Ben Gordon

Benjamin Ashenafi Gordon (born April 4, 1983) is a British-American former professional basketball player. Gordon played for 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and he played college basketball for the University of Connecticut, where he won a national championship in 2004. He is the only player to have ever won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award as a rookie. Gordon is third in career three-point field goals for the Chicago Bulls, behind Kirk Hinrich and Zach LaVine. Early life Gordon was born in London, England, to a Jamaican father and an African-American mother. He moved to the United States as an infant, and grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. Gordon played high school basketball for the Mount Vernon Knights, and helped lead the team to the 2000 New York State Public and Federation Championships. Gordon was an All-State player at Mount Vernon and a top-40 national recruit. He was heavily recruited by Seton Hall, but decided to attend UConn. College career As a freshman at UConn, Gordon ranked second on the team in scoring (12.6 ppg), despite coming off the bench for most of the season. He hit the game-winning three-point shot against Villanova in the Big East tournament. As a sophomore Gordon averaged a team-leading 19.5 points (which ranked 50th in the nation) and also led the Huskies with 156 total assists, which earned Gordon Second Team All-Big East honors.