Jonathan Clay Redick

Can't touch this (http://nbadraft.net/profiles/largepics/jjredick.jpg)

My hero is J.J. Redick but J.J. is only a nickname. His real name is Jonathan Clay Redick. He was born on June 24, 1984, in Cookeville Tennessee. He later moved to Roanoke, Virginia where he currently lives. There he attended Cave Spring High School, and then went to Duke University to play basketball where he wore the number four under his coach Mike Krzyzewski.

In high school he won Virginia’s Mr.Basketball award in 2002. He was also in the top five of Gatorade’s list of top basketball players for three years and was named a McDonald’s All-American. Next he won the John Wooden Most Valuable Player Award in 2002. His last accomplishment in high school was winning the State Championship over George Wythe of Richmond, where he scored 43 points in the game.

Slam Dunk (http://images.google.com/images?q=jj+redick&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&start=20&sa=N)

At Duke "Redick served as co-captain of the 2004-2005 men's basketball team along with senior point guard Daniel Ewing." He also "served as co-captain of the 2005-2006 men's basketball team along with fellow seniors Shelden Williams, Sean Dockery and Lee Melchionni." On March 20, 2003, Redick set a record in the ACC, which was also a national record for the most consecutive made free throws with 54. On February 14, 2006, Redick broke another record with 413 career three pointers made. "In his next game, on February 19, 2006 against Miami, Redick scored 30 points to become the all-time leading scorer at Duke, with 2,557 points scored in his career."

Celebration (photobucket.com)

On February 25, 2006, in a game at Temple University, Redick passed the ACC scoring record of 2,587 points in the warning minutes of the game on a pair of free throws. In an ACC Tournament quarterfinal against Miami, Redick scored 25 points to set a new record at Duke for single season points scored with a total of 858 scored in the first 31 games of the season. Also in 2006, Redick was named to the USA Men's 2006-2008 National Team Program, and will fight for a spot on the 2006 FIBA World Championship team, as well as for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games team.

His accomplishments in the ACC include Rookie of The Year, the ACC Player of the year, and the ACC Tournament player of the year. He was elected for the John R. Wooden All American Team, the Associated Press First team all American, and named Associated Press Player of the Year. He won the Adolph F. Rupp trophy for Player of the Year, was the Sporting News Player of the Year, the United States Basketball Writers Association’s Oscar Robertson Trophy Player of the Year, and he won the the Naismith College Player of the Year. He was honored by winning the John R. Wooden Player of the Year and the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Player of the Year. The last two awards he won were the Senior Class Award and the Sullivan Award.

J.J. Redick is a hero to me because of his determination and skill. He wasn’t always the best basketball player on the court but he worked hard and shot everyday until he became the player that he is now. When I step out on the court I always want to play like him, hustling and diving for balls and exceeding my goals. He has heart for the game, which means he works hard, and always wants to be better at playing basketball and succeeding. He is living proof that if you work hard enough you can do anything, and that makes him a hero to lots of kids out there, because they want to become good basketball players and Redick inspires them to be better.