Bleacher Report - Articles by michele ann

First Football Player Credited With the First Endzone Dance

michele ann — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:33:56 -0400

Elmo Wright, Born July 3, 1949 in Brazoria, Texas, Wide Receiver.

He played at the University of Houston, and is the first football player ever to perform an endzone dance.

Wright was an All-American receiver for the Cougars and sometime during his collegiate career he began the practice of "high-stepping" into the endzone at the end of long touchdown receptions.

While this was no comparison to the antics later displayed by such famed celebrators as Billy "White Shoes" Johnson (funky chicken), Ickey Woods (Ickey Shuffle), Butch Johnson (California Quake), Chad Ochocinco, and Terrell Owens.

Following his college playing days, Wright went on to star for the Kansas City Chiefs.

1971-1974 Kansas City Chiefs

1975 Houston Oilers

1975 New England Patriots

First Korean Basketball Player to be Drafted in NBA!

michele ann — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:06:15 -0400

Ha Jeung-Jin, born Aug. 4, 1985, is the first Korean to be drafted in the NBA. He was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2004 Draft 17th overall. He is the first Korean to play in the NBA. He is a 7'3", 305-pound center.

He played two seasons in the NBA from '04-'06.

Ha is currently playing professional basketball in South Korea and is a member of the Team KCC Jeonju, which won the 2009 Korean Basketball (KBL) Championship.CHAMPIONSHIP.

Ha's professional teams:

PORTLAND REIGN-2004

PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS-2004-2006

MILWAUKEE BUCKS-2006

FORT WORTH FLYERS-2006

ANAHEIM ARSENAL-2006-2007

Willie "Woo Woo" Wong: The Greatest Chinese Basketball Player Ever

michele ann — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:48:47 -0400

Willie "Woo Woo" Wong was a Chinese-American basketball player who was born and raised in San Francisco's Chinatown. Wong, who only stood 5'5" tall, starred at Poly and Lowell high school in San Francisco before being recruited to the university of San Francisco by legendary coach Pete Newell.

Wong was known as one of the finest Chinese-American basketball players in his time. After his time at USF, Wong continued to compete at various local and national tournaments as part of the San Francisco Saints team.

Wong died at the age of 79 in 2006.

The University of San Francisco inducted Wong into the hall of fame in the spring of 2007. Though Wong had died, Wong's family members accepted the honor on his behalf.

After Wong died, local residents successfully petitioned the city and county of San Francisco to rename the "Chinese playground" to "Willie 'Woo Woo' Wong Playground."

His full name is Willie Woo Wong, but way back when Bob Brachman, the often-acerbic examiner sportswriter, nicknamed him "Woo Woo" because he said that's what the crowd chanted every time Willie scored.

And the little guy stood only 5'5", scored plenty. That was a surprise at first, because Wong's basketball roots couldn't have been more modest.

Willie was the third oldest of seven children that included sister Helen Wong Lum, who went on to become a basketball standout and a national tennis champion. Wong was born into a poor, immigrant family that shared a spartan San Francisco Chinatown flat with another family.

He used a tennis ball as his first basketball, bouncing it off the molding on the ceiling in his bedroom.

In 1939, an uncle he had never seen arrived from New York and offered to buy each of the Wong children a gift. Willie chose something he could never afford himself—a basketball.

His family's flat was across the street from the Chinese playground. Wong would get up early in the morning, climb over the playground gate and go practice by himself, before he went to school.

The Tallest Basketball Player in the World Eyes NBA Move

michele ann — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:57:18 -0400

China's rising sun, who stars in Japan, is eyeing an NBA move. Sun Mingming, at 7'9", and 370 lbs. is one of tallest to ever play basketball. He started playing basketball at age 15 when he was 6'7".

In the summer of 2005 he discovered that he had a benign brain tumor attached to his pituitary gland that was stimulating the overproduction of a growth hormone, a potentially fatal condition known as acromegaly.

The tumor was successfully removed on Sep. 26, 2005. After surgery, Sun played with several minor league basketball teams, including the USBL team Dodge City Legend, the Maryland Nighthawks of the ABA, and Grand Rapids Flight of the IBL.

On Jun. 20, 2007, Sun signed with mexican professional team Fuerza Regia from Monterrey. Sun left Fuerza Regia due to surgery in Nov. of 2007. Sun signed to play with the Hamamastu Phoenix in the big league in Japan.

He is currently averging 8.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, and helped his team to a first place finish in the Eastern Conference of Japan's professional league.

The Battle of Los Angeles NBA Teams

michele ann — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:55:59 -0400

The City of Los Angeles has two professional basketball teams, the Lakers and the Clippers. The Lakers are one of the NBA's storied franchises, winning the second most championships, and the Clippers are one of the worst, if the not worst franchises, in NBA history; they have only the number of winning seasons you can count on one hand, but their drafted players are some of the best, while the Lakers' drafted players are average to above average. If you take just the drafted players of both teams, the Clippers would have won more championships then the Lakers.

The Clippers' drafted players either still playing with them or with other teams are:

Antonio mcdyess ('95), Lorenzen Wright ('96), Brian Skinner ('98), Lamar Odom ('99), Marco Jaric ('00), Quentin Richardson ('00), Darius Miles ('00), Tyson Chandler ('01), Chris Wilcox ('02), Chris Kaman ('03), Shaun lLvingston ('04), Jared Jordan ('07), Al Thornton ('07), Mike Taylor ('08), Deandre Jordan ('08), and Eric Gordan ('08).

The Lakers' drafted players still playing either with them or with other teams are:

Derek Fisher ('96), Devean George ('98 Luke Walton ('03), Sasha Vujacic ('04), Von Wafer ('05), Ronny Turiaf ('05), Andrew Bynum ('05), Jordan Farmer ('06), Marc Gasol ('07), Sun Yue ('07), Javaris Crittenton ('07), and Joe Crawford ('08).

It is mind-boggling how the Clippers can be so bad, year after year, with so many good drafts.

The Phoenix Suns' Past Drafted Players

michele ann — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:17:29 -0400

These are the Phoenix Suns' past drafted players they would have, if they had kept them instead of trading them.

The Suns would still be running, gunning, and getting close to winning NBA Championships. They wouldn't be able to win though, because you have to play defense in order to win as well.

The Suns' Past Drafted Players

Michael Finley ('95)

Steve Nash ('96)

Stephen Jackson ('97)

Shawn Marion ('99)

Amare Stoudemire ('02)

Luol Deng ('04)

Marcin Gortat ('05)

Nate Robinson ('05)

Sergio Rodriguez ('06)

Rajon Rondo ('06)

Rudy Fernandez ('07)

Arlando Tucker ('07)

Robin Lopez ('08)

With all of these players, their starting five would be: Nash at PG, Jackson at SG, Marion at SF, Stoudemire at PF, and Lopez at C.

The rest would fill out the bench.