Huge Rising Star

Marvadene Anderson, the world's tallest teenage girl, has become a basketball star at Rutgers; not Rutgers University, Rutgers Prep. This up-and-coming New Jersey high school basketball player is only 16 and stands 6-foot-11, and is still growing.

The Jamaican-born hoopster is taller than legendary ballplayers like Michael Jordan (6-6) and LeBron James (6-8). She was the highest-scoring "netball" player (a sport similar to basketball) in her native Jamaica.

That on-court basketball prowess earned her a scholarship to Rutgers Prep and for the last two months she's been hitting the hardwood to learn the rules of basketball.
"Everyone has come up to me and asked if I play college basketball. I tell them I'm only a sophomore in high school."

Marvadene Anderson, whose family remained in Jamaica, got her nickname "Bubbles" because of her good humor. The biggest problem "Bubbles" seems to have is adjusting to the cold weather and finding clothes and shoes to fit her 210-pound frame and size-12 feet.

Back home in Jamaica she was teased a lot. They called her "baby giant because her older sister, Kimberly is 6-foot-4. They also called them "the twin towers". But she said the rudest thing anybody ever said about her height was that she would not be able to find a husband.

Rutgers Prep coach Mary Coyle-Klinger and her sister, former WNBA coach Pat Coyle, have been working with their new star. Anderson picked up six points in her first game on December 10. She is going to be a star. She's only been playing two months and it's amazing how well she has adapted.

2009 Sportsman of the Year

In what has already been a great year for New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, it got better still as he was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year award. He was chosen as the magazine's 56th honoree as the December 7 issue will hit newsstands on Wednesday. Jeter also is the first Yankee to be named SI's Sportsman.

Jeter's selection caps another outstanding season for the 35-year-old team captain and future Hall of Famer. In 2009 he batted .334 while leading the Yankees to their fifth World Series title in his 14 full seasons, and their record 27th in franchise history. On September 11 he passed Lou Gehrig's franchise mark for base hits, which now stands at 2,747. Derek Jeter led the American League by reaching base 289 times, finished second in the league in hits (212), third in batting average and on-base percentage (.406), fourth in runs (107) and eighth in stolen bases (30). He was named an All-Star for the 10th time, including the sixth time as a starter. He won his fourth American League Silver Slugger as the best hitting shortstop in the league and his fourth Gold Glove as the league's top defensive shortstop.

He lived up to his reputation as a clutch player, batting .344 with a .432 on-base percentage, three home runs and six RBIs. He batted .407 in the World Series to lead the Yankees to a six-game victory over the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies. During the Series, Jeter was named the American League recipient of the Hank Aaron Award, given to the best hitter in each league, and the winner of the Roberto Clemente Award, given to the player who best displays skill on the field while giving back to the community off it.

It was that combination of on and off-field achievement that helped make Jeter this year's winner. Derek Jeter has always presented himself with class. His Turn 2 Foundation is one of the most efficient, effective foundations of its kind; and he's extremely generous with not just his money but with his time.

Jeter is the first baseball player to win the award solo since Cal Ripken Jr. in 1995. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were co-winners in 1998, as were Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in 2001. The Boston Red Sox won as a team in 2004. The Sportsman of the Year award has been given annually since Sport's Illustrated began publishing in 1954. The first winner was track star Roger Bannister, and subsequent honorees include Arnold Palmer (1960), Muhammad Ali (1974), Wayne Gretzky (1982), Michael Jordan (1991), Tiger Woods (1996 and 2000, the only two-time recipient), Lance Armstrong (2002) and Tom Brady (2005). Last year's winner was record-setting Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.

Meet the 2009 Basketball Hall of Fame Class

Michael Jordan led two other basketball legends and two coaches into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Jordan is joined by his Dream Team teammates David Robinson and John Stockton. Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan and Rutgers women's coach C. Vivian Stringer are also part of the announced class. Induction is September 10-12 in Springfield, Massachusetts, home of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

"Air Jordan" finished a 15-year career with the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards with 32,292 points -- the third-highest total in league history, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone. His final career average of 30.12 goes down as the best, just ahead of Wilt Chamberlain's 30.07. Jordan was a five-time NBA MVP, won six championships with the Bulls and another in college with North Carolina. Jordan retired twice during his career. He first came back to the Bulls in 1994 and won three more championships before retiring again in 1998, then had an ill-fated two-year stint with the Washington Wizards before calling it quits for good in 2003.

David Robinson, who earned the nickname "The Admiral" from his college career at Navy, joined Stockton and Jordan as members of the NBA's 50th anniversary team. Robinson's 14-year career included two NBA titles, an MVP season, a rookie of the year award, 10 All-Star selections, a scoring title and two Olympic gold medals. Robinson retired after winning a second title with the Spurs in 2003. "If I had to pick one night in my career, it would probably be walking off the court as a champion and knowing that was going to be my last memory of basketball," Robinson said.

John Stockton spent his entire career with Utah and finished with 19,711 points, and holds NBA records 15,806 assists and 3,265 steals. He also holds NBA records for most assists in a season (1,164 in 1990-91) and highest assist average in a season (14.5 in 1989-90). Utah took Stockton in the first round of the 1984 draft, using the No. 16 pick on a relatively unknown player from Gonzaga who became one of the top point guards. "Growing up I never thought about the Hall of Fame," Stockton said. "All I wanted was a chance to go to college."

Jerry Sloan is the longest tenured head coach in major league sports with a single franchise. Sloan is the only NBA coach to win more than 1,000 games with a single team and has the Jazz currently in seventh place in the Western Conference. "I've been very lucky to have such great players, especially John, who is very deserving of this honor," Sloan said. "I've also been fortunate to be with such a tremendous organization for the past 20-plus years…”

C. Vivian Stringer has led three separate schools to the Final Four in her 38-year career and has an 825-280 mark spanning four decades. She trails only Pat Summitt and Jody Conradt on the career wins list, and guided Rutgers to its fifth straight regional semifinals trip this season. "My knees are weak, and to think I would be standing here with these great, great, men of basketball," Stringer said. "It's not ever about me. It's about the players who all make it happen."

Stringer got her start in 1973 at Cheyney State (HBCU School), where Hall of Famer John Chaney was the men's coach, and took the school to the Final Four in 1982. She also took Iowa to the Final Four, the only women's coach to take three teams there.
"I am very happy and elated that she was selected to the Hall of Fame this year," Chaney said. "I would think not many, if any, Division II school has its former men's and women's coaches in the Hall of Fame."

In a related event, on the same day it was announced his father had been voted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Marcus Jordan, a 6-foot-3 guard, announced he had chosen University of Central Florida over schools including Toledo, Iowa and Davidson. He led Whitney Young High School of Chicago to the state 4A title last month, leading his team in scoring in the semifinals and the state final.