats, Drobnjak was subsequently traded to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for a 2005 second-round draft pick before playing a game for Charlotte.
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Radoslav Nesterović
Radoslav "Rašo" Nesterović (Serbian Cyrillic: Радослав »Рашо« Нестеровић, Slovene: Radoslav »Rašo« Nesterovič), usually referred to in English as Rasho Nesterovic (born May 30, 1976), is a retired Slovenian professional basketball player. He holds citizenship in both Slovenia and Greece. In the NBA he played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers, and Toronto Raptors. Nesterović retired in 2011.
Nesterović was born in Ljubljana, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia to father Čedo, a Bosnian Serb employee of the Slovenian Railways, and mother Branka, a midwife in the Ljubljana University Medical Centre. He started playing basketball with the KD Slovan youth team. Later, he played with the junior club of KK Partizan and made his debut during the 1992–93 season.
Because of the Yugoslav wars, he moved to PAOK of the Greek League. While playing there, he obtained a second citizenship (Greek) in order to avoid EU restrictions. In order to obtain Greek citizenship he had to administratively change his name in the eyes of Greek law. While in Greece and other EU countries, he thus competed as a domestic player under the name Radoslav Makris.
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Raef LaFrentz
Raef Andrew LaFrentz (born May 29, 1976) is a retired American professional basketball power forward and center who played in the NBA from 1998 to 2009. Born and raised in Iowa, LaFrentz attended the University of Kansas and was drafted in 1998 by the Denver Nuggets. He was known for his perimeter shooting ability and his shot blocking ability.
Raef LaFrentz attended MFL MarMac High School located in Monona, Iowa. His father, Ron, was an assistant coach on LaFrentz's high school team. He was named to the USA Today All-USA 1st Team in 1994 and was a high school McDonald's All-American.
During the summer before his freshman year at the University of Kansas, LaFrentz was selected to the 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival North Team and averaged 11.8 ppg. and 6.8 rpg.
He was also a conference champion swimmer in high school.
LaFrentz played basketball at the University of Kansas, finishing in 1998. He played with current Celtic Paul Pierce while at Kansas. He was a four-year starter and an All-American in his junior and senior seasons. In fact, he joined Tim Duncan and Shaquille O'Neal as the only players in the 1990s to earn first team AP All-America honors twice.
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Rafer Johnson
Rafer Lewis Johnson (born August 18, 1935) is an American former decathlete and film actor.
Johnson was born in Hillsboro, Texas, but the family moved to Kingsburg, California, when he was nine. For a while, they were the only black family in the town. A versatile athlete, he played on Kingsburg High School's football, baseball and basketball teams. He was also elected class president in both junior high and high school. At 16, he became attracted to the decathlon after seeing double Olympic champion Bob Mathias compete and told his coach, "I could have beaten most of those guys."
He competed in his first meet in 1954 as a freshman at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His progress in the event was impressive; he broke the world record in his fourth competition. He pledged Pi Lambda Phi fraternity, America's first nondiscriminatory fraternity, and was class president at UCLA. In 1955, in Mexico City, he won the title at the Pan American Games.
Johnson qualified for both the decathlon and the long jump events for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. However, he was hampered by an injury and forfeited his place in the long jump. Despite this handicap, he managed to take second place in the decathlon behind compatriot Milt Campbell. It would turn out to be his last defeat in the event.
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Ralph Sampson
Ralph Lee Sampson, Jr. (born July 7, 1960) is a retired American college and professional basketball player.
A 7-foot-4 phenom, three-time College Player of the Year, and No. 1 pick in the 1983 NBA Draft, Sampson brought heavy expectations with him to the NBA.
The NBA Rookie of the Year, Sampson averaged 20.7 points and 10.9 rebounds for his first three seasons with the Houston Rockets before injuries began to take their toll. Three knee surgeries later he retired a four-time All-Star whose career highlight ended up being a buzzer-beating shot to dethrone the Los Angeles Lakers as Western Conference champions, derailing their hopes for coveted back-to-back NBA titles and sending the Rockets to their second NBA Finals in the team's history to that point.
Sampson was already 6-foot-7 inches tall by the ninth grade, reaching 7-foot-3 in high school in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He averaged nearly 30 points, 19 rebounds, and 7 blocked shots as a senior (after averaging 14 points and 11 rebounds as a sophomore, and 19 points and 17 rebounds as a junior), at Harrisonburg High, leading the team to state AA basketball championships in 1978 and 1979. His senior year he lost the high school player of the year award to another talented center, Sam Bowie. However, he did get a form of revenge against Bowie, outplaying him in the Capital Classic, getting 23 points and 21 rebounds with 4 blocks in a game styled "Battle of the Giants".
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Randolph Childress
Randolph Childress (born September 21, 1972, in Washington, D.C.) is an American former professional basketball player who last played in Italy for Cestistica San Severo. He currently works as an assistant to the athletic director for the Wake Forest University athletic department.
Childress played collegiately at Wake Forest University, where he averaged 18.4 points per game for his four-year career. His collegiate highlight came in 1995, when he delivered one of the most outstanding ACC Tournament performances of all time. Named tournament MVP, Childress along with sophomore Tim Duncan, carried the Demon Deacons to the title, Childress averaged 35.7 points and 7 assists per game. In the finals, against a UNC team featuring Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace, Childress scored 37 with 7 assists and hit a game-winning jumper with 4 seconds left in overtime. He was honored as the ACC Male Athlete of the Year in 1995. In 2002, Childress was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team, honoring the fifty greatest players in ACC history.
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Randy Johnson
Randall David "Randy" Johnson (born September 10, 1963), nicknamed "The Big Unit", is a former American Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. During a 22-year career, he pitched for six different teams.
The 6-foot-10-inch (2.08 m) Johnson was celebrated for having one of the most dominant fastballs in the game. He regularly approached, and occasionally exceeded, 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) during his prime. He also threw a hard, biting slider. Johnson won the Cy Young Award five times, second only to Roger Clemens' seven.
Johnson finished his career first in strikeouts per nine innings pitched among starting pitchers (10.67), second all-time in total strikeouts (4,875; first among left-handed pitchers), third in hit batsmen (188), tenth in fewest hits allowed per nine innings pitched (7.24), 22nd in wins (303), and 57th in shutouts (37). He pitched two no-hitters, the second of which was the 17th perfect game in baseball history.
Johnson was born in Walnut Creek, California, to Carol Hannah and Rollen Charles “Bud” Johnson. By the time he entered Livermore High School, he was a star in baseball and basketball. In 1982, as a senior, he struck out 121 batters in 66 innings, and threw a perfect game in his last high school start. He also played on a Bercovich team that assembled top players from throughout California. After high school he was drafted in 1982 by the Atlanta Braves in the 2nd round and offered $50,000 to sign. Instead, Johnson accepted a full athletic scholarship to USC, also playing 2 years of basketball. He continued to start at the University of Southern California under coach Rod Dedeaux, but often exhibited control problems.
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Rasheed Wallace
Rasheed Abdul Wallace (born September 17, 1974) is a retired American professional basketball power forward and center who played from 1995 to 2010 in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he played college basketball at the University of North Carolina before joining the NBA.
Originally selected by the Washington Bullets (now the Washington Wizards) as the fourth pick in the 1995 NBA Draft, Wallace was named to the All-Rookie second team following his first season. He was then traded to the Portland Trail Blazers after the season. With Portland he was a key member of the Blazers team that made it to the Western Conference Finals in 1999 and 2000, and was an NBA All-Star in 2000 and 2001. Wallace averaged a career best 19.4 points per game in 2002 for the Blazers.
During the 2003–04 season Portland traded him to the Atlanta Hawks where he played one game before he was traded to the Detroit Pistons. With the Pistons he won the NBA championship in 2004 and lost the NBA Finals the following season, and individually he was an All-Star in 2006 and 2008. After the 2008–09 season he left Detroit as a free agent and signed with the Boston Celtics.
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Ray Allen
Walter Ray Allen (born July 20, 1975) is an American professional basketball player who is currently playing for the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association. He has played professionally for the Milwaukee Bucks, Seattle SuperSonics, and the Boston Celtics; and collegiately for the University of Connecticut Huskies. One of the most accurate 3-point and free throw shooters in NBA history, he is a ten-time NBA All-Star and won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the 2000 United States Men's Basketball Team. Allen has acted in two films, including a lead role in the 1998 Spike Lee film He Got Game. On 02011-02-10February 10, 2011, Allen became the NBA's all-time leader in regular season 3-point field goals made, surpassing Reggie Miller's mark of 2,560. On 02011-03-11March 11, 2011, Allen surpassed Miller's career total of 6,486 3-point field goal attempts.
The third of five children, Ray Allen was born at Castle Air Force Base near Merced, California, the son of Flora and Walter Allen. A military child, he spent time growing up in Saxmundham in England, Altus in Oklahoma, Edwards Air Force Base in California, and Germany. He attended high school in Dalzell, South Carolina, where he led Hillcrest High School to a basketball state championship.
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Ray Felix
Raymond Darlington Felix (December 10, 1930 – July 28, 1991) was an American professional basketball player. He was born in New York City. He played college basketball at Long Island University.
A 6' 11" center from Long Island University, Felix was selected by the Baltimore Bullets with the first pick in the 1953 NBA Draft. He won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 1954 after averaging 17.6 points and 13.3 rebounds. Felix was also the second African-American, following Don Barksdale, to be named an All-Star. Felix spent nine seasons in the league, and played for the Bullets, New York Knicks, Minneapolis Lakers, and Los Angeles Lakers. Felix averaged 10.9 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, with career totals of 6,974 points and 5,652 rebounds. He retired in 1962.
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Reggie Miller
Reginald Wayne "Reggie" Miller (born August 24, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player who played his entire 18-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Indiana Pacers. Miller was known for his precision three-point shooting, especially in clutch situations and most notably against the New York Knicks for which he earned the nickname "Knick Killer". When he retired, he held the record for most career 3-point field goals made. He is currently second on the list behind Ray Allen. A five-time All-Star selection, he led the league in free throw accuracy five times and won a gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Miller is one of five Pacers to have his jersey (#31) retired by the team (the others are Roger Brown, Mel Daniels, Bobby "Slick" Leonard and George McGinnis). Miller was also selected for the Pacers' 40th anniversary team in 2007. Currently, he works as an NBA commentator for TNT. Miller has been announced as a 2012 inductee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and will formally enter the Hall on September 7.
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Renaldo Nehemiah
Renaldo ("Skeets") Nehemiah (born March 24, 1959 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American athlete who dominated the 110 m hurdle event from 1978 until 1981. He was the world record holder and the first man to run the high hurdles in under 13 seconds. He was ranked number one in the world for four straight years.
Nehemiah was the national junior champion in 1977, the same year he graduated from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School in his hometown of Scotch Plains, New Jersey. Nehemiah's high school personal bests were 12.9 in the 110 meter hurdles and 35.8 in the 300 meter hurdles, so much faster than his competitors that his coach had him compete over 42 inch hurdles (collegiate height) and occasionally train over 45 inch hurdles. After graduating from Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Nehemiah attended the University of Maryland, where he won three NCAA titles (two indoor).
Nehemiah's sophomore year at UMD proved to be his breakout year. He broke the world record in the 110 meter hurdles twice in two weeks, running 13.16 and then 13.00. At the 1979 Penn Relays, Nehemiah anchored UMD's shuttle hurdle relay, 4x400 meter relay, and 4x200 meter relay, and was named meet MVP. During the relays he recorded an unofficial split of 19.4 seconds in the 4-by-200 meter relay and a 44.3 second split in the 4x400 meter relay. Nehemiah described his 400-meter leg as follows:
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Riccardo Ingram
Riccardo Benay Ingram (born September 10, 1966 in Douglas, Georgia) is a former Major League Baseball player for the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins. He is currently a roving instructor for the Minnesota Twins.
His career is profiled in the book, "Journeymen: 24 Bittersweet Tales of Short Major League Sports Careers."
Ingram played baseball and football at Georgia Tech where he stood out in both sports winning the McKelvin Award as the ACC athlete of the year, the first Yellow Jacket to win that award.
Upon leaving Georgia Tech, Ingram was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 4th Round (105th overall) of the 1987 Major League Baseball Draft. He made his debut with the Tigers in 1994 getting 5 hits in 23 at bats in only 12 games played. After the 1994 season he was granted free agency. On January 26, 1995 he signed a free agent contract with the Minnesota Twins. He played in 4 games in 1995 gathering 1 hit in 8 at bats. After the season he signed another free agent contract with the San Diego Padres but did not play in any regular season games for them.
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Richard Jefferson
Richard Allen Jefferson (born June 21, 1980 in Los Angeles, California) is a 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association. He was also a member of the USA men's national basketball team at the 2003 Tournament of the Americas and the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics.
Jefferson was born in Los Angeles and was raised in Phoenix, Arizona. His parents were both Christian missionaries, and he moved around frequently growing up.
Jefferson attended Moon Valley High School in west Phoenix, Arizona, where he was an integral part of the varsity basketball team that won the 4A State Championship in 1998.
He played college basketball at the University of Arizona, under Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson from 1998-2001. During his 84-game career (77 starts), Jefferson averaged 11.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He capped his career by leading Arizona to the 2001 national championship game. Along the way, Jefferson was an all-Midwest Regional and all-Final Four selection. He was inducted into the Pac-12 Basketball Hall of Honor during the 2012 Pacific-12 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, March 10, 2012.
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Rick Barry
Richard Francis Dennis Barry III (born March 28, 1944), better known as Rick Barry, is a retired American professional basketball player. He is considered by many veteran basketball observers[who?] to be one of the greatest pure small forwards of all time as a result of his very precise outside shot, uncanny court vision, knowledge and execution of team defense principles, tenacious and ofttimes demanding will to win, and unorthodox but accurate underhanded free throw shooting. Barry is one of the few elite players who altered their games without losing effectiveness; he broke into the professional ranks as a rebounder and all-purpose scorer before he became a primary ball distributor and lethal perimeter threat.
Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in history by the NBA in 1996, Barry is the only player to lead the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), ABA and NBA in scoring for an individual season. In 1987, Barry was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
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Robert Horry
Robert Keith Horry Jr. ( /ˈɒri/; born August 25, 1970) is a retired American basketball player and current sports commentator. He played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning seven championships, the most of any player not to have played on the 1960s Boston Celtics. He is one of only two players (the other is John Salley) to have won NBA championships with three different teams: two with the Houston Rockets, three with the Los Angeles Lakers and two with the San Antonio Spurs. He earned the nickname Big Shot Rob because of his clutch shooting in important games. Horry now works as a commentator on ESPN.
Born in Harford County, Maryland to Staff Sergeant Robert Horry Sr. and mother Leila, Horry grew up in Andalusia, Alabama. Although Horry's father moved to South Carolina after divorcing his mother soon after his birth, the father and son would meet weekly when Robert Sr. was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia.
As a senior at Andalusia High School, Horry won the Naismith Alabama High School Player of the Year award. He attended the University of Alabama on a basketball scholarship, where he was a teammate of fellow future NBA player Latrell Sprewell.
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Roberto Dueñas
Roberto Dueñas Hernandez (born 1975) is a retired Spanish basketball player. He was drafted with the last overall pick (#58) of the 1997 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls but never played in the NBA. Dueñas played professionally with FC Barcelona from 1996–2005, during which time he won a Euroleague championship in 2002-2003. For his efforts with the team, his jersey number was retired. Dueñas is 7 ft 4 inches tall and also played in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Basketball tournament for Spain.
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Rod Hundley
Rodney Clark "Rod" Hundley (born 26 October 1934 in Charleston, West Virginia) is a former professional basketball player and television broadcaster. Hundley's life has revolved around the game of basketball. His love and talent for the game led him to achieve honors in high school and most notably during his college years. At West Virginia University, Hundley played to packed crowds at the Old Field House. His dribbling antics and daredevil maneuvers on the floor led to his popular nickname "Hot Rod" Hundley. He has most recently been known as the sports announcer for the Utah Jazz.
A native of Charleston, West Virginia, Hundley’s talent for the game was evident during his youth. At Charleston High School, he averaged 30 points per game, breaking the state’s four-year scoring record in just three years. He scored 45 points in the WV-Kentucky high school All-Star game. He was named a high school All-American and was offered scholarships to many of the nation’s major universities.
Hundley played for WVU from 1954 to 1957. The Mountaineers made their first NCAA appearance and three total appearances between 1955 and 1957. During his junior year, Hundley averaged 26.6 points and 13.1 rebounds per game. He scored more than 40 points per game six times, which led to the Mountaineers scoring over 100 points in nine games. The Mountaineers were ranked No. 20 in the nation in 1955 and No. 4 in 1956. Hundley holds a varsity school record with 54 points in a single game against Furman and holds a freshmen team record of 62 points against Ohio University.
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Rodney Monroe
Rodney Monroe (born April 16, 1968 in Baltimore, Maryland) is a retired American professional basketball player who was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2nd round (30th overall) of the 1991 NBA Draft. A 6'3" (1.90 m) shooting guard, Monroe played only one year in the NBA with the Hawks during the 1991–92 season, appearing in 38 games and scoring a total of 131 points. Monroe also played professionally in Australia, Greece, Israel, Italy (for Carne Montana Forli (1998–1999), Fabriano Basket a.k.a. Banca Marche Fabriano (1999–2002) and Euro Roseto (2002–2003)), Spain, and the Philippines. Currently, Monroe is the director of basketball operations and men's basketball coach at SouthLake Christian Academy in Huntersville, North Carolina.
Monroe played collegiately at North Carolina State and was ACC's Player of the Year in 1991 after averaging 27.0 points per game. He broke David Thompson's school scoring record at NC State and is 4th on the ACC's all-time scoring list with 2,551 career points. In 2002, Monroe was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team as one of the fifty greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history. "Fire and Ice" was the popular nickname given to Monroe and backcourt teammate Chris Corchiani during their years with the Wolfpack.
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Rodney Rogers
Rodney Ray Rogers (born June 20, 1971, in Durham, North Carolina) is a retired American basketball player who last played power forward for the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers.
Rogers was the fourth and youngest child born to Willie Wadsworth and Estella Rogers. He spent most of his childhood growing up in the McDougald Terrace housing project in Durham. His father, who left the family and moved to Texas when Rogers was a toddler, died when Rogers was eight.
Estella Rogers sustained severe head injuries and required two operations when she was nearly killed in an automobile wreck in 1988. She was in a coma for more than two weeks and remained hospitalized for three more months. Even after she returned home she still had memory loss and needed extra care. While his mother recovered, Rogers moved in with Nathaniel Brooks, who was once his youth league coach, spending his last two seasons at Hillside High School with the Brooks family.
His stepfather James Spencer, who was the only man Rogers called "Dad", died of lung cancer in February 1990. Renita, the oldest of the Rogers children, became a nurse at N.C. Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill. His oldest brother Stacy, who attended the Eastern N.C. School for the Deaf in Wilson and the N.C. School for the Deaf in Morganton, won a gold medal in basketball at the 1981 XIV Deaflympics (aka "World Games for the Deaf" and "World Deaf Olympics") in Cologne, Germany. After that he worked for the Veterans Administration Hospital in Durham. Stanley, his other brother, served over 10 years (1981–1991) of a 20-year sentence for armed robbery at Central Prison in Raleigh.
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Rodrick Rhodes
Rodrick Rhodes (born September 24, 1973, in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Houston Rockets in the 1st round (24th overall) of the 1997 NBA Draft.
As a prep player, Rhodes was a superstar from the time he was a freshman. He was a three time Parade All-American, and helped Jersey City's St. Anthony High School, led by Coach Bob Hurley win two state titles in 1989 and 1991. At one point, was considered the equal of future NBA star Jason Kidd.
He played collegiately at the University of Kentucky for three years. He transferred to the University of Southern California for his senior year. Kentucky coach Rick Pitino asked Rhodes to redshirt after his junior year, which is highly unusual and was seen by many including Rhodes' high school coach Bob Hurley as a way to force Rhodes out. Kentucky landed star recruit Ron Mercer, considered by many experts as arguably the top prep senior in his class (along with Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury), and some feel this may be what led to Pitino asking for Rhodes to redshirt.
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Roger Bannister
Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister, CBE (born 23 March 1929) is an English former athlete best known for running the first mile in less than 4 minutes. Bannister became a distinguished neurologist and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, before retiring in 2001.
Sir Roger was the inaugural recipient of the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award in January 1955 (1954 Sportsman of the Year).
Roger Bannister was born in Harrow, England. He went to Vaughan Primary school in Harrow before going on to be educated at Beechen Cliff School Bath, University College School, London, Exeter College and Merton College, Oxford, and at St Mary's Hospital Medical School (now part of Imperial College London).
Bannister was inspired by miler Sydney Wooderson's remarkable comeback in 1945. Eight years after setting the mile record and seeing it surpassed during the war years by the great Swedish runners Arne Andersson and Gunder Hägg, Wooderson regained his old form and challenged Andersson over the distance in several races. Wooderson lost to Andersson but set a British record of 4:04.2 in Göteborg on 9 September.
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Roman Gabriel
Roman Ildonzo Gabriel, Jr. (born August 5, 1940 in Wilmington, North Carolina) is a former American football player. The son of a Filipino immigrant, he was the first Asian-American to start as an NFL quarterback and is considered by many to have been one of the best players at that position during the late 1960s and early 70s.
Gabriel attended and played high school football at New Hanover High School in Wilmington, North Carolina. He went on to star for the North Carolina State football team, and played professionally for the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles.
A two-time All-American and two-time ACC Player of the Year (1960–61), Gabriel starred at quarterback for North Carolina State University in the early 1960s and finished his career holding virtually every Wolfpack passing record. An academic All-American, Gabriel saw his jersey retired and presented to him by North Carolina governor Terry Sanford on Jan. 20, 1962, at half-time of an NC State-Maryland basketball game in Reynolds Coliseum. As captain of his team, Gabriel set 22 school and nine conference football records. He threw for 2,961 yards and 19 touchdowns.
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Ron Mercer
Ronald (Ron) Eugene Mercer (born May 18, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player. After his career at the University of Kentucky, Mercer played for several teams in the National Basketball Association; he ended his career with the New Jersey Nets in 2005.
Ron Mercer was twice named "Mr. Basketball" of Tennessee while at Goodpasture Christian School in Madison, Tennessee. He then transferred to Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, and was rated by Bob Gibbons to be the best prep player of the class of 1995, over Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter, Antwan Jamison and Stephon Marbury.
Mercer had a very successful collegiate career, having been an All-American and all-Southeastern Conference player at Kentucky, and part of a national championship team in his freshman year. He was selected with the 6th overall pick of the 1997 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics and was reunited with fellow Kentucky teammate Antoine Walker, and Rick Pitino, his coach at Kentucky who had just become the coach of the Celtics. Prior to Mercer's drafting, Pitino was recorded as saying that he did not envisage Mercer as having the necessary talent to be selected very high. Some felt this was just a ploy to scare the other teams away from him so as to increase the likelihood of Mercer being available by the time the Celtics got an opportunity to make their draft selection.
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Ronnie Shavlik
Ronald Dean "Ronnie" Shavlik (December 4, 1933 – June 27, 1983) was an All-American center for the North Carolina State Wolfpack in the 1950s. He later played briefly for the National Basketball Association's New York Knicks. His grandson, Ronald Shavlik Randolph, played college basketball for Duke University and played professionally in the NBA.
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Rory Sparrow
Rory Darnell Sparrow (born June 12, 1958, in Suffolk, Virginia) is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA.
Sparrow played at Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey, and was an inaugual inductee into the school's Hall of Fame.
He played collegiately at Villanova University, where he scored 1183 career points, and made 495 assists. In college, Sparrow made game-winning shots in the last ten seconds of the game on five occasions.
Sparrow, a 6'2" guard, was selected 75th overall (round 4, pick 6) of the 1980 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets. Including the Nets, he played with the Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers over a 12-year career, retiring after the 1991-92 season. He scored the first field goal in Miami Heat history, when the franchise was created in 1988.
Throughout his 12-year career Rory Sparrow was known as one of the steadiest guards in the NBA. He had his best years with the Atlanta Hawks and the New York Knicks in the early 1980s, then went on to become a charter member of the expansion Miami Heat. In addition to his on-court success, Sparrow earned equal recognition for his tireless efforts in the community. In 1987 he was one of eight charitable athletes honored by Sports Illustrated as co-Sportsman of the Year.
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Ryan Perryman
Ryan Perryman (born 1977) is a retired American expatriate basketball player who spent playing professionally in Hungary, South Korea, Chile, the Dominican Republic and Argentina. He is best remembered, however, for his collegiate career at the University of Dayton between 1994–95 and 1997–98. Perryman played for the Flyers after attending Oak Park High School in Oak Park, Michigan. During his four year career, the 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), 228-pound power forward compiled 1,524 points and 1,156 rebounds. As a senior in 1997–98, Perryman led NCAA Division I in rebounding with a 12.5 per game average. He holds the school records for rebounds in a game (23) and offensive rebounds in a season (166).
Perryman did not get selected in the NBA Draft and spent his first year out of college as a teacher in Michigan before becoming a professional basketball player. He had the most success while playing for Argentino de Junín in Buenos Aires. He led the Argentine league in rebounding every single season he was there and even developed a cult following among the team's fans.
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Sam Pellom
Samual Troy (Sam) Pellom (born October 2, 1951 in Wilmington, North Carolina) is a retired American basketball player. The 6'9" forward-center played professionally for the Atlanta Hawks and the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA and played college basketball at the University at Buffalo, and to date the only player that ever played in the NBA for that university's basketball team. Pellom also played for the Washington Generals, the team that plays the Harlem Globetrotters.
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Sam Perkins
Samuel Perkins (born June 14, 1961) is a retired American professional basketball player, also known by the nicknames "Sleepy Sam" and "Big Smooth." He attended Samuel J. Tilden High School, Shaker High School and the University of North Carolina, where he was a teammate of Michael Jordan. He then played in the NBA from 1984 to 2001.
In 1980, he was selected large-school player of the year in high school by the New York State Sportswriters Association.
In 2008, Perkins was named vice president of player relations for the Indiana Pacers, with whom he played from 1999-2001.
In September 2008, Perkins was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame along with NBA stars Kenny Anderson and Rod Strickland, coach Pete Gillen and pioneers Lou Bender and Eddie Younger.
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Sammy Sosa
Samuel Peralta "Sammy" Sosa (born November 12, 1968) is a Dominican former professional baseball right fielder. Sosa played with four Major League Baseball teams over his career which spanned from 1989-2007.
Sosa's Major League career began with the Texas Rangers in 1989. After three seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Sosa became a member of the Chicago Cubs in 1992 and subsequently became one of the league's best hitters. In 1998, Sosa and Mark McGwire achieved national fame for their home run-hitting prowess in pursuit of Roger Maris' home run record. Sosa finished his career with brief stints with the Baltimore Orioles and the Texas Rangers. With the Rangers, Sosa hit his 600th career home run to become the fifth player in MLB history to reach the milestone. He is also the all-time home run leader among foreign-born MLB players. Furthermore, Sosa is one of only two National League Players to ever reach 160 RBI in a season, a milestone he reached in 2001. The other was Cubs player and RBI Champion Hack Wilson during his record setting 1930 season in which he recorded 191 RBI. Sosa is the only player to have hit 60 or more home runs in a single season three times.
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Sandy Koufax
Sanford "Sandy" Koufax ( /ˈkoʊfæks/; born Sanford Braun, December 30, 1935) is an American former left-handed baseball pitcher who played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers (1955–1966). Retiring at the peak of his career, in 1972 he became, at age 36 and 20 days, the youngest player ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame .
Koufax's career peaked with a run of six outstanding seasons from 1961 to 1966, before arthritis in his left elbow ended his career prematurely at age 30. He was named the National League's Most Valuable Player in 1963. He also won the 1963, 1965, and 1966 Cy Young Awards by unanimous votes, making him the first 3-time Cy Young winner in baseball history and the only one to win 3 times when the award was for all of baseball, not just one league. In each of his Cy Young seasons, Koufax won the pitcher's triple crown by leading the NL in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average. Koufax's totals would also have led the American League in those seasons.
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Scot Pollard
Scot L. Pollard (born February 12, 1975) is a retired American professional basketball player. In an eleven-year NBA career, he played for five teams, spending the bulk of his career with the Sacramento Kings and the Indiana Pacers. Pollard was known both for his defensive play and his unique hairstyles.
Pollard was born in Murray, Utah, and grew up in San Diego and Kennewick, Washington. He attended the University of Kansas and was the 19th pick of the 1997 NBA Draft, selected by the Detroit Pistons. For every season except his first and last, Pollard appeared in the NBA Playoffs including in the 2007 NBA Finals with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He won a championship in his final season (2007–08) with the Boston Celtics.
Pollard was one of six children in a devout Mormon family, but Pollard never practiced the religion. His father, Pearl Pollard, played basketball at the University of Utah and died when Scot was 16. For three years, he played high school basketball at Torrey Pines High School in San Diego before moving to Kennewick, Washington to play for Kamiakin High School most of his senior year.Parade magazine named Pollard a high school All-American in 1993. He eventually graduated from Torrey Pines and attended the University of Kansas, where he graduated in 1997 with a degree in education. While playing NCAA basketball, Pollard finished sixth in Jayhawks history among free throw shooters with 358, fourth in rebounds with 850, and second in blocked shots with 218.
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Scott May
Scott Glenn May (born March 19, 1954 in Sandusky, Ohio) is a retired American professional basketball player.
Scott May played as a 6'7" forward for Bob Knight and the Indiana University Hoosiers from 1972-1976. He began with a rocky start after being declared academically ineligible his freshman year. As a sophomore he began to feel more confident in his studies, and the future championship nucleus of May, Kent Benson, Quinn Buckner and Bob Wilkerson started to gel. "Our group knew what we wanted. We were going to do whatever it took to win it all."
In his last two seasons with the school, 1974-75 and 1975-76, the Hoosiers were undefeated in the regular season and won 37-consecutive Big Ten games. The 1974-75 Hoosiers swept the entire Big Ten by an average of 22.8 points per game. However, in a 83-82 win against Purdue, May broke his left arm. With May's injury keeping him to 7 minutes of play, the No. 1 Hoosiers lost to Kentucky 92-90 in the Mideast Regional. The Hoosiers were so dominant that four starters - May, Steve Green, Kent Benson and Quinn Buckner - would make the five-man All-Big Ten team. The following season, 1975–76, the Hoosiers went the entire season and 1976 NCAA tournament without a single loss, beating Michigan 86–68 in the title game. Indiana remains the last school to accomplish this feat.
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Scottie Pippen
Scottie Pippen (born September 25, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association. He is most remembered for his time with the Chicago Bulls, with whom he was instrumental in 6 NBA titles and their record 1995–96 season of 72 wins. Pippen, along with Michael Jordan, played an important role in transforming the Bulls team into a vehicle for popularizing the NBA around the world during the 1990s.
Considered one of the best small forwards of all time, Pippen was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team 8 straight times and the All-NBA First Team three times. He was a seven-time NBA All-Star and was the NBA All-Star Game MVP in 1994. He was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History during the 1996–97 season, and is one of four players to have his jersey retired by the Chicago Bulls (the others being Jerry Sloan, Bob Love, and Michael Jordan). During his seventeen-year career, he played twelve seasons with the Bulls, one with the Houston Rockets and four with the Portland Trail Blazers, making the postseason sixteen straight times. Pippen is also the only person to have won an NBA title and Olympic gold medal in the same year twice (1992, 1996). Pippen was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on August 13, 2010.
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Sean Elliott
Sean Michael Elliott (born February 2, 1968) is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA.
Elliott was born in Tucson, Arizona and was youngest of three boys. He was a very intelligent boy growing up and attended the G.A.T.E. (Gifted and Talented Education) program at Tolson Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona. He played high school basketball at Cholla High School (now Cholla High Magnet School) on Tucson's west side, and after graduating in 1985, remained in Tucson to play college basketball at the University of Arizona. Under the tutelage of Lute Olson, Elliott was selected as a consensus all-American during his junior and senior years, and led the Wildcats to the Final Four in his junior year (1988). After an exceptional senior season, Elliott won the Wooden Award. He is still the University of Arizona's all-time leading scorer.
He played for the US national team in the 1986 FIBA World Championship, winning the gold medal.
Elliott was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 1989 NBA Draft under Coach Larry Brown, and spent the majority of his career with the Spurs. Elliott spent the 1993–94 season with the Detroit Pistons. Elliott scored a career-high 41 points against the Dallas Mavericks on December 18, 1992.
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Sean Marks
Sean Andrew Marks (born 23 August 1975 in Auckland) is a retired New Zealand-American professional basketball player. He was the first native New Zealander to play in the NBA.
After attending Rangitoto College in Auckland, he moved to the United States in 1992 to play for the University of California, where he majored in political science, graduating with a BA degree in 1998.
He was drafted 44th overall in the 1998 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks and went on to represent the Toronto Raptors, Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs.
In 2000–01, he started the season with Śląsk Wrocław of Poland, and in December 2000 had an unsuccessful 10-day contract (0 games) with the Seattle SuperSonics, returning to his Polish team until the season ended. In 2003–04, while with the Spurs, he did not play a single second due to patella tendinitis.
In the next season while playing for the Spurs he had 10 minutes per game and scored an average of 3 points and 2 rebounds. That year the Spurs won the NBA championship by defeating the Detroit Pistons in 7 games.
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Sean May
Sean Gregory May (born April 4, 1984) is an American professional basketball player currently playing for Sutor Basket Montegranaro in Italy. He was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in Bloomington, Indiana. He was a three-time all-state selection at Bloomington High School North, and was at one time a teammate of current NBA player Jared Jeffries. May was named to the 2002 McDonald's High School All-American team. He played in the 2002 McDonald's game with Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants, who would later team with May to win an NCAA Championship.
When the heavily-recruited May chose to attend North Carolina, it was a major surprise to most basketball recruiting observers; it had been thought that he would stay in his hometown and play for the Indiana University Hoosiers. He had strong family connections to IU; his father Scott was a forward on the school's undefeated 1975–76 NCAA championship team and won the Naismith Award the same year, and his brother Scott Jr. played for the Indiana basketball team that made the NCAA title game in 2002.
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Serge Zwikker
Serge Zwikker (born April 28, 1973 in Maassluis, Netherlands) is a Dutch-American basketball player. His nephew is Christopher Johnatan Uhl. Serge came to the United States and played high school basketball for legendary coach Stu Vetter, at Flint Hill Prep and then Harker Prep. Zwikker played four years of college basketball for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under coach Dean Smith. Though he saw limited playing time his first two years, relieving starter Rasheed Wallace from the bench, the game of Zwikker's college career came March 17, 1995 against Murray State University. Plagued by an ankle injury, Wallace scored only six points before Smith benched Wallace for good, three minutes into the second half. Zwikker finished with 19 points (including 7 of 8 free throws) as he and Jerry Stackhouse led the Tar Heels to a 80-70 win. Zwikker became the Tar Heels' starting center following Wallace's departure in the 1995 NBA Draft.
Zwikker was selected by the Houston Rockets with the first pick of the second round (30th overall) in the 1997 NBA Draft, and spent one season on the Rockets' bench. To date, he has not recorded minutes in a single NBA game.
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Shane Battier
Shane Courtney Battier (born September 9, 1978) is an American professional basketball player. He currently plays with the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association. He has also been a member of the U.S. national team.
Battier was born and raised in Birmingham, Michigan, and attended Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills, Michigan, where he won many awards including 1997 "Mr. Basketball of Michigan." He went on to play four years of college basketball at Duke, where he captured the 2001 National Championship and swept the major National Player of the Year awards. Battier was selected with the sixth overall pick of the 2001 NBA Draft by the Vancouver Grizzlies and was traded five years later to the Houston Rockets. He was then traded back to the Memphis Grizzles during the 2010-2011 NBA season. His number has been retired by both Detroit Country Day School and Duke University. He is widely known for his aggressive defense and being able to guard the league's best players.
Battier was an outlier from his childhood; by the time he entered Country Day as a seventh-grader, he was already 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m), and was 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) a year later. He was also the only child in the school with a black father and a white mother. As Michael Lewis put it in a 2009 article, the young Battier "was shuttling between a black world that treated him as white and a white world that treated him as black." More specifically in the context of basketball, Lewis noted that "the inner-city kids with whom he played on the A.A.U. circuit treated Battier like a suburban kid with a white game, and the suburban kids he played with during the regular season treated him like a visitor from the planet where they kept the black people." Battier also noted that his cerebral approach to the game was forged from that time:
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Shawn Marion
Shawn Dwayne Marion (born May 7, 1978) is an American professional basketball player currently with the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. Born in Waukegan, Illinois, Marion attended high school in Clarksville, Tennessee. Before transferring to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Marion attended the junior college Vincennes University for two years. In 1999, the Phoenix Suns drafted Marion, who was the ninth overall pick and would remain with the Suns until midway through the 2007-2008 season. The Suns traded Marion to the Miami Heat, and Marion joined the Toronto Raptors for the 2008-2009 season. Marion joined the Dallas Mavericks in 2009 and was the team's starting small forward when the Mavericks won the NBA Championship in June, 2011.
Nicknamed "The Matrix" by TNT analyst Kenny Smith during the pre-season of his rookie year for his seemingly bionic athleticism, he is widely regarded as one of the most versatile players in the league thanks to his athleticism and ability to play and defend many positions.
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Shawn Respert
Shawn Christopher Respert (born February 6, 1972 in Detroit, Michigan) is a retired American professional basketball player who currently works as a player development coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves. A 6'1", 195 lb. shooting guard, he attended Bishop Borgess High School, and he came to prominence while playing college basketball at Michigan State University where his jersey is now retired. He played professionally in the NBA for four seasons from 1995 to 1999.
Respert was a standout at Michigan State. He and point guard Eric Snow combined to form one of the nation's most prolific backcourt tandems for head coach Jud Heathcote's Spartans. He was a unanimous first team All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year with a 25.6 scoring average during his senior season.
Respert was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1st round, with the 8th overall pick, of the 1995 NBA Draft. The Blazers traded his NBA rights to the Milwaukee Bucks for the rights to Gary Trent and a first-round pick. Respert was traded to Toronto in his second year, where he scored 5.6 points a game. He next played briefly in Dallas the next season and then had a second stint with the Raptors. Respert finished his career in Phoenix during the 1998-99 season. He was under contract with Los Angeles Lakers for a brief period in October 2000 but was waived before playing in any NBA games for them. In his NBA career, Respert played in 172 games and scored a total of 851 points on averages of 4.9 points in 13.7 minutes per game.
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Shelden Williams
Shelden DeMar Williams (born October 21, 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Brooklyn Nets. He played college basketball at Duke University, where his #23 jersey was retired on January 28, 2007.
His size (6'9", 250 lbs), aggressive style of play, and shot-blocking ability earned him the nickname "The Landlord." During high school, Williams was a member of the National Honor Society and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He earned the 2005 and 2006 NABC Defensive Player of the Year Awards while at Duke, becoming only the fifth player in history to earn the award two consecutive years. He holds Duke's career blocks record, single-season blocks record, and career rebounding record, while he is 17th in career blocks on the NCAA charts. He is the third player in ACC history to have 1,500 points, 1,000 rebounds and 350 blocks (joining Tim Duncan and Ralph Sampson). His 1,217 rebounds and 1,859 career points rank him seventh in ACC history and sixteenth in Duke history, respectively. Williams became only the third Duke basketball player to record a triple-double when Duke defeated Maryland on January 11, 2006, recording 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks.
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Sidney Wicks
Sidney Wicks (born September 19, 1949) is a retired American basketball player. A native of California, he played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins and played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1971 to 1981. In the NBA he played for the Portland Trail Blazers, Boston Celtics, and San Diego Clippers, earning NBA Rookie of the Year in 1972 as well as four all-star selections.
Sidney Wicks was born in Los Angeles, California, on September 19, 1949. He attended Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, but because of non-qualifying grades in high school, he had to attend Santa Monica College for a year until he could go to his preferred university, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Wicks later earned Academic All-America honors at UCLA in 1971.[citation needed] He earned a degree in sociology from the school.
A 6'8" power forward/center, Wicks was a phenom at UCLA, playing on three straight NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championships from 1969 to 1971, the Bruins' star player on the latter two, being named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in 1970, Helms National Co-Player of the Year (1970) USBWA and Sporting News Player of the Year (1971) and two-time consensus All-American in 1970 and 1971. On Feb 1, 1996, his jersey #35 was retired in a halftime ceremony at UCLA's home court, Pauley Pavilion. Wicks was an 1985 inductee into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame and in 2010, was selected to the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
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Sihugo Green
Sihugo "Si" Green (August 20, 1933 – October 4, 1980) was an American professional basketball player who was born in New York City, New York.
A 6'2" guard-forward from Duquesne University, Green was selected by the Rochester Royals with the first pick of the 1956 NBA Draft, ahead of Bill Russell. He played nine seasons in the league with four teams and scored 4,636 career points.
Green died of cancer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 14 years after playing his last NBA game.
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Speedy Claxton
Craig "Speedy" Claxton (born May 8, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. He is now a college scout with the Golden State Warriors.
Prior to the NBA, Claxton played at Hofstra University, where he played under current Villanova University coach Jay Wright. At Hofstra, Claxton led the Flying Dutchmen to the America East Championship defeating the University of Delaware in the championship game at Hofstra Arena. The Flying Dutchmen reached the 2000 NCAA Tournament, where they were defeated in the first round by an Oklahoma State team led by Desmond Mason, Claxton's future teammate with the Hornets.
Claxton donated money to help build the 5000-seat arena in which the Hofstra team plays, and his number 10 was retired by Hofstra on January 31, 2009.
Claxton was inducted into the Hofstra Hall of Fame on January 29, 2011.
Claxton was drafted in 2000, 20th overall, by the Philadelphia 76ers. His rookie scale contract was worth four years and $4.68 million; he opted out of the fourth year to become a free agent.
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Spencer Haywood
Spencer Haywood (born April 22, 1949) is a retired American professional basketball player.
In 1964, Haywood moved to Detroit, Michigan. In 1967, while attending Pershing High School, Haywood led the school's basketball team to the state championship.
Haywood attended Trinidad State Junior College in Trinidad, Colorado during the 1967-68 college season, where he averaged 28.2 points and 22.1 rebounds per game. Due to his exceptional performance and talent, Haywood made the USA Olympic Basketball team in 1968. Haywood was the leading scorer on the USA's gold medal winning basketball team during the 1968 Olympics at 16.1 points per game, and he set a USA field goal percentage record of .719.
Haywood transferred to the University of Detroit later that year, and led the NCAA in rebounding with a 21.5 average per game while scoring 32.1 points per game during the 1968-69 season. He decided to turn pro after his sophomore year, but National Basketball Association (NBA) rules, which then required a player to wait until his class graduated, prohibited him from entering the league. As a result, he joined the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball Association (ABA).
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Stacey Augmon
Stacey Orlando Augmon (born August 1, 1968 in Pasadena, California) is a retired American professional basketball player, formerly in the NBA. He gained the nickname "Plastic Man" due to his athletic ability to "stretch". He is currently an assistant coach at his alma mater UNLV under Dave Rice.
Augmon played college basketball for four years at UNLV and won the 1990 NCAA Championship with them. Augmon was the first three-time winner of the NABC Defensive Player of the Year, winning the award in 1989, 1990, and 1991. He is a class of 2002 member of the UNLV Athletic Hall of Fame along with teammates Greg Anthony and Larry Johnson.
Augmon was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks with the ninth pick of the 1991 NBA Draft. Upon Augmon being chosen, Bill Walton famously said "Russell begat Kareem, Kareem begat Magic, and so Magic has begat the Plastic Man." He was the first player in the top ten draft picks to work out a deal, a 5-year contract worth between 6.5 and 7 million dollars. Augmon has played for the Hawks, the Detroit Pistons, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets, and the Magic. He holds a scoring average of 8.0 points per game throughout his career.
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Stacey King
Ronald Stacey King (born January 29, 1967 in Lawton, Oklahoma, U.S.) is an American former NBA center who won three consecutive championships with the Chicago Bulls from 1991 to 1993.
After a stand-out career at the University of Oklahoma, King was selected by the Bulls in the 1989 NBA Draft with the sixth pick. He was one of three first round picks by the Bulls in that draft (the other two were B. J. Armstrong and Jeff Sanders). He played four and a half seasons in Chicago before being traded during the 1993-94 campaign to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for 7'2" Australian-born center Luc Longley. He was last active during the 1996-97 season while playing a handful of games for both the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics.
King was named the head coach of the CBA's Rockford Lightning in 2001. The team reached the CBA championship game in 2002 with King as coach.
King began his career with CSN Chicago as a studio analyst for pre and post game shows for the Chicago Bulls. He filled in as a third commentator during the 2006 playoffs joining Johnny "Red" Kerr, and Tom Dore. He was permanently added during the 2007 season.
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Stan Musial
Stanley Frank "Stan" Musial ( /ˈmjuːziəl/ or /ˈmjuːʒəl/; born November 21, 1920) is a retired professional baseball player who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1941–1963). Nicknamed "Stan the Man", Musial was a record 24-time All-Star selection (tied with Willie Mays), and is widely considered to be one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. He compiled 3,630 hits (ranking fourth all-time and most in a career spent with only one team). With 1,815 hits at home and 1,815 on the road, he is also considered to be the most consistent hitter of his era. He also compiled 475 home runs during his career, was named the National League's (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times, and won three World Series championship titles. Musial was a first-ballot inductee to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969 and is currently the longest tenured living Hall of Famer.
Musial was born in Donora, Pennsylvania, where he frequently played baseball in both informal and organized settings, eventually playing on the baseball team at Donora High School. Signed to a professional contract by the St. Louis Cardinals as a pitcher in 1938, Musial was converted into an outfielder prior to his major league debut in 1941. Noted for his unique batting stance, he quickly established himself as a consistent and productive hitter. In his first full season, 1942, the Cardinals won the World Series. The following year, he led the National League in six different offensive categories and earned his first MVP award. He was also named an All-Star for the first time; he would be selected to every All-Star Game in every subsequent season he played. Musial won his second World Series ring in 1944, then missed the entire 1945 season while serving with the United States Navy.
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Stephen Jackson
Stephen Jesse Jackson (born April 5, 1978) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Jackson is a 6'8" guard-forward.
Jackson was born in Houston and grew up in Port Arthur, Texas. When growing up, Jackson worked in his grandfather's soul food restaurant in Port Arthur, Texas where he used to wash dishes and bus tables. At the age of 14, Jackson saw his half-brother Donald die, at age 25. Following the violent tragedy, Jackson said that he wished he could have been there to assist and protect a member of his family. "You can't tell me seeing his brother die that way hasn't had an effect," recalls Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh. "To me, it's why he is always coming to the help of his teammates."
He prepped at Lincoln High School in Port Arthur before transferring to Oak Hill Academy (Virginia) where he earned All-America honors in 1996. He was the leading scorer in the 1996 McDonald's All-American game, on a team that included Kobe Bryant, Jermaine O'Neal and Tim Thomas. Following a commitment to join the University of Arizona, Jackson was ruled academically ineligible. He attended Butler Community College.
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Stephon Marbury
Stephon Xavier Marbury (born February 20, 1977) is an American professional basketball player, currently playing for the Beijing Ducks in China. He won a championship with the Ducks in 2012.
The 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), 205 lb (93 kg; 14.6 st) point guard was selected out of the Georgia Institute of Technology by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 4th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, but was traded shortly thereafter to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
He was an NBA All-Star in 2001 and 2003 and was voted into the All-NBA Third Team in 2000 and 2003.
Marbury has often gone by the nickname "Starbury", a name created during his youth. Marbury, the sixth of seven children, was born and raised in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. He attended elementary school PS 238. During his teenage years, he starred at NYC powerhouse Abraham Lincoln High School, After his senior year Marbury was named New York State Mr. Basketball. He was often heralded as the next great NYC point guard, expected to follow the success of NBA stand-outs Mark Jackson and Kenny Anderson.
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Steve Cauthen
Steve Cauthen (born May 1, 1960) is a retired American jockey.
Cauthen, the son of a trainer and a farrier, grew up in Walton, Kentucky around horses, which (along with his small size) made race-riding a logical career choice. He rode his first race on May 12, 1976 at Churchill Downs; he finished last, riding King of Swat. He rode his first winner (Red Pipe) less than a week later, at River Downs. His rise to prominence was meteoric; he was the nation's leader in race wins in 1977 with 487. In only his second year of riding, he became the first jockey to win $6 million in a single season, passing that mark in December 1977 on a three-year-old filly called Little Happiness in the sixth race at Aqueduct Racetrack. After that, he was called "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "Stevie Wonder."
In 1977, he won numerous awards, including Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, Sporting News Sportsman of the Year, Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year. In the same year, he won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey and the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in the United States.
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Steve Francis
Steven D'Shawn Francis (born February 21, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who last played for the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association. He had also played for the Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic, and New York Knicks. Nicknamed "Stevie Franchise" and self-described as "Steve-O", he was known early in his career for his crossover dribble, driving ability, and flashy dunks.
Francis grew up in Takoma Park, Maryland. He was nicknamed "Wink" as a child. After his mother died of cancer in 1995, his grandmother raised him. He stopped playing basketball for two years after his mother's death.
Francis attended the San Jacinto College of Texas in 1996–97, and the Allegany College of Maryland in 1997–98. Francis became the first player to take two unbeaten teams into the National Junior College Tournament.
Francis transferred to the University of Maryland in 1998 for his junior season. The addition of Francis helped propel the Terrapins to a #5 preseason ranking. Francis made an instant impact as Maryland's starting shooting guard, scoring 17 points in the season opener against Western Carolina. Francis and the Terps gained national attention with impressive showings in the Puerto Rico Shootout and a 62–60 win over #5 Stanford in the BB&T Classic. The Terps climbed to a #2 national ranking by early December.
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Steve Kerr
Stephen Douglas "Steve" Kerr (born September 27, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player. He shot .454 from 3-point range over his career and currently holds the record as the most accurate 3-point shooter in NBA history. Kerr is a 5-time NBA champion, winning 3 straight championships with the Chicago Bulls from 1996–98 and 2 with the San Antonio Spurs in 1999 and 2003. He and Frank Saul are the only two players in NBA history who won two championships with two different teams in consecutive seasons.
On June 2, 2007, the Phoenix Suns named Kerr the team's President of Basketball Operations and General Manager. Kerr helped Managing Partner Robert Sarver buy the Suns in 2004 and became one of Sarver's trusted basketball advisors. Kerr announced his retirement from the Suns in June 2010.
The son of Malcolm Kerr, an American academic who specialized in the Middle East, Kerr spent much of his childhood in Lebanon and other Arab states. He attended Cairo American College in Egypt and Palisades High School (now Palisades Charter High School) in Pacific Palisades, California. On January 18, 1984, Malcolm, who was then serving as president of the American University of Beirut, was assassinated by suspected militant nationalists in Beirut.
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Steve Nash
Stephen John "Steve" Nash, OC, OBC (born 7 February 1974) is a South African-born Canadian professional basketball player who plays point guard for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nash enjoyed a successful high-school basketball career, and he was eventually given a scholarship by Santa Clara University. In his four seasons with the Broncos, the team made three NCAA Tournament appearances, and Nash was twice named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year.
After graduating from Santa Clara as the team's all-time leader in assists, Nash entered the 1996 NBA Draft and was selected as the 15th pick by the Phoenix Suns. He made a minimal impact, and was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 1998. By his third season with the Mavericks, he was voted into his first NBA All-Star Game and had earned his first All-NBA selection. Together with Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley, Nash led the Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals the following season. However, he became a free agent after the 2003–04 season and returned to the Phoenix Suns.
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Steve Vacendak
Steve Vacendak (born August 15, 1944) is a former basketball player and coach of college basketball. He originally came from Scranton, Pennsylvania and was recruited by Vic Bubas to play as a guard for the Duke University men's basketball team. As a guard for the team he led Duke to a 72–14 record and two Final Four appearances during his three-year varsity career. In 1966 he was captain of his basketball team, ACC Player of the Year, and on the All-ACC Tournament team. Oddly enough, Vacendak was named player of the year but was not named to the All-ACC team in 1966.
After graduating from Duke University, he played professional basketball for the American Basketball Association and later joined the sales staff at Converse Rubber Company. In 1980, he went back to work at Duke as an associate athletic director for five years. After working at Duke, he became the director of athletics and head basketball coach at Winthrop College in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Following his stint at Winthrop, Vacendak spent three years working at Homeowners Clubs of America, a franchising company in Charlotte, North Carolina. He later became a partner in Damon's Restaurant in Raleigh, N.C., a position which ultimately (through a customer at Damon's) connected him with the organization with which he has been involved ever since: N.C. Beautiful.
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Steve Wojciechowski
Steve "Wojo" Wojciechowski (born August 11, 1976) is an American basketball coach and former player of Polish origin. He played at Duke University from 1994 until 1998 where he was the team's point guard. He currently is an associate head coach at Duke under head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Wojciechowski is a 1994 graduate of the Cardinal Gibbons School in Baltimore, MD, where he played under legendary Baltimore Catholic League Head Coach Ray Mullis and was named to the East squad of the 1994 McDonald's All-American Team, playing alongside 1994 High School Player of the Year Felipe López, and against future Duke teammates Trajan Langdon and Ricky Price.
During Wojciechowski's career, the Duke Blue Devils achieved an 87-44 record, won the ACC regular season championship in the 1996-97 season, and played in the NCAA South Regional final in the 1997-98 season. During his senior year, Wojciechowski earned NABC Defensive Player of the Year honors, and was an honorable mention All-American.
He is ranked eighth at Duke for career steals (203) and eighth for career assists (505). He also achieved the second highest number of steals in a single season with 82 in 1997.
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Sugar Ray Leonard
Sugar Ray Leonard (born May 17, 1956) is an American retired professional boxer and occasional actor. He was named Ray Charles Leonard, after his mother's favorite singer, Ray Charles. Leonard was the first boxer to earn more than $100 million in purses, won world titles in five weight divisions and defeated future fellow International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Wilfred Benítez, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Durán and Marvin Hagler. Leonard was named "Boxer of the Decade" for the 1980s.
Leonard, the fifth of seven children, was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina to Cicero and Getha Leonard. He grew up in Wilmington, N.C. When he was three, the family moved to Washington, D.C. When he was ten, they settled permanently in Palmer Park, Maryland. His father worked as a supermarket night manager, his mother was a nurse.
Leonard was a shy child, and aside from the time he nearly drowned in a creek during a Seat Pleasant flood, his childhood was uneventful. He stayed home a lot, reading comic books and playing with his dog. "He never did talk too much," his mother said. "We never could tell what he was thinking. But I never had any problems with him. I never had to go to school once because of him."
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Terry Baker
For the Canadian football player of the same name see Terry Baker (Canadian football).
Terry Wayne Baker (born May 5, 1941) is a former quarterback for the Oregon State University football team. He played for them through the 1960-1962 seasons. He is most notable for winning the 1962 Heisman Trophy and playing the Final Four in the NCAA Basketball Tournament in the same school year. To date, he is the only person to have both won a Heisman Trophy and played in the Final Four.
Baker was born May 5, 1941 in Pine River, Minnesota. He attended Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon and was a standout three-sport athlete for the Democrats.
Baker was a three-year letterwinner in basketball, and led the Democrats to the Portland Interscholastic League city championship his senior year.
Baker was also a great baseball player. He earned a letter all four years of high school in baseball and led his team to the 1959 Oregon School Activities Association state championship.
Football, however, was Baker's most dominant sport. Baker played quarterback and tailback for the Democrats. In his junior and senior seasons, the Democrats were 23-0 and won two Oregon State Athletic Association state championships. As a senior, he threw for 1,261 yards and ran for 438 yards.
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Terry Bradshaw
Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is a former American football quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). He is currently a TV analyst and co-host of Fox NFL Sunday. He played 14 seasons with Pittsburgh, won four Super Bowl titles in a six-year period (1974, 1975, 1978 and 1979), becoming the first quarterback to win three and four Super Bowls, and led the Steelers to eight AFC Central championships. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989, his first year of eligibility.
A tough competitor, Bradshaw had a powerful – albeit at times erratic – arm and called his own plays throughout his football career. His physical skills and on-the-field leadership played a major role in Pittsburgh Steelers history. During his career, he passed for more than 300 yards in a game only seven times, but three of those performances came in the post-season, and two of those in Super Bowls. In four career Super Bowl appearances he passed for 932 yards and 9 touchdowns, both Super Bowl records at the time of his retirement. In 19 postseason games he completed 261 passes for 3,833 yards.
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Terry Cummings
Robert Terrell "Terry" Cummings (born March 15, 1961 in Chicago, Illinois) is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association for 18 seasons as a power forward and occasional center.
A graduate of Carver High School, in Chicago, Cummings attended DePaul University from 1979 to 1982. He averaged 16.4 points per game over 85 games and entered the 1982 NBA Draft after departing from school. He was selected in the first round by the San Diego Clippers, and in his inaugural 1982-83 season, he won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award after putting up 23.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. These figures would turn out to be the highest of his career in those categories.
After the next season (1983–84), he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he would continue to post above 20 point and 8 rebound averages for four out of his five years on the team. As a Buck, Cummings was selected to play in the 1984-85 and 1988-89 NBA All-Star Games.
He was traded to the San Antonio Spurs where he would remain for six years. His scoring and rebounding averages for the 1989-90 through 1991-92 seasons were close to 20 and 8, respectively, and he helped his team to consecutive 50-win seasons and playoff appearances. By this time, he was recognized a reliable power forward in the league.
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Terry Dischinger
Terry Gilbert Dischinger (born November 21, 1940 in Terre Haute, Indiana) is a retired American basketball player in the NBA. He currently practices orthodontics.
The son of a football coach, Dischinger also earned All-State honors in football, track and basketball while attending Garfield High School in Terre Haute. He was a member of Terre Haute's 1955 Babe Ruth League world championship baseball team.
Dischinger attended Purdue University where he played basketball under head coach, Ray Eddy. In his first varsity season as a sophomore, the 6'7", 190 lb guard/forward was named a Second Team All-American, leading the Boilermakers by averaging 26.3 points and 14.3 rebounds a game. On January 9, 1960, Terry pulled down 26 rebounds against Wisconsin, the second most in a game behind Carl McNulty's school record of 27 in 1951.
During his junior season, Dischinger was named a First Team All-American and led the conference in scoring with 28.2 points and 13.4 rebounds a game. He made a single-game school record 21 free throws against Iowa on February 27, 1961.[citation needed]
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Theo Ratliff
Theophilus Curtis Ratliff (born April 17, 1973), better known as Theo Ratliff, is an American former professional basketball player who last played with the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers. Primarily a center, he was an excellent shot-blocker who has led the league three times in blocks per game. As of 2011, he is ranked 18th all-time in career blocks, and 13th all-time in career blocks per game.
Ratliff was selected with the 18th pick of the 1995 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons, for whom he played for 2½ seasons. During the 1997–98 season he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. He played in Philadelphia for three seasons, and was voted Eastern Conference starting center of the 2001 All-Star Game, but was unable to play due to injury. He was a key fixture on the 2000–01 team that made it to the NBA finals, but an injured Ratliff was dealt at the trading deadline to the Atlanta Hawks for Dikembe Mutombo.
He missed most of the next season due to injury, but rebounded to post 262 blocks the next year with the Hawks. His best year as a pro was 2003–04, when he recorded a league-leading 307 blocked shots. During that season he was dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers, along with Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Dan Dickau, for Rasheed Wallace and Wesley Person. After the 2004 season, he signed a three-year contract extension with the Blazers but was not as effective in 2004–05 and lost his starting job to Joel Przybilla midway through the schedule.
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Tiago Splitter
Tiago Splitter Beims (born January 1, 1985) is a Brazilian professional basketball player with the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also holds Spanish citizenship.
Splitter was named the MVP of the Spanish Supercup tournament in both 2006 and 2007. He was also named to the All-Euroleague First Team for the Euroleague 2007–08 season, after leading Saski Baskonia to the Euroleague Final Four. The following year, Splitter reached the Euroleague 2008–09 season playoffs, but failed to make another Euroleague Final Four participation. His performances earned him a spot on the 2008–09 All-Euroleague Second Team nevertheless. Splitter was named the Spanish League MVP in 2010. It was announced that Splitter was signed by the San Antonio Spurs on July 9, 2010, so that he could join them for the 2010-11 NBA season.
Splitter was expected to declare for the 2006 NBA Draft, but because the expensive buyout of his contract discouraged NBA teams with high draft picks from drafting him, he remained in the Spanish ACB League for that season. Splitter was automatically eligible for the 2007 NBA Draft, as he was at least 22 years of age at the time of the draft. He was selected in the first round, with the 28th draft pick overall, by the San Antonio Spurs.
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Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No. 1, he is the highest-paid professional athlete in the world, having earned an estimated US$90.5 million from winnings and endorsements in 2010.
Woods turned professional in 1996, and by April 1997 he had already won his first major, the 1997 Masters. He first reached the number one position in the world rankings in June 1997. Through the 2000s, Woods was the dominant force in golf, spending 264 weeks from August 1999 to September 2004 and 281 weeks from June 2005 to October 2010 as world number one. From December 2009 to early April 2010, Woods took leave from professional golf to focus on his marriage after he admitted infidelity. His multiple infidelities were revealed by several different women, through many worldwide media sources. This was followed by a loss of form, and his ranking gradually fell to a low of #58 in November 2011. He snapped a career-long winless streak of 107 weeks when he captured the Chevron World Challenge in December 2011. As of April 8, 2012, he is ranked #8.
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Tim Duncan
Timothy Theodore "Tim" Duncan (born April 25, 1976) is an American professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 6-foot 11-inch (2.11 m), 255-pound (116 kg)power forward/center is a four-time NBA champion, two-time NBA MVP, three-time NBA Finals MVP, and NBA Rookie of the Year. The Spurs' team captain, he is a 13 time NBA All-Star and the only player in NBA history to be selected to both All-NBA and All-Defensive Teams during each of his first 13 seasons.
Duncan started out as a swimmer and only began playing basketball in ninth grade after Hurricane Hugo destroyed the only Olympic-sized pool on his home of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. He soon became a standout for St. Dunstan's Episcopal High School, and had an illustrious college career with the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons, winning the Naismith College Player of the Year, USBWA College Player of the Year and John Wooden awards in his final year. Duncan graduated from college before entering the 1997 NBA Draft as the number one pick. His list of accomplishments, remarkable consistency, and leadership in the Spurs' NBA championship runs in 1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007 have led basketball experts to consider him to be one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history.
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Toby Kimball
Thomas "Toby" Kimball (born September 7, 1942 in Framingham, Massachusetts) is a retired American professional basketball player.
As 6'8" power forward/center at the University of Connecticut, Kimball averaged 18.4 points and 17.9 rebounds over three seasons. He played in the NBA from 1966 to 1975 as a member of the Boston Celtics, San Diego Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, Kansas City Kings, Philadelphia 76ers and New Orleans Jazz. Kimball averaged 6.1 points and 6.8 rebounds over his NBA career. His best season was his second, in which he averaged a double double (11.0 points and 11.7 rebounds).
Kimball was inducted into the University of Connecticut's "Huskies of Honor" in 2006.
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Tom Brady
Thomas Edward Patrick "Tom" Brady, Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football at Michigan, Brady was drafted by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft.
In Brady's ten seasons as a starter, the Patriots have earned trips to the Super Bowl in half of them (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLII, and XLVI), winning three of them (XXXVI, XXXVIII, and XXXIX). He has also won two Super Bowl MVP awards (XXXVI and XXXVIII), has been selected to seven Pro Bowls (and invited to eight, although he declined the 2006 invitation), and holds the NFL record for most touchdown passes in a single regular season. His career postseason record is 16–5. He also helped set the record for the longest consecutive win streak in NFL history with 21 straight wins over two seasons (2003–04), and in 2007 he led the Patriots to the first undefeated regular season since the institution of the 16-game schedule. Brady has the fourth-highest career passer rating of all time (96.4) among quarterbacks with at least 1,500 career passing attempts.
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Tom Heinsohn
Thomas William "Tom" Heinsohn (born August 26, 1934) is a retired American professional basketball player. He has been associated with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for six decades as a player, coach and broadcaster. He played for the Celtics from 1956 to 1965, and also coached the team from 1969 to 1978. He has been granted Hall of Fame Status for his success as both a player and a coach. He helped form the NBA players union. He is the only person to have the distinction of being involved in an official team capacity in each of the Celtics' 17 championships, as well as each of their 21 NBA Finals appearances. He is currently the color commentator on the Celtics' television broadcasts on CSN New England.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Heinsohn was a standout at St. Michael's High School in nearby Union City. He accepted a scholarship to Holy Cross and became the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,789 points, an average of 22.1 points per game. During his senior year, Heinsohn scored a school record 51 points in a game against Boston College.
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Tom Seaver
George Thomas "Tom" Seaver (born November 17, 1944), nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "The Franchise", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched from 1967-1986 for four different teams in his career, but is noted primarily for his time with the New York Mets. During a 20-year career, Seaver compiled 311 wins, 3,640 strikeouts, 61 shutouts and a 2.86 earned run average. In 1992, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the highest percentage ever recorded (98.84%), and has the only plaque at Cooperstown wearing a New York Mets hat. As of 2010, Tom Seaver and Gil Hodges (played for the Mets in 1962-63) are the only Met players to have their jersey numbers retired by the team (Gil Hodges' number was retired as a manager even though he also played for the Mets).
He won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1967, and three NL Cy Young Awards as the league's best pitcher. Seaver is the Mets' all-time leader in wins, and is considered by many baseball experts as one of the best starting pitchers in the history of baseball.
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Tommy Amaker
Harold Tommy Amaker (born June 6, 1965) is the current head coach of the Harvard University men's basketball team. He has also served as head basketball coach for the University of Michigan men's basketball team and at Seton Hall University. He played point guard and later served as an assistant coach at Duke University under Mike Krzyzewski. As an All-American player, he set numerous records and earned many recognitions. As an NCAA Division I college basketball coach, he took Seton Hall to the post season in each of his four seasons as their coach, helped Michigan win the National Invitation Tournament the year after a probationary ban from postseason play, and had the winningest seasons in school history in the third, fourth, and fifth season with Harvard.
As a player, he set most of the assists records and many steals records for Duke Blue Devils men's basketball. He also set the Atlantic Coast Conference single-season games played and games started records. His 40 games played and started for the 1985–86 team remained as tied but not broken conference records through the 2010–11 Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball season. His assists records were broken by subsequent Duke point guards Bobby Hurley and Steve Wojciechowski. He also held the Duke career steals record for fourteen years. In addition to single-season games records, he holds the record for career consecutive starts. Among his numerous accolades, he was the first winner of the NABC Defensive Player of the Year for his defense, and he was a third team All-American.
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Tony Battie
Demetrius Antonio Battie (born February 11, 1976) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Battie attended South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas and played college basketball for the Texas Tech Red Raiders where he ended his career as the school all-time leader in blocked shots with 162 blocks.
Battie was drafted fifth overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 1997 NBA Draft where he played one season. He then played for the Boston Celtics. He remained with the Celtics for six years before moving on to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers traded Battie to the Orlando Magic for Drew Gooden and Anderson Varejão. On June 25, 2009, he was traded to the New Jersey Nets along with Rafer Alston and Courtney Lee in exchange for Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson. In July, 2010 Battie signed a contract with Philadelphia 76ers as a free agent.
On September 25, 2000, Battie, along with his brother, saved Battie's teammate Paul Pierce by rushing him to a nearby hospital after a near-fatal stabbing.
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Tony Delk
Tony Lorenzo Delk (born January 28, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player and current assistant coach for the New Mexico State Aggies men's basketball team. He was team leader of the 1996 University of Kentucky Wildcats team that won the 1996 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. After college, he played for seven NBA teams over ten seasons.
Delk attended Haywood Junior High School and Haywood High School in Brownsville, Tennessee. During his 1992 senior year of high school, Delk was named "Mr. Basketball" in the state of Tennessee (TSSAA Class 3A Mr.Basketball 1992) and also to the Parade and McDonald's All-American Teams.
As a sophomore at Kentucky, Delk was voted All-SEC 2nd Team by the coaches and All-SEC 3rd Team by the Associated Press, while also making the All-SEC Tournament Team for his outstanding play. Delk was named to the All-SEC 1st and All-NCAA Regional teams during the 1994-95 season. In the 1995-96 season, Delk was named to the All-American and All-SEC first teams and was named NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player. He also received SEC Player of the Year honors during the season. Delk joined Omega Psi Phi Fraternity while at Kentucky.
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Tony Massenburg
Tony Arnel Massenburg (born July 31, 1967, in Sussex County, Virginia) is an American former professional basketball player. He shares an NBA record with Chucky Brown, Joe Smith, and Jim Jackson for having played with twelve different teams over his career.
Massenburg played in college for the University of Maryland from 1986 to 1990, playing under three different head coaches: Lefty Driesell, Bob Wade, and Gary Williams. He had a career field goal shooting percentage of 52.3% and averaged 12.1 points per game in his four year career with the Terrapins. In his senior season, in which he was featured on the cover of the team's handbook on an aircraft carrier, he averaged 18 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. He was one of only two players in the Atlantic Coast Conference to average double figures in both categories that season. His efforts in his senior season earned him a spot on the All-ACC Second Team.
Massenburg was initially signed by the NBA club the San Antonio Spurs in 1990, after he was chosen by the team in the second round of the 1990 NBA Draft, as the 43rd pick overall. During his first stint with the Spurs, he was able to play alongside NBA legend David Robinson. He played in 35 games with the Spurs during the 1990–91 NBA season.
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Tony Parker
William Anthony "Tony" Parker Jr. (born 17 May 1982) is a French professional basketball player with the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The son of a professional basketball player, Parker played for two years in the French basketball league before entering the 2001 NBA Draft. He was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 28th overall pick in the draft and quickly became their starting point guard, helping the Spurs win three NBA Championships in 2003, 2005 and 2007. Employing his pace and high field goal percentage to great effect, Parker has been named to four NBA All-Star games, an All-NBA Second Team, and an All-NBA Third Team. He was the 2007 NBA Finals MVP.
Parker is also a music artist with his own music album TP. He married actress Eva Longoria, best known for her role in the ABC television series Desperate Housewives, on 7 July 2007. In November 2010, both parties filed for divorce.
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Tony Waldrop
Tony Waldrop (born December 29, 1951) is an American professor, academic administrator and athlete, currently serving as the provost and executive vice president of the University of Central Florida. Waldrop is best known for setting the world indoor record (3:55.0) in the mile. He also won a gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games in the men's 1500 meters and ran the mile in 3:53.2 in the Penn relays in 1974.
Waldrop ran track for the University of North Carolina and graduated in 1974 with a degree in political science. After retiring from running he entered graduate school at UNC-Chapel Hill and earned a Ph.D. in physiology. From 2001 until becoming provost at UCF in 2010, he served as vice chancellor for research and economic development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to that he was vice chancellor for research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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Tracy McGrady
Tracy Lamar McGrady, Jr. (born May 24, 1979) is an American professional basketball player with the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA.
Entering the league after graduating from high school, McGrady eventually became a seven-time All-Star. He led the league in scoring in 2003 and 2004. He has also played for the Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic, Houston Rockets, New York Knicks, and Detroit Pistons. McGrady was ranked on SLAM Magazine's "Top 75 Players of All-Time" in 2003. McGrady's style of play has been compared to that of George Gervin.
Tracy McGrady played high school basketball at Auburndale High School in Auburndale, Florida for three years. He then transferred to Mount Zion Christian Academy, in Durham, North Carolina. McGrady created a national buzz after his performance in the Adidas ABCD Camp, where the best high school players in the U.S. are invited annually. He was named High School Player of the Year by USA Today. McGrady has stated that if he had not gone straight to the NBA from high school, he would have attended Kentucky.
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Tricia Duncan
Patricia ("Tricia") Duncan (born August 21, 1973) is a retired swimmer for the U. S. Virgin Islands who participated in the backstroke at the 1988 Summer Olympics. She finished 34th in the 100 m backstroke and 30th in 200 m backstroke. She is the older sister of NBA basketball player Tim Duncan.
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Ty Lawson
Tywon "Ty" Ronell Lawson (born November 3, 1987 in Clinton, Maryland) is an American basketball player who is currently playing for the Denver Nuggets of the NBA. Lawson was drafted as the 18th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, and was immediately traded to the Denver Nuggets for a future 1st round pick. Lawson played college basketball for the University of North Carolina from 2006 to 2009.
Lawson was named the ACC Player of the Year, the first time a point guard had won the ACC's highest honor since fellow Tar Heel Phil Ford won the award in 1978.
Lawson attended sixth and seventh grade at Gwynn Park Middle School in Prince George's County, Maryland. In the eighth grade, he was recruited to the Newport School in Kensington, MD.
Lawson attended Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland from 2003–2004. He later transferred to and graduated from Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, where he was a first team USA Today All-American. He participated in the McDonald's All-American Game, Jordan Classic and the Nike Hoop Summit. During Ty Lawson's senior year at Oak Hill Academy he averaged 23.8 points, 9.1 assists and five steals. His highest scoring game in high school was 55 points.
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Tyler Hansbrough
Andrew Tyler Hansbrough (born November 3, 1985) is an American basketball player for the Indiana Pacers. Hansbrough completed a college basketball career with the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team in 2009, and was drafted into the NBA by the Indiana Pacers with the 13th pick of the 1st round of the 2009 NBA Draft. Hansbrough was a unanimous selection for the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 Atlantic Coast Conference All Conference Team, 2006 ACC Freshman of the Year, and 2008 ACC Player of the Year. He is the ACC's all-time leading scorer. In 2008, he won the Wooden Award and was the National Player of the Year. His jersey (number 50) was retired on February 10, 2010 during a Duke-North Carolina rivalry game.
Hansbrough attended Poplar Bluff High School in Poplar Bluff, Missouri and led the Mules to consecutive Missouri state championships. (Missouri State High School Activities Association) Class 5 for the 2003–2004 and 2004–2005 seasons. In 2005, Hansbrough helped Poplar Bluff beat the then undefeated and number one team in the nation, Vashon High School. While in high school he made the Missouri All-State team twice and averaged 28.2 points and 13.4 rebounds per game as a senior. Due to his growing popularity, ESPN featured a high school game on ESPN2 in which Hansbrough's Mules were beaten 56–40 by Greg Oden and his Lawrence North High School team out of Indianapolis, IN. Hansbrough accepted an offer to play basketball for North Carolina, turning down scholarship offers to play at Duke, Florida, Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky.
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Tyler Zeller
Tyler Paul Zeller (born January 17, 1990) is an American college basketball player who is currently a senior at the University of North Carolina. He is the nephew of former NBA player Al Eberhard, brother of Indiana basketball player Cody Zeller and former Notre Dame player Luke Zeller.
Born in Visalia, California, Tyler Zeller grew up in Washington, Indiana, attending Washington High School. In his four years at Washington High, his team won four sectional titles, as well as state Class 3A championships in his freshman and senior years (2005 and 2008). In his senior year, he averaged 33.1 points and 11.0 rebounds per game, and also shot 69% from the field and 82% from the free throw line. In his final high school game, the '08 Class 3A final against Fort Wayne Harding, he scored 47 points, which broke a record for scoring by a player in an Indiana boys' state championship game that had stood since 1970. He was not only a basketball superstar, but also played on Washington High's tennis team for three years, and finished his high school career with a 3.99 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, good for third in his graduating class. After the 2008 season, he was named "Mr. Basketball" in Indiana, the state's highest honor for high school players, three years after his older brother Luke was honored with the same award, and was also named a McDonald's All-American.
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Tyreke Evans
Tyreke Jamir Evans (born September 19, 1989) is an American professional basketball player with Sacramento Kings of the NBA. He played college basketball for the University of Memphis, and was selected by the Sacramento Kings as the 4th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Evans grew up in Chester, Pennsylvania, and was mainly raised by his three older brothers. He attended American Christian Academy in Aston, Pennsylvania, and by his sophomore year began drawing comparisons to NBA All-Star Tracy McGrady. As a senior, he averaged 32.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 4.3 steals. He was named the MVP of the McDonald's High School All-American Game and co-MVP (with Brandon Jennings) of the Jordan Brand Classic. At the age of 16, he was featured in the documentary Gunning for That #1 Spot directed by Adam "MCA" Yauch of the Beastie Boys. Evans was chosen to be the keeper of the SLAM Magazine High School Diary for the 2008 season.
In April 2008, Evans announced that he would attend the University of Memphis, after also considering Villanova University and the University of Texas.
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Vargrave Richards
Vargrave A. Richards (born September 16, 1950 San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a United States Virgin Islands politician and educator. Richards served as the Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands from 2003 until 2007 during the second term of Democratic Governor Charles Turnbull.
Richards is a former teacher. Richards attended the attended the College of the Virgin Islands, now known as the University of the Virgin Islands, and was a part-time student at Antioch University from 1969 until 1973. Vargrave does not hold a bachelor's degree.
Vargrave Richards served as a Democratic Senator from Saint Croix for four terms in the Legislature of the Virgin Islands. He served as the President of the Senate during the 23rd Legislature, which met from 1999 until 2000.
Democratic Governor Charles Wesley Turnbull had a very strained relationship with Lieutenant Governor Gerard Luz James during his first term in office. During the 2002 gubernatorial election, James challenged Turnbull for Governor, so Turnbull needed a new running mate for Lieutenant Governor if he chose to run for a second term.
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Vince Carter
Vincent Lamar "Vince" Carter (born January 26, 1977) is an American professional basketball player with the Dallas Mavericks. He is a shooting guard who can also play small forward.
A high school McDonald's All-American, Carter played three years at the University of North Carolina, where he twice reached the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament before being selected as the fifth overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, who traded him to the Toronto Raptors. He won the 1999 NBA Rookie of the Year Award and won the Slam Dunk Contest at the 2000 NBA All-Star Game the following season. That summer, he represented the United States in the Summer Olympics, winning a gold medal.
He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his leaping ability and slam dunks, earning him nicknames such as "Vinsanity," "Air Canada," and "Half-Man, Half-Amazing."
He led the Raptors to their first three playoff appearances. In 2004, he was traded to the New Jersey Nets, and he helped lead them to three playoff berths. In July 2009, Carter was traded to the Orlando Magic, helping them to advance to the Eastern Conference finals before being traded to the Phoenix Suns in December, 2010.
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Walt Bellamy
Walter Jones Bellamy (born July 24, 1939, in New Bern, North Carolina) is a retired American professional basketball player.
Bellamy chose to play basketball at Indiana University, despite the fact that African-American players were still rare in college basketball at the time. "In the summer after my junior year of high school I played with some guys from Indiana," he said. "Indiana at the time was the closest school to the South that would accept African-Americans. It was an easy transition for me to make. Not that I was naive to what was going on in Bloomington in terms of the times, but it didn't translate to the athletic department or the classroom. Every relationship was good."
Bellamy graduated from Indiana University with the most rebounds in a career with 1,088 in only 70 games, while averaging 15.5 a game. Averaging 20.5 points a game and shooting 51.7 percent from the floor, Bellamy also averaged 17.8 rebounds a game (still Indiana's record). He also holds the school records for most rebounds in a season (649), most rebounds in a single game (33), most double-doubles in a career (59), most rebounds in a three-year career (1,008). In 2000 he was selected to Indiana University's All-Century Team.
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Walt Frazier
Walter "Clyde" Frazier (born March 29, 1945, in Atlanta, Georgia) is a retired American basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was blessed with a unique combination of court vision, quickness, and size (he stands 6'4") for a guard. As their floor general, he led the New York Knicks to the franchise's only two NBA Championships (1970 & 1973), and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987. Upon his retirement from basketball, Frazier went into broadcasting; he is currently a color commentator for telecasts of Knicks games on the MSG Network.
The eldest of nine children, Frazier attended Atlanta's David Tobias Howard High School. He quarterbacked the football team and played catcher on the baseball team. He learned basketball on a rutted and dirt playground, the only facility available at his all-black school in the racially segregated South of the 1950s. After having a great career at Howard, Frazier attended Southern Illinois University. Although he was offered other scholarships for his football skills, Frazier accepted a basketball offer from Southern Illinois University.
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Walt Hazzard
Walter Raphael Hazzard Jr., later Mahdi Abdul-Rahman (April 15, 1942 – November 18, 2011), known professionally as Walt Hazzard, was an American college, Olympic and professional basketball player and college basketball coach. He is best known for his association with the men's basketball team at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), having been a star player for that team in the 1960s and having served as the team's head coach in the 1980s. He died on November 18, 2011.
Hazzard attended Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where his teams went 89-3 and he was named the city's player of the year when he was a senior. Hazzard then went on to UCLA, where he became an important player on the varsity basketball team. In Hazzard's first season on the varsity squad, the UCLA Bruins made their first Final Four appearance in the 1962 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. They lost to the eventual champion, the Cincinnati Bearcats in the semi-finals.
UCLA's undefeated season, 1963–64, was in no small part due to Hazzard, his backcourt partner Gail Goodrich, and the team's coach John Wooden. The team won the NCAA Championship, and Hazzard was selected by the Associated Press as the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Hazzard was chosen as an All-American and also selected as College Player of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). His number 42 jersey was retired by UCLA in 1996 in Pauley Pavilion, but Hazzard gave his permission for stand-out recruit Kevin Love to wear the number.
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Walter Dix
Walter Dix (born January 31, 1986) is an American sprinter who specializes in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is the fourth fastest 200 m runner ever with a best of 19.53 seconds, and has broken the 10-second barrier in the 100 m with a best of 9.88 seconds.
Dix was a highly successful amateur athlete, setting a state record in the 100 m and trying out for the US Olympic Team at the age of eighteen. He joined Florida State University and in his first year he broke the 100 m American junior record and won at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. After a fourth place finish at the 2005 US Championships, Dix continued with his collegiate success, setting an NCAA record of 19.69 seconds in the 200 m and coming within one hundredth of the 100 m record. He completed a 100 m, 200 m, and 4×100 meter relay sweep at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships, the first to do so since John Carlos in 1969. He closed his amateur career in 2008: another NCAA 200 m title made him the third most decorated track athlete in NCAA history, and he won gold and silver at the 2008 US Olympic Trials.
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Warren Kidd
Warren Lynn Kidd (born September 9, 1970 in Harpersville, Alabama), is a retired American basketball player. A solid 6'9", 235 lbs center, he was never drafted by an NBA franchise but spent a single season with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1993/94.
Kidd played his best basketball in Europe with Olimpia Milano, leading the 1996/97 Euroleague in rebounds with 10.6 per game and reaching the Saporta Cup final the following year.
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Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC (/ˈɡrɛtski/; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "The Great One", he has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters, players, and the NHL itself. He is the leading point-scorer in NHL history, with more assists than any other player has points, and is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season – a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, he tallied over 100 points in 16 professional seasons, 14 of them consecutive. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 40 regular-season records, 15 playoff records, and six All-Star records. In addition to being its greatest scorer, Gretzky was the most gentlemanly superstar in the modern history of the NHL. He won the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship and performance five times, and he often spoke out against fighting in hockey.
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Wes Unseld
Westley Sissel "Wes" Unseld (born March 14, 1946 in Louisville, Kentucky) is an American former basketball player. He spent his entire NBA career with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets, and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988.
Unseld starred on a Seneca High School team that won two state championships. In 1965, Unseld began playing center for the University of Louisville, where he averaged 35.8 points per game and 23.6 rebounds per game in 14 games with a freshman team. He was a 3-year letter winner, scored 1,686 points in 82 games (20.6 points per game), grabbed 1,551 rebounds (18.9 rebounds per game), led the conference in rebounding in 1966, 1967 and 1968, and led Louisville to a 60-22 record with two trips to the NCAA tournament and one trip to the NIT tournament. Unseld is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
Unseld was drafted by the Kentucky Colonels in the 1968 American Basketball Association draft and was drafted second overall in the first round by the Baltimore Bullets in 1968, and helped lead the Bullets (who had finished in last place in the Eastern division the previous year) to a 57-25 record and a division title. Unseld averaged 18.2 rebounds per game that year, and became only the second player ever to win both Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in the same season (Wilt Chamberlain being the first). Unseld was also named the Sporting News MVP that year. He was one of the best defensive players of his era, and in 1975, he led the NBA in rebounding. The following season, he led the NBA in field goal percentage with a .561 percentage.
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Wikipedia Persondata
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Will Perdue
William Edward Perdue (born August 29, 1965) is a retired American NBA basketball player who was a member of four NBA championship teams. Perdue is now an ESPN basketball commentator and analyst.
Perdue attended Merritt Island High School, Merritt Island, Florida. He then played basketball at Vanderbilt University, where he was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and SEC Male Athlete of the Year in 1988. He was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the 11th overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft. Between 1991 and 1993, he won three championships with the Bulls, mainly as a backup to center Bill Cartwright. He became a regular starter during the 1994–95 NBA season, during which he averaged 8.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. However, the emergence of Luc Longley made him expendable, and before the next season's training camp, the Bulls traded him to the San Antonio Spurs for Dennis Rodman. Perdue won his fourth NBA championship with the Spurs in 1999.
In August 1999, Perdue rejoined the Chicago Bulls as a free agent. He started 15 of 67 games for them in 1999–2000, averaging 2.5 points and 3.9 rebounds. After the 2000 season, Perdue left Chicago and signed with the Portland Trail Blazers, where he averaged 1.3 points, 1.4 rebounds and 4.5 minutes in 13 games. He averaged 4.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game over a thirteen-year career.
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Willie Stargell
Wilver Dornell "Willie" Stargell (March 6, 1940 – April 9, 2001), nicknamed "Pops" in the later years of his career, was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder and first baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1962-1982). Over his 21-year career with the Pirates, he batted .282, with 2,232 hits, 423 doubles, 475 home runs and 1540 runs batted in, helping his team capture six National League East division titles, two National League pennants and two World Series (1971, 1979). Stargell was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988.
Stargell was born in Earlsboro, Oklahoma, but later moved to Alameda, California where he attended Encinal High School. He was signed by the Pirates at age 22, and made his Major League debut at the end of the 1962 season. He soon became a standout player, making his first of 7 trips to the All-Star Game in 1964.
Beloved in Pittsburgh for his style of play and affable manner, Stargell was known for hitting monstrous home runs, including 7 of the 16 balls ever hit completely out of Forbes Field and several of the upper-tier home runs at its successor, Three Rivers Stadium. At one time, Stargell held the record for the longest homer in nearly half of the National League parks. Standing 6 feet 2 inches, Stargell seemed larger, with his long arms and unique bat-handling practice of holding only the knob of the bat with his lower hand combining to provide extra bat extension, Stargell's swings seemed designed to hit home runs of the Ruthian variety. When most batters would use a simple lead-weighted bat in the on-deck circle, Stargell took to warming up with a sledgehammer, adding another layer of intimidation. While standing in the batter's box, he would windmill his bat until the pitcher started his windup.
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Willis Reed
Willis Reed, Jr. (born June 25, 1942) is a retired American basketball player, coach and general manager. He spent his entire professional playing career (1964–1974) with the New York Knicks. In 1982, his outstanding record and achievements were recognized by his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1997, he was voted one of the "50 Greatest Players in NBA History".
After retiring as a player, Reed served as assistant and head coach with several teams for nearly a decade, then was promoted to General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations (1989 to 1996) for the New Jersey Nets. As Senior Vice President of Basketball, he led them to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003.
Reed was born in 1942 in Hico, Louisiana and named after his father, Willis Reed. He grew up on a farm in nearby Bernice, a lumber town in an area of pine woods. His parents worked to ensure Reed got an education in the segregated South. Reed showed athletic ability at an early age and played basketball at West Side High School in nearby Lillie.
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Wilt Chamberlain
Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain (August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American basketball player. He played for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA; he played for the University of Kansas and also for the Harlem Globetrotters before playing in the NBA. The 7 foot 1 inch Chamberlain weighed 250 pounds as a rookie before bulking up to 275 and eventually to over 300 pounds with the Lakers. He played the center position and is widely considered one of the greatest and most dominant players in NBA history.
Chamberlain holds numerous NBA all-time records in scoring, rebounding and durability categories. He is the only player to score 100 points in a single NBA game or average more than 40 and 50 points in a season. He also won seven scoring, nine field goal percentage, and eleven rebounding titles, and once even led the league in assists. Although he suffered a long string of professional losses, Chamberlain had a successful career, winning two NBA championships, earning four regular-season Most Valuable Player awards, the Rookie of the Year award, one NBA Finals MVP award, and being selected to 13 All-Star Games and ten All-NBA First and Second teams. Chamberlain was subsequently enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978, elected into the NBA's 35th Anniversary Team of 1980, and chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History of 1996.
wn.com/Wilt_Chamberlain -
Woody Sauldsberry
Woodrow "Woody" Sauldsberry Jr. (July 11, 1935 – September 2007) was an American National Basketball Association player.
Sauldsberry was born in Winnsboro, Louisiana and graduated from Compton Union High School where he was the star of his basketball team and then went on to attend Texas Southern University. In 1957, he was drafted in Round 8 by the Philadelphia Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors). The following year in 1958, he was named the league's Rookie of the Year — the second African American ever to win the award and becoming the lowest overall draft pick ever to win the award, a record he still holds. In 1959, he played in the NBA All-Star Game. Later in his career he played for the St. Louis Hawks, Chicago Zephyrs and Boston Celtics.
During the 1960s, Sauldsberry was part of the Harlem Globetrotters.
wn.com/Woody_Sauldsberry -
Xavier McDaniel
Xavier Maurice McDaniel (born June 4, 1963, in Columbia, South Carolina), nicknamed the X-Man, is a retired American National Basketball Association (NBA) player who, at 6 ft 7 in, played both small forward and power forward, and former head coach of the Riders Slamball team.
While at Wichita State, McDaniel was the first person to lead the nation in both rebounding and scoring in the same season. In college, McDaniel began to shave both his head and his eyebrows to look more intimidating. He continued this all throughout his pro career.
For his first two seasons at Wichita State, the Shockers were on NCAA probation. He was a teammate his freshman year of future NBA players Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston. When Levingston left for the NBA, McDaniel became a starter and averaged 18.8 points and 14.4 rebounds as power forward opposite Carr. The following season, Carr left, and McDaniel raised his scoring average to 20.6 points per game and was the Missouri Valley Conference MVP. He then led the nation in scoring (27.4) and rebounding (15.0) his senior season becoming the first player to do so.
wn.com/Xavier_McDaniel -
Yao Ming
Yao Ming (born September 12, 1980) is a retired Chinese professional basketball player who last played for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). At the time of his final season, he was the tallest active player in the NBA, at 2.29 m (7 ft 6 in).
Yao, who was born in Shanghai, started playing for the Shanghai Sharks as a teenager, and played on their senior team for five years in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), winning a championship in his final year. After negotiating with the CBA and the Sharks to secure his release, Yao was selected by the Houston Rockets as the first overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft. Yao was selected to start for the Western Conference in the NBA All-Star Game eight times, and was named to the All-NBA Team five times. He reached the NBA Playoffs four times, and the Rockets won a first-round series in the 2009 postseason, their first playoff series victory since 1997. However, Yao missed 250 regular-season games due to foot and ankle injuries in his final six seasons.
wn.com/Yao_Ming
Duncan, Tim Filmography
- Tea for Two (2010)
- Tea for Two (2010)
- Tea for Two (2010)
- Tea for Two (2010)
- Tea for Two (2010)
- The Daily Grind (2008)
- The Daily Grind (2008)
- Bottom Dollar (2008)
- The Daily Grind (2008)
- Bottom Dollar (2008)
- The Daily Grind (2008)
- Bottom Dollar (2008)
- The Daily Grind (2008)
- Bottom Dollar (2008)
- Bottom Dollar (2008)
Duncan, Tim Filmography
- 2011 NBA All-Star Game (2011)
- Kobe Doin' Work (2009)
- 9 - Un chiffre, un homme (2008)
- The 2007 NBA Finals (2007)
- The 2005 NBA Finals (2005)
- 2003 NBA All-Star Game (2003)
- The 2003 NBA Finals (2003)
- 2002 NBA All-Star Game (2002)
- 2001 NBA All-Star Game (2001)
- 2000 NBA All-Star Game (2000)
- 1998 NBA All-Star Game (1998)
Duncan, Tim Filmography
Famous quotes by Tim Duncan:
"The problem they have is convincing advertisers it's a viable medium. I think that's a big hurdle."
"I haven't been around him in so long, not for anything other than our paths just haven't crossed. It was great to have some time ... and talk about old times."
"I got a lot of (grief) for that, too. Trust me, I'm getting my share."
"I've already gotten a bunch, so I'm hoping it will clear up a bit."
"Paper doesn't mean anything to us. It's about going out there and playing together. It's about chemistry and people accepting roles. More talent doesn't always mean you're a better team."
"It should be a blast. To have the entire team there, (the people) are psyched."
"They approached us with the problem, and we fixed it. We don’t see any of that as a breach of contract."
"We don’t see that the lease was breached,"
"I am the leader of this team, ... So, it starts with me, and I understand that."
"The time when there is no one there to feel sorry for you or to cheer for you is when a player is made."
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Tim Duncan - 2005 Finals MVP
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:10
- Updated: 30 Dec 2012
www.basketball-reference.com Tim Duncan had 25 points, 11 rebounds and a couple of blocks in leading the San Antonio Spurs to a Game 7 victory over the Detroit Pistons 81-74. The Spurs won the series 4-3 and their 3rd Championship. The Big Fundamental scored 12 pints in the 3rd quarter, keeping the Spurs in the game after falling behind by 10 points. Manu Ginobili and Robert Horry knocked down some tough shots late in the game as the Spurs sealed the win. Tim Duncan elevated his game after taking criticism for his "just average" performance in the series. His numbers were solid enough however, to earn him his 3rd Finals MVP. A special upload on my Birthday once again. More Tim Duncan to come.
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_2005_Finals_MVP
www.basketball-reference.com Tim Duncan had 25 points, 11 rebounds and a couple of blocks in leading the San Antonio Spurs to a Game 7 victory over the Detroit Pistons 81-74. The Spurs won the series 4-3 and their 3rd Championship. The Big Fundamental scored 12 pints in the 3rd quarter, keeping the Spurs in the game after falling behind by 10 points. Manu Ginobili and Robert Horry knocked down some tough shots late in the game as the Spurs sealed the win. Tim Duncan elevated his game after taking criticism for his "just average" performance in the series. His numbers were solid enough however, to earn him his 3rd Finals MVP. A special upload on my Birthday once again. More Tim Duncan to come.
Tim Duncan Tribute - How It Ends
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:00
- Updated: 29 Dec 2012
Tim Duncan Tribute music by: Devotchka - "How It Ends"
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_Tribute_How_It_Ends
Tim Duncan Tribute music by: Devotchka - "How It Ends"
- published: 16 Oct 2010
- views: 56306
- author: drewlius
Spurs Tim Duncan Top 10 Plays
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:41
- Updated: 30 Dec 2012
Spurs Tim Duncan Top 10 Plays
http://wn.com/Spurs_Tim_Duncan_Top_10_Plays
Tim Duncan getting ejected for laughing
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:29
- Updated: 31 Dec 2012
Tim duncan getting ejected for laughing and sitting on the bench
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_getting_ejected_for_laughing
Tim duncan getting ejected for laughing and sitting on the bench
- published: 23 Apr 2007
- views: 1857240
- author: LostKid115
Tim Duncan mix including 2012 Full HD
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:58
- Updated: 31 Dec 2012
Duncan is playing great basketball late in his career
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_mix_including_2012_Full_HD
Duncan is playing great basketball late in his career
- published: 28 Aug 2012
- views: 13463
- author: vinsanity15dunk
Tim Duncan and his fundamental Bank Shot
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:44
- Updated: 30 Dec 2012
Take a look at Tim Duncan, as he and other NBA Superstars talk about Duncan's unstoppable jumper off the glass.
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_and_his_fundamental_Bank_Shot
Take a look at Tim Duncan, as he and other NBA Superstars talk about Duncan's unstoppable jumper off the glass.
- published: 24 Feb 2011
- views: 168703
- author: NBA
Tim Duncan: Career High Performance (53 points)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:49
- Updated: 31 Dec 2012
www.basketball-reference.com 19-28 FG, 15-15 FT, 11 rebounds Tim Duncan dominated the low post on his way to 53 big points. He scored 21 of those 53 points in the 4th quarter, keeping the Spurs in the game by himself. Duncan had his way with every Mavs defender who challenged him. Duncan took control in the overtime to finally give the Spurs the lead, but in the end Steve Nash would hit the game winning 3 pointer to silence the alamo dome crowd.Tim couldn't have done anymore for his team.
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_Career_High_Performance_53_points
www.basketball-reference.com 19-28 FG, 15-15 FT, 11 rebounds Tim Duncan dominated the low post on his way to 53 big points. He scored 21 of those 53 points in the 4th quarter, keeping the Spurs in the game by himself. Duncan had his way with every Mavs defender who challenged him. Duncan took control in the overtime to finally give the Spurs the lead, but in the end Steve Nash would hit the game winning 3 pointer to silence the alamo dome crowd.Tim couldn't have done anymore for his team.
- published: 31 Jul 2011
- views: 76908
- author: KarlMalowned32
Ultimate Tim Duncan Mix
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:58
- Updated: 30 Dec 2012
Click Here For The Where The Hood At Remix! You Will Not Be Disappointed! Make Sure To Comment & Rate. www.youtube.com The all time greatest player at his best!! TD The Big Fundamental, Tim Duncan!! All the song names are written at the end of the video.... Crazy Baby by Fantasy Project Cut off Time by Omarion ft. KatDeLuna Everytime We Touch by Cascada
http://wn.com/Ultimate_Tim_Duncan_Mix
Click Here For The Where The Hood At Remix! You Will Not Be Disappointed! Make Sure To Comment & Rate. www.youtube.com The all time greatest player at his best!! TD The Big Fundamental, Tim Duncan!! All the song names are written at the end of the video.... Crazy Baby by Fantasy Project Cut off Time by Omarion ft. KatDeLuna Everytime We Touch by Cascada
- published: 16 Feb 2008
- views: 270832
- author: UnstopableDunker
Tim Duncan Plays Point Guard
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:36
- Updated: 31 Dec 2012
Tim Duncan leads and finishes the break driving coast-to-coast for the layup. Visit www.nba.com for more highlights.
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_Plays_Point_Guard
Tim Duncan leads and finishes the break driving coast-to-coast for the layup. Visit www.nba.com for more highlights.
- published: 20 Nov 2012
- views: 98685
- author: NBA
Tim Duncan Gives Fan The Finger
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:26
- Updated: 28 Dec 2012
Middle finger from inside his car, then drives off. Bad day? Video was recorded with a shoelace.
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_Gives_Fan_The_Finger
Middle finger from inside his car, then drives off. Bad day? Video was recorded with a shoelace.
- published: 08 Nov 2012
- views: 63444
- author: DeMoN064
Duncan Finishes the Spurs' Picture-Perfect Break
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:36
- Updated: 31 Dec 2012
The Spurs` Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker get out on the break and turn a steal into two points for San Antonio. Visit www.nba.com for more highlights.
http://wn.com/Duncan_Finishes_the_Spurs'_Picture-Perfect_Break
The Spurs` Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker get out on the break and turn a steal into two points for San Antonio. Visit www.nba.com for more highlights.
- published: 24 Dec 2012
- views: 31752
- author: NBA
Tim Duncan ► Legend of the Spurs ● HD ●
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:27
- Updated: 29 Dec 2012
Great NBA player, great sportsman, great Tim Duncan.... Please subscribe and leave comment....
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_►_Legend_of_the_Spurs_●_HD_●
Great NBA player, great sportsman, great Tim Duncan.... Please subscribe and leave comment....
- published: 17 Aug 2012
- views: 5292
- author: TheGepard0
Vintage Tim Duncan 28 points vs Memphis Grizzlies full highlights 04.12.2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:33
- Updated: 15 Dec 2012
Tim Duncan 28 points full highlights vs Memphis Grizzlies 12.04.2012 sant antonio spurs split the defence assists steals block court pass touch down mario chalmers dwyane wade chris bosh dunk of night drivin to basket lay up alley oop jump shot reverse layup spin cycle left hand buzzer beaters...
http://wn.com/Vintage_Tim_Duncan_28_points_vs_Memphis_Grizzlies_full_highlights_04122012
Tim Duncan 28 points full highlights vs Memphis Grizzlies 12.04.2012 sant antonio spurs split the defence assists steals block court pass touch down mario chalmers dwyane wade chris bosh dunk of night drivin to basket lay up alley oop jump shot reverse layup spin cycle left hand buzzer beaters...
- published: 13 Apr 2012
- views: 15037
- author: dorell15
Jackson's sweet dish leads to Duncan's slam!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:35
- Updated: 31 Dec 2012
Check out this great play by Spurs forward Stephen Jackson as he comes up with the steal and then throws the behind-the-back pass to Tim Duncan for the BIG slam dunk!
http://wn.com/Jackson's_sweet_dish_leads_to_Duncan's_slam!
Check out this great play by Spurs forward Stephen Jackson as he comes up with the steal and then throws the behind-the-back pass to Tim Duncan for the BIG slam dunk!
- published: 29 Dec 2012
- views: 19726
- author: NBA
Tim Duncan Notches 2500 Career Blocks.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:31
- Updated: 28 Dec 2012
The Spurs and Raptors trade possession, and Tim Duncan calms down the frantic play with a block, the 2500th of his career. Visit www.nba.com for more highlights.
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_Notches_2500_Career_Blocks
The Spurs and Raptors trade possession, and Tim Duncan calms down the frantic play with a block, the 2500th of his career. Visit www.nba.com for more highlights.
- published: 26 Nov 2012
- views: 47906
- author: NBA
Tim Duncan 30 points (nice post move) vs Houston Rockets full highlights 12/28/2012 HD
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:54
- Updated: 31 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_30_points_nice_post_move_vs_Houston_Rockets_full_highlights_12_28_2012_HD
![Jonas Valanciunas vs. Tim Duncan and The Spurs (22pts, 7rebs) Ep.3 [NBAMV]](http://web.archive.org./web/20121231234930im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LuCi6cQmVO8/default.jpg "Jonas Valanciunas vs. Tim Duncan and The Spurs (22pts, 7rebs) Ep.3 [NBAMV]")
Jonas Valanciunas vs. Tim Duncan and The Spurs (22pts, 7rebs) Ep.3 [NBAMV]
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:15
- Updated: 29 Dec 2012
Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com Jonas Valanciunas having a huge game against The San Antonio Spurs and it's Big 3. JV goes head-to-head with Tim Duncan aka 'The Greatest Power Forward of All-Time' - by Sir Charles Barkley, and shows off his passion and unlimited potential on this night as he records 22 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks. Subscribe and Stay Tuned y'all. I do not own any of the featuring material or/and making any profit from it. No copy right infringement intended. Content belongs to NBA.Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. NBA All rights reserved.
http://wn.com/Jonas_Valanciunas_vs_Tim_Duncan_and_The_Spurs_22pts,_7rebs_Ep3_NBAMV_
Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com Jonas Valanciunas having a huge game against The San Antonio Spurs and it's Big 3. JV goes head-to-head with Tim Duncan aka 'The Greatest Power Forward of All-Time' - by Sir Charles Barkley, and shows off his passion and unlimited potential on this night as he records 22 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks. Subscribe and Stay Tuned y'all. I do not own any of the featuring material or/and making any profit from it. No copy right infringement intended. Content belongs to NBA.Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. NBA All rights reserved.
- published: 27 Nov 2012
- views: 13249
- author: NBAMusicVideos
Spurs Fined by NBA for Resting Tim Duncan, Tony Park, Manu Ginobili
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:31
- Updated: 30 Dec 2012
The Spurs were fined by the NBA for resting Tim Duncan, Tony Park, Manu Ginobili for Thursday's night game against the Heat.
http://wn.com/Spurs_Fined_by_NBA_for_Resting_Tim_Duncan,_Tony_Park,_Manu_Ginobili
The Spurs were fined by the NBA for resting Tim Duncan, Tony Park, Manu Ginobili for Thursday's night game against the Heat.
- published: 01 Dec 2012
- views: 1394
- author: MsJonaVideo
NBA Greatest Game: Allen Iverson vs. Tim Duncan, Parker & Manu Ginobili the Spurs (2004)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:11
- Updated: 30 Dec 2012
Not having a starting frontcourt was not a problem for the Philadelphia 76ers. All they needed was Allen Iverson. Iverson scored 15 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter and had 12 assists, leading the undermanned Sixers to a 100-96 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night. "Just put me on the floor with four warriors," Iverson said. "My whole thing is to get down and dirty, scar my knees, get banged-up and get right back up. When guys see that, they feed off it." Mark Jackson scored 16 and Aaron McKie added 14 for Philadelphia, which won its second straight despite missing starters Kenny Thomas (back), Glenn Robinson (ankle) and Derrick Coleman (knee). Tim Duncan had 35 points and 15 rebounds, Manu Ginobili scored 21 and Tony Parker had 19 for San Antonio. The NBA champions had won two straight since Duncan and Parker returned from ankle injuries. "Two of our perimeter guys were 2-for-15 and Manu was 7-for-18, it's a bad combination to be making mistakes and not putting the ball in the hole," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. After Duncan missed a 16-footer, Iverson gave the Sixers a 94-88 lead on a superb driving, one-handed runner in traffic with 1:16 remaining. San Antonio didn't get closer than three the rest of the way. "I'm really proud of our guys for hanging in there with a limited squad," Sixers coach Randy Ayers said. "It starts with the veterans. They kept us together. They supply the leadership." Iverson scored nine in a row for Philadelphia at one ...
http://wn.com/NBA_Greatest_Game_Allen_Iverson_vs_Tim_Duncan,_Parker_Manu_Ginobili_the_Spurs_2004
Not having a starting frontcourt was not a problem for the Philadelphia 76ers. All they needed was Allen Iverson. Iverson scored 15 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter and had 12 assists, leading the undermanned Sixers to a 100-96 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night. "Just put me on the floor with four warriors," Iverson said. "My whole thing is to get down and dirty, scar my knees, get banged-up and get right back up. When guys see that, they feed off it." Mark Jackson scored 16 and Aaron McKie added 14 for Philadelphia, which won its second straight despite missing starters Kenny Thomas (back), Glenn Robinson (ankle) and Derrick Coleman (knee). Tim Duncan had 35 points and 15 rebounds, Manu Ginobili scored 21 and Tony Parker had 19 for San Antonio. The NBA champions had won two straight since Duncan and Parker returned from ankle injuries. "Two of our perimeter guys were 2-for-15 and Manu was 7-for-18, it's a bad combination to be making mistakes and not putting the ball in the hole," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. After Duncan missed a 16-footer, Iverson gave the Sixers a 94-88 lead on a superb driving, one-handed runner in traffic with 1:16 remaining. San Antonio didn't get closer than three the rest of the way. "I'm really proud of our guys for hanging in there with a limited squad," Sixers coach Randy Ayers said. "It starts with the veterans. They kept us together. They supply the leadership." Iverson scored nine in a row for Philadelphia at one ...
- published: 12 Aug 2012
- views: 34045
- author: pennyccwai
Tim Duncan Double-twenty Plus 6 Blocks Full Highlights vs Jazz 12/12/2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:05
- Updated: 30 Dec 2012
Tim Duncan got 22 points 21 rebounds 6 blocks and 1 assist within 33 minutes FG: 8/17, FT: 6/9 (in the regular seasons of his career) 21th double-twenty 4th double-twenty plus 5+ blocks (last time: 12.23.2002)
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_Double-twenty_Plus_6_Blocks_Full_Highlights_vs_Jazz_12_12_2012
Tim Duncan got 22 points 21 rebounds 6 blocks and 1 assist within 33 minutes FG: 8/17, FT: 6/9 (in the regular seasons of his career) 21th double-twenty 4th double-twenty plus 5+ blocks (last time: 12.23.2002)
- published: 15 Dec 2012
- views: 750
- author: kasenspurs
Tim Duncan Drains to Beat the Halftime Buzzer
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:31
- Updated: 27 Dec 2012
Tim Duncan hits the shot as the halftime buzzer sounds. Visit www.nba.com for more highlights.
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_Drains_to_Beat_the_Halftime_Buzzer
Tim Duncan hits the shot as the halftime buzzer sounds. Visit www.nba.com for more highlights.
- published: 29 Nov 2012
- views: 37001
- author: NBA
Tim Duncan Crazy One-Handed Slam Over Gasol!! | Grizzlies @ Spurs | 12/1/12
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:17
- Updated: 29 Dec 2012
Tim Duncan goes to work inside and throws the vicious one-handed smash over Mark Gasol. SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE NBA VIDEOS
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_Crazy_One-Handed_Slam_Over_Gasol!!_|_Grizzlies_@_Spurs_|_12_1_12
Tim Duncan goes to work inside and throws the vicious one-handed smash over Mark Gasol. SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE NBA VIDEOS
- published: 02 Dec 2012
- views: 29967
- author: NBAVid1
Tim Duncan: 2003 Finals Compilation
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:54
- Updated: 29 Dec 2012
A video highlighting Tim Duncan's best plays of the 2003 Finals vs. the New Jersey Nets. Duncan's talents were on full display in this series showing the world that he was without a doubt THE premiere player in the league. Scoring, rebounding, passing (including leading multiple fastbreaks like a PG) and dominating on defense en route to winning his 2nd of 3 Finals MVP's.
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan_2003_Finals_Compilation
A video highlighting Tim Duncan's best plays of the 2003 Finals vs. the New Jersey Nets. Duncan's talents were on full display in this series showing the world that he was without a doubt THE premiere player in the league. Scoring, rebounding, passing (including leading multiple fastbreaks like a PG) and dominating on defense en route to winning his 2nd of 3 Finals MVP's.
- published: 29 Jul 2011
- views: 24183
- author: LakersDynasty42
photo: AP / New York City Police Department
30 Dec 2012
A woman who told police she shoved a man to his death off a subway platform because she has hated Muslims since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US and thought he was one was charged on Saturday with murder as a hate crime, prosecutors said ... Menendez, 31, was awaiting arraignment on the charge on Saturday evening, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. She faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted ... On Dec ... ....(size: 3.0Kb)
photo: AP / Altaf Qadri
29 Dec 2012
Police in India have sealed off much of the capital, Delhi, and issued an appeal for calm after the death of a woman who was gang-raped in the city. The 23-year old woman, who has not been identified, died early on Saturday at a hospital in Singapore, where she had been taken for specialist treatment. Her body is to be flown back to India for burial ... Gatherings of more than five people have been banned in the city centre ... ....(size: 4.9Kb)
photo: AP / Shaam News Network
30 Dec 2012
London. UN-Arab League envoy to Damascus, Lakhdar Brahimi, has said that a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Syria seemed far away, adding that the country risked being slithering into ‘hell’ ... (ANI). For Zee News’s Updates, follow us on Twitter , Facebook, Google+, Pinterest. First Published ... ....(size: 1.7Kb)
photo: WN / Yolanda Leyba
28 Dec 2012
Galaxy Note 2 vs. iPhone 5. Do The Companies Have Their Game Plans Right?. Posted by Jay099 on December 28, 2012 02.15 pm 0. via. Mountain View at California seems to be a busy center now. Google is stepping up the gas on the march towards a holistic environment and experience for the consumers ... My Blog . My FB Page ... ....(size: 2.2Kb)
photo: AP / John MacDougall
31 Dec 2012
Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that the German economic climate in 2013 will be "even more difficult". In her new year message, she also cautioned that the eurozone debt crisis was far from over. However, she did say that reforms designed to address the roots of the problem were beginning to bear fruit ... In a taped interview to be broadcast later on Monday, Mrs Merkel urged Germans to be more patient ... Voters 'wary' ... ....(size: 2.3Kb)
Star Telegram
31 Dec 2012
Dallas Mavericks guard Darren Collison (4) attempts a layup as San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) defends during the first half of a basketball game at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Sunday, December 30, 2012 ... Dallas Mavericks guard Darren Collison (4) attempts a layup as San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) defends during the first ......(size: 3.3Kb)
my SA
31 Dec 2012
Manu Ginobili supplied 20 points off the bench for the Spurs, while Tim Duncan stacked up another ho-hum double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds to go with three blocks ... “We've got to come out and respect these guys and play it all the way through, not expecting to blow them out,” Duncan said after the morning shootaround....(size: 4.0Kb)
The News & Observer
31 Dec 2012
Mike Fuentes - AP Photo ... 30, 2012. Email Print Order Reprint Share This. Text. tool name. tool goes here. By SCHUYLER DIXON - AP Sports Writer ... Tags. ... The Spurs led all the way, with Tim Duncan helping a 20-6 start by hitting several jump shots ... Text ... Dallas Mavericks guard Darren Collison, left, goes for a shot against pressure from San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas on Sunday, Dec ... ....(size: 11.6Kb)
The Dallas Morning News
31 Dec 2012
Chris Kaman, Shawn Marion, O.J. Mayo and Darren Collison round out the starters for the Mavericks ... Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, Tiago Splitter, Tony Parker and Danny Green ... . ....(size: 0.9Kb)
Kansas City Star
31 Dec 2012
Manu Ginobili scored 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting with five assists and five boards, while Tim Duncan donated a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds ......(size: 0.8Kb)
Sacramento Bee
31 Dec 2012
Manu Ginobili scored 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting with five assists and five boards, while Tim Duncan donated a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the ......(size: 0.8Kb)
Sun Sentinel
31 Dec 2012
Manu Ginobili scored 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting with five assists and five boards, while Tim Duncan donated a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs, who have won five straight games ......(size: 1.8Kb)
Sydney Morning Herald
31 Dec 2012
DALLAS. On January 1 last year, Patty Mills was plying his trade in China and uncertain if he would ever get a chance to return to the NBA ... The 24-year-old admits he still shakes his head as to how he now shares his days with NBA greats such as power forward Tim Duncan and coach Gregg Popovich....(size: 1.5Kb)
Sporting Life
31 Dec 2012
A review of Sunday's action in the National Basketball Association ... They joined the 1995-96 San Antonio Spurs and 1971-72 Lakers as the only teams to record a perfect month ... Tony Parker scored 21 points, Manu Ginobili 20 and Tim Duncan 18 as the Spurs condemned the Mavericks to a sixth consecutive defeat ... ....(size: 1.5Kb)
Richmond Times Dispatch
31 Dec 2012
The Spurs led all the way, with Tim Duncan helping a 20-6 start by hitting several jump shots ... SAN ANTONIO (111) — Leonard 2-5 0-0 5, Duncan 7-14 4-4 18, Splitter 4-9 5-6 13, Parker 10-17 1-1 21, Green 3-7 0-0 8, Diaw 4-6 1-2 10, Ginobili 6-12 6-6 20, Jackson 2-3 3-3 8, Mills 2-6 0-0 5, Blair 0-0 1-2 1, De Colo 0-1 0-0 0, Bonner 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 41-81 21-24 111 ... Rebounds—San Antonio 49 (Duncan 10), Dallas 52 (Brand 10) ... ....(size: 5.3Kb)
The News Tribune
31 Dec 2012
Manu Ginobili scored 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting with five assists and five boards, while Tim Duncan donated a double- double with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs, who have won five straight games. Tiago Splitter added 13 points and Boris Diaw finished with 10 points in the victory ... Final Score. Detroit 96, Milwaukee 94 ... ....(size: 1.6Kb)
Tampabay.com
31 Dec 2012
Times wires. Tampa Bay Times In Print ... ADVERTISEMENT ... The Spurs led all the way, with Tim Duncan helping a 20-6 start by hitting several jump shots ... Leonard 2-5 0-0 5, Duncan 7-14 4-4 18, Splitter 4-9 5-6 13, Parker 10-17 1-1 21, Green 3-7 0-0 8, Diaw 4-6 1-2 10, Ginobili 6-12 6-6 20, Jackson 2-3 3-3 8, Mills 2-6 0-0 5, Blair 0-0 1-2 1, De Colo 0-1 0-0 0, Bonner 1-1 0-0 2 ... Rebounds—San Antonio 49 (Duncan 10), Dallas 52 (Brand 10) ... ....(size: 6.1Kb)
Sacramento Bee
31 Dec 2012
Manu Ginobili scored 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting with five assists and five boards, while Tim Duncan donated a double- double with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs, who have won five straight games. Tiago Splitter added 13 points and Boris Diaw finished with 10 points in the victory ... Final Score. Detroit 96, Milwaukee 94 ... Order Reprint ....(size: 1.6Kb)
For the Gospel singer, see Tim Duncan (singer).
Timothy Theodore "Tim" Duncan (born April 25, 1976)[1] is an American professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 6-foot 11-inch (2.11 m), 255-pound (116 kg)[2] power forward/center is a four-time NBA champion, two-time NBA MVP, three-time NBA Finals MVP, and NBA Rookie of the Year. The Spurs' team captain, he is a 13 time NBA All-Star[3] and the only player in NBA history to be selected to both All-NBA and All-Defensive Teams during each of his first 13 seasons.[4]
Duncan started out as a swimmer and only began playing basketball in ninth grade after Hurricane Hugo destroyed the only Olympic-sized pool on his home of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. He soon became a standout for St. Dunstan's Episcopal High School, and had an illustrious college career with the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons, winning the Naismith College Player of the Year, USBWA College Player of the Year and John Wooden awards in his final year. Duncan graduated from college before entering the 1997 NBA Draft as the number one pick. His list of accomplishments, remarkable consistency, and leadership in the Spurs' NBA championship runs in 1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007 have led basketball experts to consider him to be one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history.
Off the court, Duncan is known for his quiet and unassuming ways, as well as his active philanthropy. He holds an honors degree in psychology and created the Tim Duncan Foundation to raise general health awareness and fund education and youth sports in various parts of the United States.[5]
Contents |
Biography[link]
Early life[link]
Duncan is the only son of Ione and William Duncan, a midwife and a mason respectively, joining his two older sisters Cheryl and Tricia in a middle-class family in Christiansted, a town on Saint Croix, one of the main islands composing the United States Virgin Islands. In school, Duncan was a bright pupil and dreamt of becoming an Olympic-level swimmer like his sister, Tricia.[6][7] His parents were very supportive and Duncan excelled at swimming, becoming a teenage standout in the 50, 100 and 400 meters freestyle and aiming to make the 1992 Olympic Games as a member of the United States Team.[6]
When Hurricane Hugo destroyed the island's only Olympic-sized swimming pool in 1989, Duncan was forced to swim in the ocean and he quickly lost his enthusiasm for swimming because of his fear of sharks.[5] Duncan was dealt another emotional blow when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and died one day before his 14th birthday.[6] In her last days, she made Duncan and his sisters promise to finish college with a degree, which would later explain Duncan's reluctance to leave college early.[8] Duncan never swam competitively again, but was inspired by his brother-in-law to turn to basketball.[8]
Duncan initially had difficulties adapting to the game he thought would help relieve his pain and frustration. Nancy Pomroy, the athletic director of the St. Croix Country Day School was quoted: "[Duncan] was so huge. So big and tall, but he was awfully awkward at the time."[9] He overcame this to become a standout for the St. Dunstan's Episcopal High School, averaging 25 points per game as a senior. His play attracted the attention of several universities, despite having only picked up the game in ninth grade.[5] Wake Forest University basketball coach Dave Odom in particular grew interested in Duncan after the 16-year-old allegedly played NBA star Alonzo Mourning to a draw in a 5-on-5 pick-up game.[6] Odom was searching for a tall, physical player to play near the basket.[6] Given the weak level of basketball in the Virgin Islands, Odom was wary about Duncan at first, especially after first meeting him and thinking him to be inattentive; Duncan stared blankly at Odom for most of the conversation.[10] However, after the first talk, Odom understood that this was just Duncan's way of paying attention, and discovered that he was not only athletically talented, but also a quick learner.[10] Eventually, despite scholarship offers by the University of Hartford, the University of Delaware and Providence College, Duncan joined Odom's Wake Forest Demon Deacons.[6]
Wake Forest University[link]
See also: List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 2000 points and 1000 rebounds, List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season rebounding leaders, List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career rebounding leaders, and List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career blocks leaders
In the year before Duncan's arrival at Wake Forest, the Demon Deacons reached the Sweet 16, but then lost main scorer Rodney Rogers, who entered the 1993 NBA Draft.[6] In the 1993–94 NCAA season, Coach Dave Odom had considered red-shirting Duncan, but was forced to play him after fellow freshman big man Makhtar N'Diaye was ruled out due to NCAA rules violations and eventually transferred to Michigan.[11] Duncan struggled with early transition problems and was even held scoreless in his first college game, but as the year progressed, he and teammate Randolph Childress led the Deacons to a 20–11 win–loss record.[6] Duncan's style of play was simple but effective, combining an array of low-post moves, mid-range bank shots and tough defense. He was chosen to represent the U.S. in the 1994 Goodwill Games.[6] Meanwhile, Duncan worked towards a degree in psychology and also took classes in anthropology and Chinese literature.[10] Despite focusing heavily on basketball, Wake Forest psychology department chairperson Deborah Best was quoted: "Tim [...] was one of my more intellectual students. [...] Other than his height, I couldn't tell him from any other student at Wake Forest."[10] Duncan also established his reputation as a stoic player, to the extent that opposing fans taunted him as "Mr. Spock", the prototypical logical, detached character from Star Trek.[10]
In the 1994–95 NCAA season, the sophomore was soon called one of the most eligible NBA prospects, along with his peers Joe Smith, Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse.[6] Los Angeles Lakers general manager Jerry West suggested that Duncan might become the top pick in the 1995 NBA Draft if he went early, but Duncan assured everyone he had no intention of going pro until he graduated, even though the NBA was planning to add a rookie salary cap in 1996. He was giving up a lot of money, but was determined to stay in school.[6] In that season, he led the Demon Deacons into the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship game against a Rasheed Wallace-led North Carolina Tar Heels. During that game, Duncan neutralized the threat of Wallace, while Childress sealed the win with a jump shot with four seconds left in overtime.[6] In the NCAA Tournament, the Demon Deacons reached the Sweet 16, and playing against Oklahoma State, Duncan scored 12 points to go with 22 rebounds and eight blocks, outplaying Bryant Reeves, but his team lost 71–66. Still, Duncan ended the year averaging 16.8 points and 12.5 rebounds per game, was named Defensive Player of the Year and became the third-best shot-blocker in NCAA history with 3.98 blocks per game.[6] He was also voted All-ACC First Team, a feat he would repeat in each of his two remaining years at Wake Forest.[12]
In the following 1995–96 NCAA season, Wake Forest had to deal with the loss of Childress, who entered the NBA. This provided an opportunity for Duncan to show his leadership qualities, and his inexperienced team lost only four games in the entire ACC season.[6] The Demon Deacons won the ACC Finals again, but in the Sweet 16, Duncan came down with flu, and his team missed the Final Four by one win. He completed another remarkable season with averages of 19.1 points and 12.3 rebounds per game, and was again voted Defensive and ACC Player of the Year.[12] At the season's end the Wake Forest star was rumored to enter the 1996 NBA Draft, but in the end, he stayed in college.[6]
In the 1996–97 NCAA season, Duncan was helped by the addition of future NBA player Loren Woods, a 7'1" player who eased the pressure on Duncan close to the basket. The Demon Deacons won their first 13 games, but then got into a slump and failed to win a third ACC title.[6] The NCAA campaign was just as frustrating, as Stanford University led by future NBA point guard Brevin Knight eliminated Duncan's team with a 72–66 win. Duncan finished with an individually impressive season though, averaging 20.8 points, 14.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game while shooting .606 from the field and winning the Defensive Player of the Year for a third straight season. He earned first-team All-America honors for the second time, and was a unanimous pick for both USBWA and Naismith College Player of the Year.[6] Duncan led the 1996–97 NCAA Division I in rebounding, was 10th in blocked shots (3.3 bpg) and 28th in scoring (20.8 ppg).[12] He was voted ACC Player of the Year again and won the 1997 John Wooden Award as the NCAA's best overall male player based on the votes of sportscasters and newswriters.[13]
In contrast to contemporary prep-to-pro players like Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O'Neal, Tracy McGrady or Kobe Bryant, Duncan stayed at college for a full four years. During that period, he was a two-time ACC Player of the Year, and a three-time NABC Defensive Player of the Year. The center also made the All-ACC Tournament between 1995 and 1997, the All-ACC First Team between 1995 and 1997, and was named Most Valuable Player of the 1996 ACC Tournament. Further, 1996 was the year where he led the conference in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and blocked shots, becoming the first player in conference history to lead all four of those categories.[12] Overall, Duncan led his team to a 97–31 win–loss record and finished his college career as the second-leading shot blocker in NCAA history. He remains one of only ten players with more than 2,000 career points and 1,500 career rebounds. He was also the first player in NCAA history to reach 1,500 points, 1,000 rebounds, 400 blocked shots and 200 assists. He left college as the all-time leading shot-blocker in ACC history with 481 blocks—second in NCAA annals behind Colgate's Adonal Foyle and third on the ACC career rebounding list with 1,570 rebounds.[12] After earning his college degree, Duncan finally made himself eligible for the 1997 NBA Draft.
NBA career[link]
"Twin Towers" (1997–2003)[link]
In the 1997 NBA Draft, the San Antonio Spurs drafted Duncan with the first draft pick.[3] The Spurs were coming off an injury-riddled 1996–97 season; their best player, David Robinson—himself a number one draft pick in 1987—was sidelined for most of the year, and they had finished with a 20–62 win–loss record.[14] However, as the 1997–98 season approached, the Spurs were considered a notable threat in the NBA. With an experienced center in Robinson and the number one pick in Duncan, the Spurs featured one of the best frontcourts in the league. Duncan and Robinson became known as the "Twin Towers", having earned a reputation for their exceptional defense close to the basket, forcing opponents to take lower percentage shots from outside.[6] From the beginning, Duncan established himself as a quality player: in his second-ever road game, he grabbed 22 rebounds against opposing Chicago Bulls power forward Dennis Rodman, a multiple rebounding champion and NBA Defensive Player of the Year.[15] Duncan was voted to the 1998 NBA All-Star Game by coaches. Later, when Duncan played against opposing Houston Rockets Hall-of-Fame power forward Charles Barkley, Barkley was so impressed he said: "I have seen the future and he wears number 21."[16] In his rookie season, Duncan lived up to expectations of being the number one draft pick, starting in all 82 regular-season games, and averaging 21.1 points, 11.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.5 blocks per game.[3] His defensive contributions ensured that he was elected to the All-Defensive Second Team and was also named NBA Rookie of the Year, having won the NBA Rookie of the Month award every single month that season.[5][17] Spurs coach Gregg Popovich lauded Duncan's mental toughness, stating his rookie's "demeanor was singularly remarkable", Duncan always "put things into perspective" and never got "too upbeat or too depressed."[18] Center Robinson was equally impressed with Duncan: "He's the real thing. I'm proud of his attitude and effort. He gives all the extra effort and work and wants to become a better player."[19]
The Spurs qualified for the 1998 NBA Playoffs as the fifth seed, but Duncan had a bad first half in his first playoff game against the Phoenix Suns, causing Suns coach Danny Ainge to play Duncan with less defensive pressure. The rookie capitalized on this by finishing Game 1 with 32 points and 10 rebounds[20] and replicating the performance in Game 2,[21] contributing to a 3–1 victory over the Suns.[6] However, the Spurs lost in the second round to the eventual Western Conference Champions Utah Jazz.[22] In this series, Duncan was pitted against Hall-of-Fame power forward Karl Malone. Duncan outscored Malone in the first two games which the Spurs lost,[23][24] but as the series progressed, the more experienced Malone shut Duncan down on defense and dominated on offense, outscoring the young power forward in Games 3 to 5 18–10,[25] 34–22[26] and 24–14[27] respectively.
During the lockout-shortened 1998–99 season, the Spurs started with a lackluster 6–8 record and Popovich came under fire from the press. However, Duncan and Robinson stood behind their coach, and finished the season with a 31–5 run.[28] The sophomore averaged 21.7 points, 11.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.5 blocks in the regular season, making both the All-NBA and All-Defense First Teams.[3] In the 1999 NBA Playoffs, the Spurs defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 3–1, swept the Los Angeles Lakers and the Portland Trail Blazers 4–0, and defeated the Cinderella story New York Knicks 4–1 in the Finals.[29] In this series, a large contingent of Virgin Islanders flew over to support their local hero,[30] and were not disappointed. In the first two games, the "Twin Towers" outscored their Knicks counterparts Chris Dudley/Larry Johnson with 41 points, 26 rebounds and nine blocks versus five points, 12 rebounds and zero blocks.[30] After a Game 3 loss in which Duncan was held scoreless in the third quarter and committed three turnovers in the last quarter, Duncan rebounded with 28 points and 18 rebounds in a Game 4 win,[30] and in Game 5, the Spurs protected a 78–77 lead seconds from the end with the ball in the Knicks' possession. Double teamed by Duncan and Robinson, Knicks swingman Latrell Sprewell missed a last-second desperation shot,[30] and after closing out the series with a strong 31-point and 9-rebound showing in Game 5, Duncan was named Finals MVP, bringing San Antonio their first-ever NBA championship.[31] The accolades for the Spurs soon arrived, with Sports Illustrated reporting that the San Antonio "monkey has been shed", and that the Spurs were no longer known as the "San Antonio softies". The magazine praised Finals MVP Duncan, who was later quoted: "This is incredible. We kept our focus and we pulled it out."[31] Sports Illustrated journalist and retired NBA player Alex English added: "Duncan came up big each time they went to him with that sweet turnaround jumper off the glass. He was the man tonight [in Game 5]." And Popovich later said to losing coach Jeff Van Gundy: "I've got Tim [Duncan] and you don't. That's the difference."[31]
In the 1999–2000 season, Duncan further cemented his reputation. He averaged 23.2 points, 12.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.2 blocks per game, earned another pair of All-NBA and All-Defense First Team call-ups, and was co-MVP with Shaquille O'Neal of the NBA All-Star Game.[3] However, the Spurs had a disappointing post-season. Duncan injured his meniscus shortly before the end of the regular season and was unable to play in even one post-season game.[5] Consequently, the Spurs were eliminated in the first round of the 2000 NBA Playoffs, losing 3–1 to the Phoenix Suns.[32] Nonetheless, Duncan rebounded in the next season, and with strong regular-season averages of 22.2 points, 12.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.3 blocks, earned himself yet another pair of All-NBA and All-Defensive First Team call-ups.[3] In the 2001 NBA Playoffs, the Spurs eliminated the Timberwolves 3–1, defeated the Dallas Mavericks 4–1, but then bowed out against the Lakers led by superstars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, losing in four straight games.[33] Sports Illustrated described the series as a "[m]erciless mismatch", and Duncan was criticized as "silent when the Spurs need him most".[34]
On the back of two consecutive playoff disappointments, Duncan improved statistically in the 2001–02 season. He averaged career highs in scoring (25.5 points per game, including a league-leading 764 field goals and 560 attempted free throws) and rebounding (12.7 boards per game, and his accumulated 1042 boards again led the league), and also averaged 3.7 assists and 2.5 blocks per game, both career highs.[3] Coupled with another pair of All-NBA and All-Defensive First Team call-ups, he was named the league's Most Valuable Player, joining teammate David Robinson as the only Spurs members to earn the honor.[35] On the other hand, Duncan's team struggled with the fact that the aging Robinson was no longer able to sustain his level of performance, and backup center-forward Malik Rose had to step in more often.[6] In the 2002 NBA Playoffs, the Spurs were again outmatched by the Lakers. Up against star center O'Neal once more, the Spurs were defeated 4–1 by the eventual champions.[36] Duncan, who managed 34 points and a franchise-high 25 rebounds in Game 5, stated his frustration: "I thought we really had a chance at this series. The Lakers proved to be more than we could handle. Again, we had a (heck) of a run at it. We had opportunities to win games and make it a different series, but that's just the way the ball rolls sometimes."[37] Nevertheless, NBA.com praised Duncan as "phenomenal" and criticized his supporting cast, stating Duncan "made 11-of-23 shots and 12-of-14 free throws, adding four assists and two blocks [a]nd once again, he did not have enough help."[37] Also, Robinson said "Tim [Duncan] was like Superman out there", and conceded that the Lakers were simply better, just like in the last playoffs campaign.[37]
The 2002–03 season saw Duncan enjoy another standout season in which he averaged 23.3 points, a career-high 12.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.9 blocks per game, and yet another dual All-NBA and All-Defense First Team call-up, resulting in his second NBA Most Valuable Player Award.[3][6] At age 38, Robinson announced that year as his last season, and his playing time was cut by coach Popovich to save his energy for the playoffs.[6] The Spurs qualified easily for the playoffs, concluding the regular season as the Conference number one seed with a 60–22 record.[38] Although San Antonio now had new offensive threats in Tony Parker and Manu Ginóbili, during the playoffs, it was Duncan's performance in the semi-finals against the Los Angeles Lakers which was singled out for praise by Popovich, who stated: "I thought in Game 5 and Game 6, he [Duncan] was astounding in his focus. He pulled everyone along these last two games."[39] In the series, Duncan was matched up against forward Robert Horry, dominated him the entire series[39] and closed out the series in style; Duncan finished Game 6 with 37 points and 16 rebounds, allowing Spurs coach Popovich to call timeout with 2:26 left to instruct his team not to celebrate excessively.[39] The Spurs made it to the finals, and defeated the New Jersey Nets 88–77 in Game Six to win their second ever NBA championship.[40] Helped by an inspired Robinson, Duncan almost recorded a quadruple double in the final game,[41] and was named the NBA Finals MVP.[5] Duncan said of the victory: "We were all confident that something would happen, that we would turn the game to our favor, and it did", but felt sad that Robinson retired after winning his second championship ring.[41] Following this successful Spurs campaign, Robinson and Duncan were named Sports Illustrated's 2003 "Sportsmen of the Year".[42]
Leader of the Spurs (2003–2007)[link]
Before the 2003–04 season began, the Spurs lost their perennial captain David Robinson to retirement. Embracing the lone team leader role, Duncan led a reformed Spurs team which included Slovenian center Rasho Nesterovič, defensive stalwart Bruce Bowen, Argentinian shooting guard Ginóbili and young French point guard Parker. Coming off the bench were clutch shooting power forward Robert Horry, versatile Hedo Türkoğlu and veterans Malik Rose and Kevin Willis.[43] In retrospect, Robinson commented that at first, Duncan was reluctant to step into the void, still needing some time to truly develop his leadership skills.[44] Statistically though, Duncan remained strong; after another convincing season with averages of 22.3 points, 12.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.7 blocks,[3] he led the Spurs into the Western Conference Semifinals. There, they met the Los Angeles Lakers again, split the series 2–2, and in Game 5, Duncan made a toughly defended jump shot which put the Spurs ahead by one point with 0.4 seconds left to play. Despite the little time remaining, Lakers point guard Derek Fisher hit a buzzer beater for an upset Lakers win.[45][46] In the end, the Spurs lost the series 4–2, and Duncan attributed the strong Lakers defense as one of the reasons for the loss.[47]
Duncan and his Spurs looked to re-assert themselves in the next 2004–05 season. Despite their new captain's slight statistical slump (20.3 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.6 blocks per game),[3] the Spurs won the second seed for the 2005 NBA Playoffs by winning 59 games.[48] In the first round, the Spurs eliminated the Denver Nuggets four games to one, and met the Seattle SuperSonics in the semi-finals. After splitting the first four games, Duncan led his team to two decisive victories,[6] setting up a meeting with the Phoenix Suns, known for their up-tempo basketball. The Spurs managed to beat the Suns at their own game, defeating them 4–1[6] and earning a spot in the 2005 NBA Finals against the Detroit Pistons. In the Finals, Duncan was pitted against Detroit's defensively strong frontcourt anchored by multiple NBA Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace. After two convincing Game 1 and 2 wins for the Spurs, the Pistons double teamed Duncan and forced him to play further from the basket.[6] Detroit won the next two games and the series was eventually tied at 3–3, but Duncan was instrumental in Game 7, recording 25 points and 11 rebounds as the Spurs defeated the Pistons.[49] NBA.com reported that "[w]ith his unique multidimensional talent, Duncan depleted and dissected the Pistons... He was the fulcrum of virtually every key play down the stretch", and coach Popovich added: "[Duncan's] complete game is so sound, so fundamental, so unnoticed at times, because if he didn't score, people think, 'Well, he didn't do anything'. But he was incredible and he was the force that got it done for us."[49] Detroit's center Ben Wallace remarked: "He put his team on his shoulders and carried them to a championship [...t]hat's what the great players do."[49] Duncan won his third NBA Finals MVP Award, joining Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, and Magic Johnson as the only players in NBA history to win it three times.[5]
During the 2005–06 season, Duncan suffered from plantar fasciitis for most of the season,[50] which was at least partly responsible for his sinking output (18.6 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.0 blocks per game), and also for his failure to make the All-NBA First Team after eight consecutive appearances.[3] The big man came back strong in the 2006 NBA Playoffs against the Dallas Mavericks, where he outscored rival power forward Dirk Nowitzki 32.2 to 27.1 points, with neither Nowitzki nor Mavericks center Erick Dampier able to stop Duncan with their man-to-man defense.[51] But after splitting the first six games, Duncan became the tragic hero of his team in Game 7. Despite scoring 39 points in regulation time and fouling out both Dampier and Keith Van Horn, Duncan only made one of seven field goal attempts in overtime against Mavericks reserve center DeSagana Diop, and the Spurs lost Game 7.[51]
The following season, however, was another championship year for Duncan and the Spurs. Duncan averaged 20.0 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.4 blocks per game in the regular season,[3] and was selected as a Western Conference starter for the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, his ninth appearance in the event. In the playoffs, he led the Spurs to a 4–1 series win over the Denver Nuggets in the opening round of the 2007 NBA Playoffs, a 4–2 win over the Phoenix Suns in the second round, and a 4–1 win against the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference Finals, setting up a meeting with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals.[52] There, the Spurs swept the Cavaliers 4–0, earning Duncan his and San Antonio's fourth ever championship.[53] Duncan proclaimed that that championship was "the best" of his four championships, and acknowledged he played "sub-par" and thus received only one vote for NBA Finals MVP from a panel of ten.[44] His colleagues were more appreciative of Duncan; among others, ex-teammate David Robinson referred to the Spurs titles as the "Tim Duncan era", and lauded his leadership. Coach Popovich also praised Duncan: "Tim is the common denominator. He's [had] a different cast around him [in] '99, '03 and '05. He's welcomed them all. [...] But he is that easy to play with, and his skills are so fundamentally sound that other people can fit in."[44] NBA commissioner David Stern added: "[Duncan] is a player for the ages. I'm a tennis fan, and Pete Sampras is one of the greats. OK, he wasn't Andre Agassi or John McEnroe. He just happens to be one of the greatest players of all time. You take great players as you find them."[44]
Chasing the fifth championship (2007–present)[link]
With Duncan being healthy for 78 games and posting typical 20/10 numbers,[54] San Antonio concluded the 2007–08 regular season with a 56–26 record, finishing behind the Lakers and New Orleans Hornets in the Western Conference and setting up themselves for a first-round contest against the Suns. The Suns—defeated by the Spurs in three of the past four seasons of playoffs—were out for revenge and featured a new player in four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal. In Game 1, Duncan set the tone with a 40-point game and a rare three-pointer that sent the game into double overtime.[55] The trio of Duncan, Ginóbili and Parker continued playing to form for the remainder of the series, and the Spurs eliminated the Suns in five games.[56] In the first game of the next round against the Chris Paul-led Hornets, San Antonio was badly defeated 101–82 as Duncan played one of the worst playoff games in his career, recording only 5 points and 3 rebounds.[57] The Spurs dropped the next game as well, but recovered in Games 3 and 4, with Duncan putting up a team-high 22 point/15 rebound/4 block performance in the game that tied the series.[58] Duncan then recorded 20 points and 15 rebounds in Game 6,[59] and the Spurs relied on their experience to seal the series in Game 7.[60] However, arch-rivals Los Angeles Lakers defeated San Antonio in five games in the Conference Finals, and the Spurs once again failed to capture back-to-back NBA championships.[61]
Duncan started the 2008–09 season with strong showings in points and rebounds per game. However, by mid-season, his performance declined and he was subsequently diagnosed with chronic knee tendinosis.[62] Despite Duncan having problems with his knee and the team losing the services of shooting guard Ginóbili for most of the season, San Antonio qualified for the playoffs as the third seed with a 54–28 record.[63][64] Coupled with an aging supporting cast (Bowen, Michael Finley and Kurt Thomas were all in their late 30s), however, the Spurs were only considered fringe contenders for the championship.[64] As it turned out, Duncan and Parker were not enough to help the Spurs avoid a 4–1 defeat by Dallas, and the Spurs were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2000.[65]
With the Spurs looking to provide a more solid supporting cast in the 2009–10 season, they acquired Richard Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Antonio McDyess, DeJuan Blair, and Keith Bogans.[66] The team got off to a 5–6 start, but a series of double double performances by Duncan gave them a 9–6 record by the end of November. Duncan was subsequently named the Western Conference Player of the Week for the last week of November.[67] Even at 34 years of age, he remained a constant 20–10 threat, being only one of three players in the league at the mid-season to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds a game. On January 21, 2010, Duncan was named as the starting forward for the West for the 2010 NBA All-Star Game.[68] After securing yet another 50-win season, the Spurs qualified for the playoffs as the seventh seed, and defeated Dallas 4–2 in the first round, only to lose 4–0 to Phoenix in the next round.
Eleven games into the 2010–11 season, Duncan became the Spurs' all-time leader in points scored and games played.[69] Along the way, the Spurs compiled a 12-game winning streak to go 13–2 after 15 games. On November 30, 2010, Duncan recorded his third career triple-double against the Golden State Warriors.[70] 12 days later, in a game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Duncan became the 94th player in NBA history to play 1000 games. Through his 1000th game, the Spurs have been 707–293; only Scottie Pippen (715–285) had a better record with his team through his first 1000 games.[71] The Spurs were 29–4 after 33 games—one of the ten best starts in NBA history[72]–and led the league at 35–6 halfway through the season.[73] Although Duncan produced career-lows in points and rebounds per game, the Spurs ended the regular season as the first seed in the West for the 2011 NBA Playoffs, and were second in the league (to Chicago). Despite finishing with a 61–21 record, however, the Spurs could not avoid being upset in the first round, 4–2, by the eighth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies.
The Spurs again finished the 2011–12 season as the number one seed in the West—it was a lockout-shortened 66-game season—tying with the Chicago Bulls for a league-best 50–16 record. Prior to a game against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 24, 2012, head coach Gregg Popovich decided to give Duncan a night off by listing him on the official scorecard as 'DNP-OLD', poking fun at his 36-year old body.[74] Overall, Duncan's numbers remained at par with the previous season. The triumvirate of Duncan-Parker-Ginóbili entered the 2012 NBA Playoffs well-rested and healthy, and the Spurs swept the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers 4–0 in the first two rounds. On May 31, 2012, in the third game of the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Duncan set the record for most career blocks in playoffs history, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
NBA career statistics[link]
| Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| † | Denotes seasons in which San Antonio won an NBA Championship |
- Correct as of May 20, 2012[54]
Regular season[link]
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | San Antonio | 82 | 82 | 39.1 | .549 | .000 | .662 | 11.9 | 2.7 | .7 | 2.5 | 21.1 |
| 1998–99† | San Antonio | 50 | 50 | 39.3 | .495 | .143 | .690 | 11.4 | 2.4 | .9 | 2.5 | 21.7 |
| 1999–00 | San Antonio | 74 | 74 | 38.9 | .490 | .091 | .761 | 12.4 | 3.2 | .9 | 2.2 | 23.2 |
| 2000–01 | San Antonio | 82 | 82 | 38.7 | .499 | .259 | .618 | 12.2 | 3.0 | .9 | 2.3 | 22.2 |
| 2001–02 | San Antonio | 82 | 82 | 40.6 | .508 | .100 | .799 | 12.7 | 3.7 | .7 | 2.5 | 25.5 |
| 2002–03† | San Antonio | 81 | 81 | 39.3 | .513 | .273 | .710 | 12.9 | 3.9 | .7 | 2.9 | 23.3 |
| 2003–04 | San Antonio | 69 | 68 | 36.6 | .501 | .167 | .599 | 12.4 | 3.1 | .9 | 2.7 | 22.3 |
| 2004–05† | San Antonio | 66 | 66 | 33.4 | .496 | .333 | .670 | 11.1 | 2.7 | .7 | 2.6 | 20.3 |
| 2005–06 | San Antonio | 80 | 80 | 34.8 | .484 | .400 | .629 | 11.0 | 3.2 | .9 | 2.0 | 18.6 |
| 2006–07† | San Antonio | 80 | 80 | 34.1 | .546 | .111 | .637 | 10.6 | 3.4 | .8 | 2.4 | 20.0 |
| 2007–08 | San Antonio | 78 | 78 | 34.0 | .497 | .000 | .730 | 11.3 | 2.8 | .7 | 2.0 | 19.3 |
| 2008–09 | San Antonio | 75 | 75 | 33.6 | .504 | .000 | .692 | 10.7 | 3.5 | .5 | 1.7 | 19.3 |
| 2009–10 | San Antonio | 78 | 77 | 31.3 | .519 | .182 | .725 | 10.1 | 3.2 | .6 | 1.5 | 17.9 |
| 2010–11 | San Antonio | 76 | 76 | 28.3 | .500 | .000 | .716 | 8.9 | 2.7 | .7 | 1.9 | 13.4 |
| 2011–12 | San Antonio | 58 | 58 | 28.2 | .492 | .000 | .695 | 9.0 | 2.3 | .7 | 1.5 | 15.4 |
| Career | 1111 | 1109 | 35.4 | .507 | .177 | .688 | 11.3 | 3.1 | .7 | 2.2 | 20.3 | |
| All-Star | 13 | 12 | 22.2 | .560 | .333 | .765 | 9.5 | 2.2 | 1.0 | .6 | 10.5 |
Playoffs[link]
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | San Antonio | 9 | 9 | 41.6 | .521 | .000 | .667 | 9.0 | 1.9 | .6 | 2.6 | 20.7 |
| 1999† | San Antonio | 17 | 17 | 43.1 | .511 | .000 | .748 | 11.5 | 2.8 | .8 | 2.7 | 23.2 |
| 2001 | San Antonio | 13 | 13 | 40.5 | .488 | 1.000 | .639 | 14.5 | 3.8 | 1.1 | 2.7 | 24.4 |
| 2002 | San Antonio | 9 | 9 | 42.2 | .453 | .333 | .822 | 14.4 | 5.0 | .7 | 4.3 | 27.6 |
| 2003† | San Antonio | 24 | 24 | 42.5 | .529 | .000 | .677 | 15.4 | 5.3 | .6 | 3.3 | 24.7 |
| 2004 | San Antonio | 10 | 10 | 40.5 | .522 | .000 | .632 | 11.3 | 3.2 | .8 | 2.0 | 22.1 |
| 2005† | San Antonio | 23 | 23 | 37.8 | .464 | .200 | .717 | 12.4 | 2.7 | .3 | 2.3 | 23.6 |
| 2006 | San Antonio | 13 | 13 | 37.9 | .573 | .000 | .718 | 10.5 | 3.3 | .9 | 1.9 | 25.8 |
| 2007† | San Antonio | 20 | 20 | 36.8 | .521 | .000 | .644 | 11.5 | 3.3 | .6 | 3.1 | 22.2 |
| 2008 | San Antonio | 17 | 17 | 39.2 | .449 | .200 | .626 | 14.5 | 3.3 | .9 | 2.1 | 20.2 |
| 2009 | San Antonio | 5 | 5 | 32.8 | .532 | .000 | .607 | 8.0 | 3.2 | .6 | 1.2 | 19.8 |
| 2010 | San Antonio | 10 | 10 | 37.3 | .520 | .500 | .478 | 9.9 | 2.6 | .7 | 1.7 | 19.0 |
| 2011 | San Antonio | 6 | 6 | 35.3 | .478 | .000 | .625 | 10.5 | 2.7 | .5 | 2.5 | 12.7 |
| 2012 | San Antonio | 8 | 8 | 32.0 | .540 | .000 | .792 | 9.0 | 2.9 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 17.6 |
| Career | 184 | 184 | 39.2 | .503 | .161 | .680 | 12.2 | 3.4 | .7 | 2.5 | 22.5 |
United States national team[link]
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men’s basketball | ||
Competitor for  United States |
||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Bronze | 2004 Athens | Team competition |
| FIBA Americas Championship | ||
| Gold | 1999 San Juan | Team competition |
| Gold | 2003 San Juan | Team competition |
| Goodwill Games | ||
| Bronze | 1994 St. Petersburg | Team competition |
| Summer Universiade | ||
| Gold | 1995 Fukuoka | Team competition |
In 1998 Duncan was selected as one of the last two players for the United States national team for the World Basketball Championship. However, this team was later replaced with CBA and college players because of the NBA lockout.[75] Duncan's first chance at playing for the national team came in 1999 when he was called up to the Olympic Qualifying Team. He averaged 12.7 ppg, 9.1 rpg and 2.4 bpg and led the team to a 10–0 finish en route to a qualifying berth for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but a knee injury forced him to stay out of the Olympic Games themselves.[12]
In 2003, Duncan was also a member of the USA team that recorded ten wins and qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics.[12] He started all the games he played in and averaged team bests of 15.6 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.56 bpg, while shooting 60.7 percent from the field.[12] At the Olympics itself, the team lost three games on its way to a bronze medal.[76] The record represented more losses in a single year than in the 68 previous years combined. It was also the first time since NBA professionals became eligible that the U.S. men's basketball team returned home without gold medals.[76] After the tournament, Duncan commented, "I am about 95 percent sure my FIBA career is over. I'll try not to share my experiences with anyone."[77] In total, Duncan was a member of five USA Basketball teams and played in 40 international games.[12]
Player profile[link]
Duncan starts at the power forward position, but can also play center. With a double-double career average in points and rebounds, he is considered one of the most consistent players in the NBA.[49] He has earned All-NBA and All-Defensive honors every season since his rookie year in 1998 while being a perennial candidate for the Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year awards.[3][78] Regarded as one of the league's best interior defenders, Duncan also ranks consistently as one of the top scorers, rebounders and shot-blockers in the league.[3] As of the 2009–10 season, he is ranked third in regular season point-rebound double-doubles.[79] His main weakness remains his free throw shooting, with a career average of less than 70%.[3]
Apart from his impressive statistics, Duncan has gained a reputation as a good clutch player, as evidenced by his three NBA Finals MVP awards and his playoff career averages being higher than his regular-season statistics.[3] Eleven-time NBA champion Bill Russell further compliments Duncan on his passing ability, and rates him as one of the most efficient players of his generation,[80] a view shared by 19-time NBA All-Star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.[81] Because of his versatility and success, basketball experts have spoken of Duncan as one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history,[49][82][83][84][85] while coach Popovich and team-mates Parker and Ginóbili have also credited much of San Antonio's success to him.[86][87] Duncan's detractors, however, label him as "boring" because of his simple but effective style of play (thus earning him the nickname "The Big Fundamental"). Following his first championship ring in 1999, Sports Illustrated described him as a "quiet, boring MVP",[88] a characterization which persists today.[80]
Duncan himself commented on his "boring" image, stating: "If you show excitement, then you also may show disappointment or frustration. If your opponent picks up on this frustration, you are at a disadvantage."[89] Sports journalist Kevin Kernan commented on his ability to relax and stay focused, stating that having a degree in psychology, Duncan often not only outplays, but out-psychs his opponents.[90] Duncan has also stated that he especially likes his bank shot, saying: "It is just easy for me. It just feels good."[91]
Honors[link]
In his basketball career, Duncan has collected a number of individual and team honors, including being a two-time MVP (2002, 2003), four-time NBA champion (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007) and three-time NBA Finals MVP (1999, 2003, 2005). As a college player, he was honored by the House of Representatives,[92] named the ACC Male Athlete of the Year, won the John R. Wooden Award, and was selected as the Naismith College Player of the Year (all 1997).[12] In 2002, Duncan was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team honoring the 50 greatest players in ACC history.[93] In his debut year in the NBA (1998), he was voted Rookie of the Year and elected into the All-NBA Rookie Team, made the first of 13 NBA All-Star Teams (1997–98 and 1999–2000 to 2010–11), 13 All-NBA Teams (1997–98 to 2008–09; nine First Team nominations), and 13 All-Defensive Teams (1997–98 to 2009–10; eight First Team nominations).[3] With these impressive performances, Duncan is one of only four players to receive All-NBA First Team honors in each of his first eight seasons (1998–2005), along with Hall of Famers Bob Pettit (ten seasons), Larry Bird (nine seasons), and Oscar Robertson (nine seasons), and is the only player in NBA history to receive All-NBA and All-Defensive honors in his first 13 seasons (1997–98 to 2009–10).[94]
Duncan was also named by the Association for Professional Basketball Research as one of "100 Greatest Professional Basketball Players of The 20th Century", the youngest player on that list.[95] In the 2001–02 season, he won the IBM Player Award[96] and The Sporting News (TSN) MVP Award,[97] becoming the third player to ever win the NBA MVP, IBM Player and TSN Player Awards in the same season. On February 18, 2006, he was named one of the Next 10 Greatest Players on the tenth anniversary of the release of the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team by the TNT broadcasting crew.[98] In 2009, Duncan was ranked 8th by Slam Magazine in their list of the Top 50 NBA players of All Time.[99] Sports Illustrated named him its NBA Player of the Decade.[100]
Off the court[link]
Tim Duncan has two older sisters, Cheryl and Tricia[6] Like their younger brother, they were gifted athletes: Cheryl was a championship swimmer before she became a nurse, and Tricia swam for the U.S. Virgin Islands at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.[101]
Duncan married his wife Amy in 2001[5] and the couple had their first child, daughter Sydney, in the summer of 2005.[5] They had a second child, a son, during the summer of 2007. Amy oversees the Tim Duncan Foundation, which has been established to serve the areas of health awareness/research, education, and youth sports/recreation in San Antonio, Winston-Salem, and the United States Virgin Islands.[5] The foundation holds two major fundraisers each year: the annual Tim Duncan Bowling for Dollar$ Charity Bowl-A-Thon and the annual Slam Duncan Charity Golf Classic.[5] Between 2001 and 2002, the foundation raised more than $350,000 to help fight breast and prostate cancer.[13] In those two years, Duncan was named by Sporting News as one of the "Good Guys" in sports.[13] The Spurs captain also supports the Children's Bereavement Center, the Children's Center of San Antonio and the Cancer Therapy and Research Center.[5]
Duncan cites his late mother Ione as his main inspiration. Among other things, she taught him and his sisters the nursery rhyme "Good, Better, Best. Never let it rest / Until your Good is Better, and your Better is your Best," which he adopted as his personal motto.[8] On and off the court, he believes that the three most important values are dedication, teamwork and camaraderie.[8] The Spurs captain has also stated that he chose #21 for his jersey because that was his brother-in-law's college number, since he was Duncan's main basketball inspiration, and cites Hall-of-Fame Los Angeles Lakers point guard Magic Johnson as his childhood idol.[8]
For his mixture of success and low-key personality, Duncan has been honored with the Virgin Islands Medal of Honor, the highest award bestowed by the Virgin Islands territorial government, and has been celebrated in several "Tim Duncan Day" ceremonies.[102] In 2000, Legislature of the Virgin Islands President Vargrave Richards of St. Croix said: "He is a quiet giant. His laid-back attitude is the embodiment of the people of St. Croix, doing things without fanfare and hoopla."[102]
Regarding his own personality, Duncan compares himself to Will Hunting of the movie Good Will Hunting, which centers around the genial and antagonistic character of Will Hunting, portrayed by Matt Damon. He stated: "I'm just a taller, slightly less hyperactive version of the Damon character in the movie. I really enjoyed how he probed people and found out their weaknesses just by asking questions and stating outlandish remarks."[103] He also admitted shunning the limelight because "[fame] is not me."[103] Off the court, he has stated that his best friend is former Spurs colleague Antonio Daniels, who describes Duncan as a cheerful, funny person off the hardwood.[7]
Duncan loves Renaissance fairs, Larping and the fantasy role playing game Dungeons & Dragons.[104] An avid video game player, he acknowledges a certain joy of playing "himself" on basketball video games. Duncan states if he had the chance, he would challenge NBA legends Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to a one-on-one game.[8]
The satirical newspaper The Onion has repeatedly poked fun of Duncan's low key and cerebral reputation and its contradiction with the stereotype of outlandish celebrity athlete behavior with headlines such as "Tim Duncan Hams It Up For Crowd By Arching Left Eyebrow Slightly," "Tim Duncan Offers To Do Taxes For Entire Spurs Team," "Tim Duncan Autobiography Reveals He Is Friends With 10,000 Women" (a parody of Wilt Chamberlain's famous claim) and "Tim Duncan Announces Shoe Deal With Florsheim."[105]
See also[link]
- List of National Basketball Association players with 1000 games played
- List of National Basketball Association career scoring leaders
- List of National Basketball Association career rebounding leaders
- List of National Basketball Association career blocks leaders
- List of National Basketball Association career turnovers leaders
- List of National Basketball Association career free throw scoring leaders
- List of National Basketball Association career playoff scoring leaders
- List of National Basketball Association career playoff rebounding leaders
- List of National Basketball Association career playoff blocks leaders
- List of National Basketball Association career playoff turnovers leaders
- List of National Basketball Association career playoff free throw scoring leaders
Books[link]
- Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- Byman, Jeremy (2000). Tim Duncan (Great Athletes Series). ISBN 978-1-883846-43-5.
- Torres, John Albert (2002). Sports Great Tim Duncan. ISBN 978-0-7660-1766-5.
- Roselius, J Chris (2006). Tim Duncan: Champion on And Off the Court. ISBN 978-0-7660-2821-0.
References[link]
- ^ Tim Duncan Q&A, slamduncan.com. Retrieved January 25, 2008.
- ^ Tim Duncan, espn.com. Retrieved April 18, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Tim Duncan, basketball-reference.com, accessed May 20, 2008.
- ^ http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/04/17/3006059/spurs-tim-duncan-coming-toward.html
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Tim Duncan – Bio, nba.com. Retrieved August 25, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Tim Duncan Biography, jockbio.com. Retrieved April 19, 2007.
- ^ a b Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ a b c d e f Questions with Tim Duncan, slamduncan.com. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
- ^ Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ a b c d e Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. pp. 28–31. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ Crothers, Tim, "Slam Duncan", sportsillustrated.cnn.com, November 27, 1995. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j USA Basketball Bio: Tim Duncan[dead link], usabasketball.com. Retrieved June 15, 2007.
- ^ a b c Adidas signs superstar Tim Duncan[dead link], press.adidas.com, February 7, 2003. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
- ^ 1996–97 Standings, nba.com/history. Retrieved April 19, 2007.
- ^ Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ Facts, jockbio.com. Retrieved February 20, 2008.
- ^ Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ San Antonio Spurs at Phoenix Suns, April 23, 1998, basketball-reference.com. Retrieved August 30, 2007.
- ^ San Antonio Spurs at Phoenix Suns, April 25, 1998[dead link], basketball-reference.com. Retrieved August 30, 2007.
- ^ 1998 NBA Playoffs, basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 19, 2007.
- ^ San Antonio Spurs at Utah Jazz, May 5, 1998, basketball-reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
- ^ San Antonio Spurs at Utah Jazz, May 7, 1998, basketball-reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
- ^ Utah Jazz at San Antonio Spurs, May 9, 1998, basketball-reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
- ^ Utah Jazz at San Antonio Spurs, May 10, 1998, basketball-reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
- ^ San Antonio Spurs at Utah Jazz, May 12, 1998, basketball-reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
- ^ Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ 1999 Playoff Results, nba.com/history. Retrieved April 19, 2007.
- ^ a b c d Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. pp. 73–76. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ a b c Duncan, Robinson lead San Antonio to first NBA title, sportsillustrated.cnn.com, June 28, 1999. Retrieved April 29, 2007.
- ^ 2000 Playoff Results, nba.com/history. Retrieved June 16, 2007.
- ^ 2001 Playoff Results, nba.com/history. Retrieved June 16, 2007.
- ^ Associated Press, Bryant, Shaq keep Lakers rolling past, sportsillustrated.cnn.com, May 2, 2001. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
- ^ Badger, T.A., "It's official: Duncan captures MVP award", usatoday.com, May 10, 2002. Retrieved August 13, 2007.
- ^ 2002 Playoff Results, nba.com/history. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
- ^ a b c Lakers Roll Past Spurs, Eye Clash With Kings, nba.com. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
- ^ 2002–03 Standings, nba.com/history. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
- ^ a b c Spurs, Tim, Dunk Lakers, Head to Conference Finals, nba.com, May 15, 2003. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
- ^ 2003 Playoff Results, nba.com/history. Retrieved June 16, 2007.
- ^ a b Williams, Bryan, "Feels Like the First Time", nba.com, June 15, 2003. Retrieved August 21, 2007.
- ^ Associated Press, Duncan, Robinson share SI sportsman award, sportsillustrated.cnn.com, December 8, 2003. Retrieved June 16, 2007.
- ^ 2003–04 San Antonio Spurs, basketball-reference.com. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
- ^ a b c d Duncan says his fourth ring finest of all, sports.espn.go.com, June 18, 2007. Retrieved August 21, 2007.
- ^ Associated Press, Spurs file protest, say clock was 'late', sports.espn.go.com, May 13, 2004. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
- ^ Associated Press, Box Score Lakers at Spurs 74–73, sports.espn.go.com, May 13, 2004. Retrieved August 30, 2007.
- ^ Associated Press, L.A. awaits Wolves-Kings winner, sports.espn.go.com, May 15, 2004. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
- ^ 2004–05 Standings, nba.com. Retrieved September 6, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e Spurs Dethrone Pistons To Take Third NBA Title, nba.com, June 23, 2005. Retrieved April 20, 2007.
- ^ Allen, Marque, "Prognosis Spurs: Plantar Fasciitis", nba.com/spurs, March 13, 2006. Retrieved August 12, 2007.
- ^ a b Nowitzki, Mavericks Outlast and Dethrone Spurs, nba.com, May 22, 2006, accessed May 22, 2007.
- ^ At a Glance 2007, nba.com, June 14, 2007. Retrieved June 9, 2007.
- ^ Parker, Spurs Close Out Cavs for Fourth Title, nba.com, June 15, 2007. Retrieved June 15, 2007.
- ^ a b Tim Duncan – Career Stats and Totals, nba.com. Retrieved April 21, 2008.
- ^ White, Elizabeth, Duncan Scores 40 to Lead Spurs to Game 1 Win Over Suns", nba.com, April 19, 2008, accessed May 1, 2008.
- ^ Spurs KO Rattled Suns to Close Out Series, nba.com, April 30, 2008, accessed May 1, 2008.
- ^ Associated Press, West, Hornets Sting Spurs in Game 1, nba.com, May 4, 2008, accessed May 5, 2008.
- ^ Hornets at Spurs Game Info, nba.com, May 11, 2008, accessed May 12, 2008.
- ^ Associated Press, Ginobili, Duncan dominate as Spurs force Game 7, scores.espn.go.com, May 15, 2008, accessed May 16, 2008.
- ^ Associated Press, Spurs outlast youthful Hornets, win Game 7 to advance to conference finals, sports.espn.go.com, accessed May 26, 2008.
- ^ Associated Press, Bryant Leads Lakers past Spurs, into NBA Finals, nba.com, May 29, 2008. Retrieved June 14, 2008.
- ^ Duncan out with quad tendinosis, sports.espn.go.com. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
- ^ 2008–09 NBA Season Summary, basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 16, 2009.
- ^ a b Hollinger, John, PER Diem: April 17, 2009, sports.espn.go.com. Retrieved April 19, 2009.
- ^ Weber, Paul, "Mavericks oust Spurs from playoffs with 106–93 win", nba.com, April 29, 2009. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
- ^ Bogans to join 5th team in 7 seasons, sports.espn.go.com, September 23, 2009. Retrieved September 24, 2009.
- ^ Tim Duncan Named Player Of The Week, nba.com, November 30, 2009. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
- ^ All-Star starters announced Thursday, sports.espn.go.com, January 21, 2010. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
- ^ Aragon, Andrew,"Jazz-Spures notebook", nba.com, November 20, 2010. Retrieved November 20, 2010.
- ^ Tim Duncan's 15-18-11 leads Spurs to rout of Warriors, scores.espn.go.com, November 30, 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
- ^ Monroe, Mike, "Duncan’s 1,000th game brings 707th win", blog.mysanantonio.com, December 12, 2010. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
- ^ Associated Press.Spurs turn up D to stymie Kevin Durant, Thunder in romp, espn.go.com, January 1, 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
- ^ San Antonio Spurs Report Card, nba.com. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
- ^ Dwyer, Kelly, Tim Duncan missed Sunday night’s Spurs game because he’s ‘old,’ officially, sports.yahoo.com, March 26, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
- ^ NBA Stars Locked Out Of Team USA, cbsnews.com. Retrieved August 28, 2008.
- ^ a b USA Basketball: Men's Olympic History – 2004[dead link], usabasketball.com. Retrieved April 19, 2007.
- ^ Associated Press, U.S. men's avenge loss to Lithuania, earn bronze, sportsillustrated.cnn.com, August 28, 2004. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
- ^ San Antonio Teammates Bowen and Duncan Top 2006–07 NBA All-Defensive Team Selections, nba.com, April 30, 2007, accessed May 1, 2007.
- ^ Player Game Finder, basketball-reference.com. Retrieved July 2, 2009.
- ^ a b Russell, Bill, "Quality Basketball", nba.com, May 29, 2007. Retrieved June 4, 2007.
- ^ Hareas, John, "Q&A: Kareem on teaching, the Lakers and Tim Duncan", nba.com, March 10, 2009. Retrieved March 12, 2009.
- ^ ESPN.com's Greatest Power Forwards, espn.com, June 2, 2005. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
- ^ Rosen, Charley, "Best all-time power forwards", foxsports.com, July 18, 2005. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
- ^ DuPree, David, "Tim Duncan: best power forward ever?", usatoday.com, June 7, 2007. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
- ^ Thomsen, Ian, "My Sportsman: Tim Duncan", sportsillustrated.cnn.com, November 15, 2007. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
- ^ White, Elizabeth, "NBA: Duncan's calm creates confidence", salisburypost.com, June 7, 2007. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
- ^ Exclusive interview with Manu, usa.manuginobili.com. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
- ^ Duncan: A quiet, boring MVP, sportsillustrated.cnn.com, June 28, 1999. Retrieved August 6, 2007.
- ^ Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ Tribute to Tim Duncan of the Virgin Islands, thomas.loc.gov. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
- ^ ACC 50th Anniversary Men's Basketball Team, theacc.com, September 26, 2002. Retrieved December 28, 2008.
- ^ All-NBA Teams, nba.com/history. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
- ^ The Association for Professional Basketball Research's 100 Greatest Professional Basketball Players of the 20th Century, sportingnews.com, accessed May 4, 2007.
- ^ IBM Award, sportingnews.com, accessed May 4, 2007.
- ^ The Sporting News NBA Most Valuable Player, sportingnews.com, accessed May 4, 2007.
- ^ Martindale, David, "Legends in the Making", tnt.tv. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
- ^ The New Top 50, slamonline.com. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
- ^ Thomsen, Ian, "2000s: The Decade in Sports; NBA: Highlights and lowlights", sportsillustrated.cnn.com, December 15, 2009. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ a b Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. pp. 24–26. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ a b Kernan, Kevin (2000). Slam Duncan. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-58261-179-2.
- ^ Briggs, Jerry, "Duncan's unusual hobby and more unusual request," San Antonio Express-News (Texas), November 30, 1997.
- ^ "The Onion, Tim Duncan search", onion.com, March 8, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
External links[link]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tim Duncan |
- Career statistics and player information from NBA.com, or Basketball-Reference.com
- Official Website
- Sports Illustrated Summary
- U.S. Olympic Team bio[dead link]
- fiba.com video interview with Tim Duncan
|
|
||||||||
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Tim Duncan |
| Alternative names | Timothy Theodore Duncan |
| Short description | NBA basketball player |
| Date of birth | April 25, 1976 |
| Place of birth | Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Tim_Duncan
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
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|
| Free Agent | |
|---|---|
| Point guard / Shooting guard | |
| Personal information | |
| Born | (1975-06-07) June 7, 1975 (age 37) Hampton, Virginia |
| Nationality | American |
| High school | Bethel (Hampton, Virginia) |
| Listed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Listed weight | 165 lb (75 kg) |
| Career information | |
| College | Georgetown (1993-1996) |
| NBA Draft | 1996 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1st overall |
| Selected by the Philadelphia 76ers | |
| Pro career | 1996–present |
| Career history | |
| 1996–2006 | Philadelphia 76ers |
| 2006–2008 | Denver Nuggets |
| 2008–2009 | Detroit Pistons |
| 2009 | Memphis Grizzlies |
| 2009–2010 | Philadelphia 76ers |
| 2010–2011 | Beşiktaş (Turkey) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
|
|
| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
Allen Ezail Iverson (born June 7, 1975) is an American professional basketball player, playing both the point guard and shooting guard positions. Iverson attended Bethel High School and was a dual-sport athlete; he earned The Associated Press High School Player of the Year award in both football and basketball, and won the Division AAA Virginia State Championship in both sports.[1] After high school, Iverson attended Georgetown University for two years, where he set the school record for career scoring average (22.9 points per game) and won Big East Defensive Player of the Year awards both years.[2]
Following two successful years at Georgetown, Iverson declared eligibility for the 1996 NBA Draft, and was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the number one pick.[3] He was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in the 1996–97 season. Iverson is an eleven-time NBA All-Star which includes winning the All-Star MVP award in 2001 and 2005.
Winning the NBA scoring title during the 1998–99, 2000–01, 2001–02 and 2004–05 seasons, Iverson was one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history, despite his small stature (listed at 6 feet, 0 inches). His regular season career scoring average of 26.7 points per game ranks sixth all-time, and his playoff career scoring average of 29.7 points per game is second only to Michael Jordan. Iverson was also the NBA Most Valuable Player of the 2000–01 season and led his team to the 2001 NBA Finals the same season. Iverson represented the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics, winning the bronze medal. He also played for the Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons and the Memphis Grizzlies, before returning to the 76ers for part of the 2009–10 season.
He was rated the fifth greatest NBA shooting guard of all time by ESPN in 2008.[4]
Contents
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Early life[link]
Allen Iverson was born to his single 15-year old mother, Ann Iverson, in Hampton, Virginia, and was given his mother's maiden name after his father Allen Broughton left her.[5]
Allen attended Bethel High School, where started as quarterback for the school football team,[6] while also playing running back, kick returner and defensive back.[7] and started as point guard for the school basketball team. During his junior year, Allen was able to lead both teams to Virginia state championships, as well as earning The Associated Press High School Player of the Year award in both sports.[8]
On February 14, 1993, Iverson and several of his friends became involved in an altercation with a group of white teenagers at the Circle Lanes bowling alley in Hampton, Virginia. Allegedly, Iverson's crowd was raucous and had to be asked to quiet down several times, and eventually a shouting duel began with another group of youths. Shortly thereafter, a huge fight erupted, pitting the white crowd against the blacks. During the fight, Iverson allegedly struck a woman in the head with a chair. He, along with three of his friends who are also black, were the only people arrested. Iverson, who was 17 at the time, was convicted as an adult of the felony charge of maiming by mob, a rarely used Virginia statute that was designed to combat lynching.[9] Iverson and his supporters maintained his innocence, claiming that he left the alley as soon as the trouble began. Iverson said, "For me to be in a bowling alley where everybody in the whole place know who I am and be crackin' people upside the head with chairs and think nothin' gonna happen? That's crazy! And what kind of a man would I be to hit a girl in the head with a damn chair? I rather have 'em say I hit a man with a chair, not no damn woman."[10]
Iverson drew a 15-year prison sentence, with 10 years suspended. After Iverson spent four months at Newport News City Farm, a correctional facility in Newport News, Virginia, he was granted clemency by Virginia Governor Douglas Wilder, and the Virginia Court of Appeals overturned the conviction in 1995 for insufficient evidence.[10] This incident and its impact on the community is explored in the documentary film No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson. Iverson said of his time in prison, "I had to use the whole jail situation as something positive. Going to jail, someone sees something weak in you, they'll exploit it. I never showed any weakness. I just kept going strong until I came out."[10]
The prison sentence forced him to complete his senior year of high school at Richard Milburn High School, a school for at-risk students, instead of competing in sports at Bethel.[10] However, the three years Iverson spent there were enough to convince famed Georgetown University Coach John Thompson to come out and meet Iverson, and offer him a full scholarship to join the Georgetown Hoyas basketball team.[10]
College basketball[link]
Though Georgetown typically recruited defensive-oriented big men such as Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, and Iverson's future teammate Dikembe Mutombo with full scholarships, Coach John Thompson felt Iverson deserved a second chance after his time in prison and could not pass up the opportunity to recruit a talent like Iverson's.[10] Iverson kept up the Georgetown tradition of defense by averaging three steals per game and winning the Big East Defensive Player of the Year award in both of his two years at the University.
In his first season at Georgetown, Iverson won the Big East Rookie of the Year award and was named to the All Rookie Tournament First Team.[11] That season, Iverson led the Hoyas to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament, where they would lose to North Carolina.[12]
In his second (and final) season at Georgetown, Iverson would lead the team to a Big East Championship and all the way to the Elite 8 round of the NCAA tournament, where they would lose to the University of Massachusetts.[13] He ended his college career as the Hoyas' all-time leader in career scoring average, at 22.9 points per game.[2] Iverson would be named as a First Team All American.
Following the conclusion of his sophomore year, Iverson declared for the NBA Draft. He would be the first player to leave Georgetown early for the NBA under Coach Thompson.[10]
Professional career[link]
Philadelphia 76ers[link]
Early Years (1996–2000)[link]
After two seasons at Georgetown, Iverson was selected first overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1996 NBA Draft. Listed at just six feet tall, Iverson became the shortest first overall pick ever, in a league normally dominated by big men.
Coming to a Philadelphia team that had just finished the previous season at 18-64, Iverson was only able to help the Sixers to a 22–60 record.[14] He was however, named the 1996 Rookie of the Year and was also a member of the NBA All-Rookie First Team, after averaging 23.5 points per game, 7.5 assists per game and 2.1 steals per game. Iverson continued to help the 76ers move forward the following season, as they improved nine games to finish 31-51.[15]
The lockout-shortened 1998-1999 season would mark great improvement for the 76ers. Iverson averaged 26.8 points (which led the league, earning his first scoring title) and was named to his first All NBA first team. The Sixers finished the season at 28-22, earning Iverson his first trip to the playoffs.[16] He started all ten playoff games and averaged 28.5 points per game despite being hampered by a number of nagging injuries. Iverson led the Sixers to an upset over the number two seeded Orlando Magic in four games, before losing to the Indiana Pacers in the second round in six games.[17]
Prior to the next season, Iverson signed a six-year, $70 million contract extension.[18] That year, the Sixers would continue to improve under Iverson's leadership, as they finished 49-33, once again qualifying for the playoffs (this time earning the fifth seed, one spot higher than the previous year's sixth seed).[19] In the playoffs, Iverson averaged 26.2 points, 4.8 assists, 4 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. Philadelphia would advance past the Charlotte Hornets in the opening round, but was eliminated by Indiana in the second round in six games for the second straight year.[20]
That season, Iverson was selected to the Eastern Conference All-Star team for the first time of what would be 11 straight selections. He was the only player other than Shaquille O'Neal to receive a MVP vote that year. In the 2000 off-season, the 76ers actively tried to trade Iverson after his numerous disagreements with then-coach Larry Brown, and had agreed to terms with the Detroit Pistons before Matt Geiger, who was included in the deal, refused to forfeit his $5 million trade kicker.[21] When it became apparent that Iverson would remain a member of the Sixers, Iverson and Brown put their differences aside to make another attempt at a NBA Championship.
MVP season and trip to the finals (2000–01)[link]
During the 2000–01 season, Iverson led his team to wins in the first ten games of the season, and was named starter at the 2001 NBA All-Star Game, where he won the game MVP. The Sixers also posted a 56–26 record, the best in the Eastern Conference that season. He also averaged a then-career high 31.1 points, winning his second NBA scoring title in the process. Iverson won the NBA steals title at 2.5 a game. Iverson was named NBA Most Valuable Player; at 6 feet and 165 pounds, he became the shortest and lightest player to win the MVP award. He had 93 first-place votes out of a possible 124.[22] He was also named to the All NBA First team for his accomplishments. In the playoffs, Iverson and the Sixers defeated the Indiana Pacers in the first round, before meeting Vince Carter-led Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Semifinals. The series went the full seven games. In the next round, the Sixers defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, also in seven games, to advance to the 2001 NBA Finals against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, featuring the duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.
Iverson led the Sixers to their first finals since their 1983 championship. In game one of the 2001 NBA Finals, Iverson scored a playoff high 48 points and beat the heavily favored Lakers 107–101; it was the Lakers' only playoff loss that year. In the game he notably stepped over Tyronn Lue after hitting a crucial shot.[23] Iverson would go on to score 23, 35, 35, 37 in games 2–5, all losing efforts though the Sixers were not swept like many predicted. Iverson enjoyed his most successful season as an individual and as a member of the Sixers during the 2000–01 NBA season.
Iverson began using a basketball sleeve during this season during his recovery from bursitis in his right elbow.[24] Other players, including Carmelo Anthony, and Kobe Bryant,[25] have adopted the sleeves as well, as did fans who wore the sleeve as a fashion statement.[26] Iverson continued wearing his sleeve long after his elbow had healed.[25] Some believe that the sleeve improved Iverson's shooting ability, while Steven Kotler of Psychology Today suggested that the sleeve may act as a placebo to prevent future injuries.[25]
Early Playoff Exits and Larry Brown's departure (2001–2003)[link]
Fresh off their trip to the Finals, Iverson and the Sixers entered the 2001-2002 season with high expectations, but were plagued by injuries, and only able to muster a 43-39 record to just sneak into the playoffs.[27] Despite playing in only 60 games that season and being hampered by injuries, Iverson averaged 31.4 points per game to earn his second consecutive scoring title. The 76ers lost to the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs 3-2 in the five game series. After the defeat, Brown criticized Iverson for missing team practices. Iverson responded by saying, "We're sitting here, I'm supposed to be the franchise player, and we're in here talking about practice,"[28] and went on a rant that included the word "practice" over twenty times.[29]
The 2002–2003 season started off poorly for the Sixers, who had just traded defensive-standout Dikembe Mutombo to New Jersey, and saw a decrease in both offensive and defensive production from Aaron McKie and Eric Snow, all three of whom were key components to their Finals appearance two years prior. Iverson would once again put up stellar scoring numbers (27.6 points per game) however, and the Sixers regrouped following the All-Star break to make the playoffs with a 48-34 record.[30] They were able to defeat Baron Davis and the New Orleans Hornets in the opening round of the playoffs, before being eliminated by the Detroit Pistons in the second round after a 6-game series.
Head Coach Larry Brown left the 76ers in 2003, following the playoff loss. After his departure from the 76ers, both he and Iverson indicated that the two were on good terms and genuinely fond of one another.[Need quotation to verify] Iverson later reunited with Brown when Iverson became a member and co-captain of the 2004 United States Olympic men's basketball team. In 2005, Iverson said that Brown was without a doubt "the best coach in the world".
Disappointment and frustration (2003–2006)[link]
Randy Ayers became the next coach of the 76ers, but failed to develop any chemistry with his players, and was fired following a 21–31 start to the season. During the latter part of the that season, Iverson bristled under the disciplinarian approach of the Sixers' interim head coach Chris Ford. This led to a number of contentious incidents, including Iverson being suspended for missing practice, fined for failing to notify Ford that he would not attend a game because he was sick, and refusing to play in a game because he felt "insulted" that Ford wanted Iverson to come off the bench as he worked his way back from an injury.[31] Iverson missed a career-high 34 games in a disastrous season that saw the Sixers miss the postseason for the first time since the 1997 season.
The 2004-2005 season saw Iverson and the Sixers bounce back under the tutelage of new head coach Jim O'Brien, and additions of their first round draft pick Andre Iguodala, and All-Star forward Chris Webber who was acquired in a mid-season trade. A rejuvenated Iverson won his fourth NBA scoring title with 31 points and averaged 8 assists for the year, and helped the 76ers climb back into the postseason with a 43-49 record.[32] They would go on to lose to the eventual NBA champion Detroit Pistons in the first round, who were led by Larry Brown. In the series, Iverson had three double-doubles, including a 37 point, 15 assist performance in Philadelphia's lone win of the series.
Despite O'Brien helping the team back into the postseason, disagreements with players and management led to his firing after just one season. He was replaced by Sixers' legend Maurice Cheeks, in a personnel move Iverson praised, as Cheeks had been an assistant coach with the team when they reached the finals in 2001.[33] During the 2005–2006 season, Iverson averaged a career high 33.0 points per game. The Sixers however missed the playoffs for the second time in three years.
On April 18, 2006, Iverson and Chris Webber arrived late to the Sixers' fan appreciation night and home game finale. Players are expected to report 90 minutes before game time, but both Iverson and Webber arrived around tipoff. Coach Maurice Cheeks notified the media that neither would be playing and general manager Billy King announced that Iverson and Webber would be fined.[34] During the 2006 off-season, trade rumors had Iverson going to Denver, Atlanta, or Boston. None of the deals were completed. Iverson had made it clear that he would like to stay a Sixer.[35]
Iverson and the Sixers began the 2006-07 NBA season at 3-0 before stumbling out to a 5-10 record through 15 games.[36] Following the disappointing start, Iverson reportedly demanded a trade from the Sixers (although he would deny that).[37] As a result, Iverson was told he would not to play in any more games. During the following game against the Washington Wizards, which was televised nationally on ESPN, Sixers Chairman Ed Snider confirmed the trade rumors by stating "We're going to trade him. At a certain point, you have to come to grips with the fact that it's not working. He wants out and we're ready to accommodate him."[38]
Iverson ended his 10-year Philadelphia tenure with the highest scoring average in team history (28.1), and is second all-time on the points list (19,583), and the Sixers did not win another playoff series after his departure until 2012.
Denver Nuggets (2006–2008)[link]
On December 19, 2006, the Philadelphia 76ers sent Iverson and forward Ivan McFarlin to the Denver Nuggets for Andre Miller, Joe Smith, and two first-round picks in the 2007 NBA Draft. At the time of the trade, Iverson was the NBA's number two leading scorer with new teammate Carmelo Anthony being number one.[39]
On December 23, 2006, Iverson played his first game for the Nuggets. He had 22 points and 10 assists in a losing effort to the Sacramento Kings.[40] In Iverson's first year as a Nugget they made the playoffs. They won the first game and lost the next four to the San Antonio Spurs.[41]
Iverson was fined $25,000 by the NBA for criticizing referee Steve Javie following a game between the Nuggets and Iverson's former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, played January 2, 2007. During the course of the game, Iverson committed two technical fouls and was ejected from the game. After the game, Iverson said, "I thought I got fouled on that play, and I said I thought that he was calling the game personal I should have known that I couldn't say anything anyway. It's been something personal with me and him since I got in the league. This was just the perfect game for him to try and make me look bad."[42]
Former referee Tim Donaghy supported the claim that Javie had a longstanding hatred for Iverson in his book, Personal Foul: A First-Person Account of the Scandal that Rocked the NBA, which a Florida business group published through a self-publishing arm of Amazon.com[43] after it was dropped by a division of Random House, who cited liability issues after reviewing the manuscript.[44]
In a December 2009 interview with 60 Minutes, Donaghy said he and fellow referees thought the punishment was too light. Before Iverson's Nuggets played the Utah Jazz on January 6, 2007, Donaghy said he and the two other officials working the game agreed not to give Iverson favorable calls as a way to "teach him a lesson". Iverson attempted 12 free throws, more than any other player on either team. On 12 drives to the basket, he drew five fouls, three of which Donaghy whistled himself, and did not receive a call on one play in which he was obviously fouled by Utah's Mehmet Okur.[45]
Iverson returned to Philadelphia on March 19, 2008 to a sell-out crowd and received a standing ovation in a 115–113 loss.[46]
Detroit Pistons and Memphis Grizzlies (2008–2009)[link]
On November 3, 2008, Iverson was dealt from the Denver Nuggets to the Detroit Pistons for guard Chauncey Billups, forward Antonio McDyess and center Cheikh Samb.[47]
Iverson, who had worn a number 3 jersey his entire NBA career, switched to number 1 for the Pistons. The number 3 was being worn by Rodney Stuckey, and although Stuckey stated that he would be willing to give up the number, the NBA ruled that a change in numbers could not take place until after the season.[48]
Iverson scored at least 24 in four of his first five games with Detroit (They won 3 of the 5),[49] and would score 20 or more and 6 or more assists on a consistent basis, but as the season wore on he would lose playing time to Rodney Stuckey.
On April 3, 2009, it was announced by Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars that Iverson would not play the remainder of the 2008–09 season. Dumars cited Iverson's ongoing back injury as the reason for his deactivation, although two days prior Iverson stated publicly that he'd rather retire than be moved to the bench as Piston's coach Michael Curry had decided.[50]
On September 10, 2009, Iverson signed a one-year contract with the Memphis Grizzlies.[51] Iverson stated that "God chose Memphis as the place that I will continue my career," and that "I feel that they are committed to developing a winner."[52]
However, Iverson again expressed his displeasure at being a bench player,[53] and left the team on November 7, 2009 for "personal reasons."[54] On November 16, the Grizzlies announced the team terminated his contract by "mutual agreement".[55] Iverson played three games for the Grizzlies.
Return to the 76ers (2009–2010)[link]
On November 25, 2009, commentator Stephen A. Smith published on his blog a statement attributed to Iverson announcing plans for retirement, which also said, "I feel strongly that I can still compete at the highest level."[56]
Less than a week later on November 30, Iverson and his representatives met with a Philadelphia 76ers delegation about returning to his former team,[57] and accepted a contract offer two days later. General manager Ed Stefanski declined to go into the terms of the agreement, but an unnamed source told the Associated Press that Iverson agreed to a one-year non-guaranteed contract at the league minimum salary. Iverson would receive a prorated portion of the $1.3 million minimum salary for players with at least 10 years of experience, and the contract would become guaranteed for the remainder of the 2009-10 season if he remained on the roster on January 8, 2010.[58] Stefanski said the team made the decision to pursue Iverson after starting guard Louis Williams suffered a broken jaw and was expected to miss at least 30 games.[59]
On December 7, 2009, Iverson made his return to Philadelphia, garnering a thunderous ovation from the sold-out crowd, in a loss against his former team, the Denver Nuggets.[60] He finished the game with 11 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, a steal and no turnovers.[61] Iverson's first win in his return to Philadelphia came one week later, in a 20-point effort against the Golden State Warriors, ending the Sixers' 12-game losing streak. (which stood at 9 games before Iverson returned).[62]
On February 22, 2010, Iverson left the 76ers indefinitely, citing the need to attend to his 4-year-old daughter Messiah's health issues.[63] He had missed five games earlier in February and missed the All-Star Game after he was voted in as starter.[64] On March 2, Ed Stefanski announced Iverson would not return to the 76ers for the rest of the season.[65]
Beşiktaş Milangaz (2010)[link]
On October 26, 2010, Yahoo! Sports reported that Iverson agreed in principle to a two-year, $4 million net income contract with Beşiktaş Cola Turka (otherwise known as Beşiktaş Milangaz), a Turkish Basketball League team competing in the second-tier level of pan-European professional basketball, the Eurocup (the competition below the Turkish Airlines Euroleague level).[66] The club announced the signing at a press conference in New York City, on October 29, 2010.[67] Iverson made his debut for Beşiktaş 16 November 2010, in a Eurocup 91-94 loss to Serbian side Hemofarm. Iverson scored 15 points in 23 minutes.[68]
Iverson returned to the United States in January 2011 for calf surgery.[69][70]
International career[link]
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men’s basketball | ||
| Competitor for United States |
||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Bronze | 2004 Athens | United States |
| FIBA Americas Championship | ||
| Gold | 2003 San Juan | United States |
| Summer Universiade | ||
| Gold | 1995 Fukuoka | United States |
1995 World University Games[link]
Iverson was a member of the USA World University Games Team in Japan in 1995, that included future NBA stars Ray Allen and Tim Duncan, among others. Iverson led all USA players in scoring, assists and steals, averaging 16.7 points per game, 6.1 assists per game, and 2.9 steals per game. He helped lead the team to an undefeated record in route to a 141-81 victory over the host country, Japan, for the gold medal.[71]
2003 FIBA Americas Championship[link]
Iverson was selected to be part of Team USA for the 2003 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Puerto Rico in August of that year. USA had a perfect 10–0 record, and won the gold medal as well as qualifying for a berth in the 2004 Olympics. Iverson started all eight games that he played in, and was second on the team with 14.3 points per game, while also posting 3.8 assists per game, 2.5 rebounds per game, 1.6 steals per game, and shooting 56.2 percent (41–73 FGs) from the field, 53.6 percent (15–28 3pt FGs) from 3-point and 81.0 percent (17–21 FTs) from the foul line.[72]
In the USA's 111–71 victory over Canada on August 25, he accounted for a USA Olympic Qualifying single game record 28 points and made a single game record seven 3-pointers. Playing just 23 minutes, he shot 10-for-13 overall, 7-for-8 from 3-point, 1-for-1 from the foul line and added three assists, three steals and one rebound. All seven of his 3-point field goals were made during the final 7:41 of the third quarter.[73]
He finished the tournament ranked overall tied for 10th in scoring, tied for fourth in steals, fifth in 3-point percentage, tied for seventh in assists, and ninth in field goal percentage (.562). Iverson also missed the USA's final two games because of a sprained right thumb which was suffered in the first half of the August 28 Puerto Rico game. In a game against Puerto Rico, he recorded 9 points on 4-for-6 shooting from the field overall, and added five assists and three rebounds in 26 minutes of action in the USA's 101–74 exhibition game victory on August 17 in New York. He was also named to the 2003 USA Senior National Team on April 29, 2003.
2004 Olympics[link]
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The team's performance at the Olympic Games, however, would ultimately prove to be a disappointment. During the exhibition period prior to the games, Iverson and LeBron James were benched for a game, for having arrived late at a practice session.[74] The United States' team won a close game against Germany, which had failed to qualify for the Olympic competition. Iverson did succeed in keeping the game from going into overtime with a half-court shot in the closing seconds. Despite the win, the team continued to struggle. After losing to the Puerto Rican team during round robin play, they would ultimately win a bronze medal.
NBA career statistics[link]
| Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| Led the league |
Regular season[link]
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996–97 | Philadelphia | 76 | 74 | 40.1 | .416 | .341 | .702 | 4.1 | 7.5 | 2.1 | .3 | 23.5 |
| 1997–98 | Philadelphia | 80 | 80 | 39.4 | .461 | .298 | .729 | 3.7 | 6.2 | 2.2 | .3 | 22.0 |
| 1998–99 | Philadelphia | 48 | 48 | 41.5 | .412 | .291 | .751 | 4.9 | 4.6 | 2.3 | .2 | 26.8 |
| 1999–00 | Philadelphia | 70 | 70 | 40.8 | .421 | .341 | .713 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 2.1 | .1 | 28.4 |
| 2000–01 | Philadelphia | 71 | 71 | 42.0 | .420 | .320 | .814 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 2.5 | .3 | 31.1 |
| 2001–02 | Philadelphia | 60 | 59 | 43.7 | .398 | .291 | .812 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 2.8 | .2 | 31.4 |
| 2002–03 | Philadelphia | 82 | 82 | 42.5 | .414 | .277 | .774 | 4.2 | 5.5 | 2.7 | .2 | 27.6 |
| 2003–04 | Philadelphia | 48 | 47 | 42.5 | .387 | .286 | .745 | 3.7 | 6.8 | 2.4 | .1 | 26.4 |
| 2004–05 | Philadelphia | 75 | 75 | 42.3 | .424 | .308 | .835 | 4.0 | 7.9 | 2.4 | .1 | 30.7 |
| 2005–06 | Philadelphia | 72 | 72 | 43.1 | .447 | .323 | .814 | 3.2 | 7.4 | 1.9 | .1 | 33.0 |
| 2006–07 | Philadelphia | 15 | 15 | 42.7 | .413 | .226 | .885 | 2.7 | 7.3 | 2.2 | .1 | 31.2 |
| 2006–07 | Denver | 50 | 49 | 42.4 | .454 | .347 | .759 | 3.0 | 7.2 | 1.8 | .2 | 24.8 |
| 2007–08 | Denver | 82 | 82 | 41.8 | .458 | .345 | .809 | 3.0 | 7.1 | 2.0 | .2 | 26.4 |
| 2008–09 | Denver | 3 | 3 | 41.0 | .450 | .250 | .720 | 2.7 | 6.7 | 1.0 | .3 | 18.7 |
| 2008–09 | Detroit | 54 | 50 | 36.5 | .416 | .286 | .786 | 3.1 | 4.9 | 1.6 | .1 | 17.4 |
| 2009–10 | Memphis | 3 | 0 | 22.3 | .577 | 1.000 | .500 | 1.3 | 3.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 12.3 |
| 2009–10 | Philadelphia | 25 | 24 | 31.9 | .417 | .333 | .824 | 3.0 | 4.1 | .7 | .1 | 13.9 |
| Career | 914 | 901 | 41.1 | .425 | .313 | .780 | 3.7 | 6.2 | 2.2 | .2 | 26.7 | |
| All-Star | 9 | 9 | 26.6 | .414 | .667 | .769 | 2.6 | 6.2 | 2.3 | .1 | 14.4 |
Playoffs[link]
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998–99 | Philadelphia | 8 | 8 | 44.8 | .411 | .283 | .712 | 4.1 | 4.9 | 2.5 | .2 | 28.5 |
| 1999–00 | Philadelphia | 10 | 10 | 44.4 | .384 | .308 | .739 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 1.2 | .1 | 26.2 |
| 2000–01 | Philadelphia | 22 | 22 | 46.2 | .389 | .338 | .774 | 4.7 | 6.1 | 2.4 | .3 | 32.9 |
| 2001–02 | Philadelphia | 5 | 5 | 41.8 | .381 | .333 | .810 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 2.6 | .0 | 30.0 |
| 2002–03 | Philadelphia | 12 | 12 | 46.4 | .416 | .345 | .737 | 4.3 | 7.4 | 2.4 | .1 | 31.7 |
| 2004–05 | Philadelphia | 5 | 5 | 47.6 | .468 | .414 | .897 | 2.2 | 10.0 | 2.0 | .4 | 31.2 |
| 2006–07 | Denver | 5 | 5 | 44.6 | .368 | .294 | .806 | .6 | 5.8 | 1.4 | .0 | 22.8 |
| 2007–08 | Denver | 4 | 4 | 39.5 | .434 | .214 | .697 | 3.0 | 4.5 | 1.0 | .2 | 24.5 |
| Career | 71 | 71 | 45.1 | .401 | .327 | .764 | 3.8 | 6.0 | 2.1 | .2 | 29.7 |
Personal life[link]
Iverson married his high school sweetheart, Tawanna, in August 2001. The couple has five children.
Attempt at a musical career[link]
During the 2000 offseason, Iverson recorded a rap single called "40 Bars". However, after being criticized for its controversial lyrics, he eventually was unable to release it. Going under his moniker, Jewelz, the album was alleged to have made derogatory remarks about homosexuals. After criticism from activist groups and NBA Commissioner David Stern, he agreed to change the lyrics, but ultimately never released the album.[75]
Legal and financial problems[link]
During the 1997 offseason, Iverson and his friends were stopped by policemen for speeding late at night and was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon and for possession of marijuana. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to community service.[76]
On February 24, 2004, Iverson urinated in a trash can at Bally's Atlantic City casino and was told by casino management not to return.[77]
On December 9, 2005 after the Sixers defeated the Charlotte Bobcats, Iverson paid a late-night visit to the Trump Taj Mahal. After winning a hand at a three-card-stud poker table, Iverson was overpaid $10,000 in chips by a dealer. When the dealer quickly realized the mistake and requested the chips back, Iverson refused and a heated head-turning argument between him and casino staff began. Atlantic City casino regulations reportedly state that when a casino makes a payout mistake in favor of the gambler, he or she must return the money that they did not legitimately win by playing.[77]
Also in 2005, Iverson's bodyguard Jason Kane was accused of assaulting a man at a Washington DC nightclub after the man, Marlin Godfrey, refused to leave the club's VIP section so Iverson's entourage could enter. Godfrey suffered a concussion, a ruptured eardrum, a burst blood vessel in his eye, a torn rotator cuff, cuts and bruises, and emotional injuries. Although Iverson did not touch Godfrey himself, Godfrey sued Iverson for the injuries caused by his bodyguard. In 2007 a jury awarded Godfrey $260,000. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the verdict in 2009.[78]
In a Philadelphia Inquirer column published March 7, 2010, Stephen A. Smith wrote that according to "numerous NBA sources", Iverson would "either drink himself into oblivion or gamble his life away", and that Iverson had already been banned from casinos in Detroit and Atlantic City. Smith also wrote that Tawanna, his wife of eight years, had separated from him and filed for divorce, seeking custody of their five children, as well as child support and alimony payments.[79]
In November 2010, Kate Fagan, a 76ers beat writer for the Inquirer reported that Iverson was "broke" and heavily in debt, "by all accounts except his own", and that a member of Iverson's family had previously contacted NBA teams about a contract for him, as he would not be able to pay that person without a contract.[80]
In August 2011, an Ohio man sued Iverson for $2.5 million in damages, claiming he was assaulted by Iverson's security guard in a 2009 bar fight in Detroit. The federal judge dismissed the case, finding no evidence that Iverson or his bodyguard struck the plaintiff, Guy Walker.[81]
Despite his lack of experience in the sport, in February 2012, towards the end of their regular season, the Rochester Lancers, a pro indoor soccer team made Iverson a contract offer for $20,000 (U.S.) per game with a bonus of $5,000 for every goal scored along with merchandise bonuses and the local hosting of his friends and family for the duration of his stay.[82]
See also[link]
- List of National Basketball Association career scoring leaders
- List of National Basketball Association career free throw scoring leaders
- List of National Basketball Association career assists leaders
- List of National Basketball Association career steals leaders
- List of National Basketball Association career turnovers leaders
- List of National Basketball Association players with most points in a game
- List of National Basketball Association players with most steals in a game
- List of National Basketball Association players with 50 or more points in a playoff game
- List of Individual NBA Scoring Champions
Footnotes[link]
- ^ http://www.dailypress.com/sports/allen-iverson/dp-top100-iversonsep24,0,4945489.story
- ^ a b "Allen Iverson". Georgetown Basketball History. December 3, 2010. http://www.hoyabasketball.com/features/top100/a_iverson.htm. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
- ^ "Iverson's Back". ESPN. http://espn.go.com/nba/?topId=4706374. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ "Daily Dime: Special Edition – Greatest shooting guards of all time". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-GreatestSGs. Retrieved 2008-03-11.
- ^ "A Town Divided: Allen Iverson And Hampton, Va.". National Public Radio. April 13, 2010. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125870182.
- ^ Nance, Roscoe (February 22, 2004). "Iverson puts heart on line, ignores injuries". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/educate/college/firstyear/articles/20040222.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
- ^ "Allen Iverson at Bethel". dailypress.com.com. http://www.dailypress.com/sports/allen-iverson/dp-top100-iversonsep24,0,4945489.story. Retrieved 2004-09-24.
- ^ Latimer, Clay (December 20, 2006). "He brings baggage but also a big heart". Rocky Mountain News. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2006/dec/20/he-brings-baggage-but-also-a-big-heart/. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
- ^ Falkner, David (January 30, 1995). "The agony and the ecstasy". The Sporting News. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_n5_v219/ai_16434629/. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g Sielski, Mike (March 4, 2007). "Iverson Answers the Call". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/classic/bio/news/story?page=Iverson_Allen. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
- ^ Check Out These Stories from Our Partners (2009-12-10). "Allen Iverson Rewind: Georgetown University". The Hoop Doctors. http://thehoopdoctors.com/online2/2009/12/allen-iverson-rewind-georgetown-university/. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/georgetown/1995.html
- ^ http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/georgetown/1996.html
- ^ http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHI/1997.html
- ^ http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHI/1998.html
- ^ http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHI/1999.html
- ^ http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_1999.html
- ^ "Allen Iverson timeline". ESPN. 2006-12-20. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2694528. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHI/2000.html
- ^ http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2000.html
- ^ Smallwood, Jr., John (March 2001). "Brotherly Love Like - Allen Iverson, under the coaching of Larry Brown, emerges as team captain of the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers". Basketball Digest. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCJ/is_5_28/ai_71187961. [dead link]
- ^ CBS Sports. "Six-foot Iverson smallest player to win MVP award ". CBS Sports. May 15, 2001. Retrieved on December 31, 2008.
- ^ "NBA Finals 2001". NBA.com. http://www.nba.com/finals2001/recap_phi_lal_010606.html?nav=SiteFragment. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ Chris Broussard. "Now a Leader, Iverson Turns Image Around". New York Times. June 6, 2001. Retrieved on December 31, 2008.
- ^ a b c Steven Kotler. "Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant and Basketball's Placebo effect". Psychology Today. April 17, 2008. Retrieved on January 8, 2009.
- ^ Larry Platt. Only the Strong Survive. Harper Collins, 2003. 9.
- ^ http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHI/2002.html
- ^ "Allen Iverson news conference transcript". CNNSI.com. 2002-05-10. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/news/2002/05/09/iverson_transcript/.
- ^ Wood, Skip (2002-05-09). "Brown puts balm on Iverson's feelings". USAToday.com. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/nba/sixers/2002-05-08-iverson-brown.htm.
- ^ http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHI/2003.html
- ^ "Iverson 'insulted' by decision to have him come off bench". USA Today. March 15, 2004. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2004-03-15-notes-iverson-insulted_x.htm. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
- ^ http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHI/2005.html
- ^ . http://www.seattlepi.com/basketball/2030ap_bkn_ers_iverson.html?rand=60182.35. [dead link]
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "Sixers' Iverson to Celtics? It's all just talk". The Boston Globe. June 26, 2006. http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2006/06/26/sixers_iverson_to_celtics_its_all_just_talk/.
- ^ http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/i/iversal01/gamelog/2007/
- ^ "In first interview since trade, Iverson tells his story". ESPN. 2006-12-22. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2704221. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ "Trade talks heat up as Iverson sits two games". ESPN. 2006-12-09. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2691152. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ "Miller, Smith go to Sixers in deal for Iverson". ESPN. 2006-12-20. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2702501. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ Eddie Pells (2006-12-23). "Iverson Shines in Nuggets Loss to Kings". NBA.com. http://www.nba.com/games/20061222/SACDEN/recap.html. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ "Spurs Close Out Nuggets in Game 5". NBA.com. 2007-05-03. http://www.nba.com/playoffs2007/series/series_w1s3.html. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ "Iverson fined $25,000 for postgame rant against Javie". ESPN. 2007-01-07. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2721633. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ Abbot, Henry (December 3, 2009). "Personal Foul: Tim Donaghy's NBA tell-all now available". TrueHoop (ESPN.com). http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/11202/personal-foul-tim-donaghys-nba-tell-all-now-available.
- ^ Beck, Howard (October 29, 2009). "Tim Donaghy Again Forces an N.B.A. Investigation of Referees". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/sports/basketball/30refs.html. Retrieved October 29, 2009.
- ^ Berger, Ken (December 8, 2009). "Disgraced former ref Donaghy details scam on '60 Minutes'". CBS Sports. http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/12624836/disgraced-former-ref-donaghy-details-scam-on-60-minutes. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
- ^ Bob Lentz (2008-03-20). "Surging 76ers Edge Nuggets, Spoil Iverson's Return". NBA.com. http://www.nba.com/games/20080319/DENPHI/recap.html. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ "Pistons Acquire Allen Iverson from Denver in Exchange for Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb". http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/iverson_081103.html.
- ^ http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081104/SPORTS0102/811040423/1361[dead link]
- ^ "Allen Iverson 2008-09 Game Log". Basketball-Reference.com. http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/i/iversal01/gamelog/2009/. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ Grizzlies sign four-time scoring champion Allen Iverson
- ^ "God Chose Memphis?". The Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/2009/09/god_chose_memphis.html?wprss=wizardsinsider.
- ^ Spears, Marc J.. "Grizzlies, Iverson off to rocky start". Yahoo! Sports. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=mc-iversongrizzlies110309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ Spears, Marc J.. "Iverson leaves the Grizzlies". Yahoo! Sports. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=mc-iversonleaves110709&prov=yhoo&type=lgns. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ "Grizzlies part ways with Iverson". The Sports Network. November 16, 2009. http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=298628.
- ^ "Online report: Iverson set to retire". Associated Press. November 25, 2009. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/nba/11/25/iverson.retires.ap/index.html. [dead link]
- ^ Stein, Marc (December 1, 2009). "Sources: Sixers closer to Answer". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4702589.
- ^ Jasner, Phil (December 3, 2009). "Iverson's humble homecoming". Philadelphia Daily News. http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/sports/78396707.html.
- ^ Juliano, Joe (December 2, 2006). "Iverson agrees to non-guaranteed deal with Sixers". The Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/sports_breaking/20091202_Iverson_agrees_to_non-guaranteed_deal_with_Sixers.html.
- ^ "Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson starts Monday against Denver Nuggets". ESPN. 2009-12-07. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4721932. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ "The Game Happens Here". NBA.com. http://www.nba.com/games/20091207/DENPHI/gameinfo.html#nbaGIboxscore. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ "The Game Happens Here". NBA.com. http://www.nba.com/games/20091214/GSWPHI/gameinfo.html#nbaGIboxscore. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ . Associated Press. February 22, 2010. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4936773.
- ^ Wojnarows, Adrian (February 22, 2010). Yahoo! Sports. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-iversonsixers022210&prov=yhoo&type=lgns.
- ^ "Iverson officially done with the Sixers". Philadelphia Daily News. March 2, 2010. http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/Iverson_officially_done_with_the_Sixers.html. Retrieved 2010-03-03.
- ^ "Allen Iverson agrees to two-year deal with Turkish team". Detroit Free Press. October 26, 2010. http://www.freep.com/article/20101026/SPORTS08/10260377/1051/sports03/Iverson-joins-Turkish-team. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
- ^ "Allen Iverson ‘Ecstatic’ To Go To Turkey". Associated Press. October 29, 2010. http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/sports/local_sports/102910-allen-iverson-ecstatic-to-go-to-turkey.
- ^ "Besiktas ColaTurka - KK Hemofarm Stada Game Report". Eurocup.com. November 16, 2010. http://www.eurocupbasketball.com/ulebcup/competition/results/showgame/report?gamecode=4. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- ^ "Club Announcement about Allen Iverson". Besiktas. January 14, 2011. http://www.bjk.com.tr/en/haberler.php?h_no=3117&k_id=0. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
- ^ Berger, Ken (February 1, 2011). "Iverson out 6-8 weeks after leg procedure". CBS Sports. http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/27336883. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
- ^ "USAB: EIGHTEENTH WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES - 1995". Usabasketball.com. 1995-09-02. http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/worlduniversity/mwug_1995.html. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/worlduniversity/mwug_1995.html
- ^ http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-08/26/content_258435.htm
- ^ May, Peter (July 2, 2006). "They may want to deep-six it". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2006/07/02/they_may_want_to_deep_six_it/.
- ^ "Misunderstood Allen Iverson Skips Hip-Hop For Hoops - Rhapsody Music Downloads". VH1.com. http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1449517/10022001/iverson_allen.jhtml. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ Heath, Thomas (August 27, 1997). "Iverson Receives 3 Years' Probation". Washington Post. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/13672551.html?dids=13672551:13672551&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=AUG+27%2C+1997&author=Thomas+Heath&pub=The+Washington+Post.
- ^ a b "NBA Star Allen Iverson and Casino Staff Battle it out in Atlantic City". http://www.onlinecasino-news.com/20051217/nba_star_allen_iverson_and_casino_staff_battle_it_out_in_atlantic_ega.aspx.
- ^ Iverson's Appeal of Lawsuit Rejected by Federal Appeals Court ESPN.com, March 24, 2009
- ^ "Iverson reportedly has gambling problem, too". The Baseline (Sporting News). March 8, 2010. http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/35765978/ns/sports-nba/.
- ^ Dwyer, Kelly (November 22, 2010). "Allen Iverson is 'not a sensation,' and possibly 'broke'". Ball Don't Lie (Yahoo! Sports). http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Allen-Iverson-is-not-a-sensation-and-possibly?urn=nba-288088.
- ^ "Judge dismisses bar-fight lawsuit against Allen Iverson". Associated Press. November 15, 2011. http://news.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/other_nba/view/20111115judge_dismisses_bar-fight_lawsuit_against_allen_iverson/.
- ^ "Former NBA star Allen Iverson gets pro soccer contract offer". The Globe and Mail. February 20, 2012. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/basketball/former-nba-star-allen-iverson-gets-pro-soccer-contract-offer/article2344250/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Soccer&utm_content=2344250. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
External links[link]
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Allen Iverson |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Allen Iverson |
- Allen Iverson at NBA.com
- Allen Iverson at Basketball-Reference.com
- Allen Iverson at ESPN.com
- Eurocup Basketball Profile
- Turkish Basketball League Profile
- U.S. Olympic Team bio
- Allen Iverson on Twitter
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Iverson, Allen |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | Basketball player |
| Date of birth | June 7, 1975 |
| Place of birth | Hampton, Virginia |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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Timothy Theodore "Tim" Duncan (born April 25, 1976) is an American professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 6-foot 11-inch (2.11 m), 255-pound (116 kg)power forward/center is a four-time NBA champion, two-time NBA MVP, three-time NBA Finals MVP, and NBA Rookie of the Year. The Spurs' team captain, he is a 13 time NBA All-Star and the only player in NBA history to be selected to both All-NBA and All-Defensive Teams during each of his first 13 seasons.
Duncan started out as a swimmer and only began playing basketball in ninth grade after Hurricane Hugo destroyed the only Olympic-sized pool on his home of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. He soon became a standout for St. Dunstan's Episcopal High School, and had an illustrious college career with the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons, winning the Naismith College Player of the Year, USBWA College Player of the Year and John Wooden awards in his final year. Duncan graduated from college before entering the 1997 NBA Draft as the number one pick. His list of accomplishments, remarkable consistency, and leadership in the Spurs' NBA championship runs in 1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007 have led basketball experts to consider him to be one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history.
