Jason Collier will be inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame for his achievements in basketball. He will be honored at the 13th Annual Induction Ceremony on Saturday, May 5, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Columbus.
Jason Collier was wooed by many major colleges after leading Springfield Catholic Central to the 1996 Ohio Division IV state championship and being named Ohio Player of the Year. Among them were: Cincinnati, Dayton, Duke, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Wisconsin. The 7-foot center scored 1,761 points and grabbed 1,068 rebounds for the Irish and was selected on the Parade Magazine All-America second team. He played at Indiana University before transferring after nine games of his sophomore year to Georgia Tech.
Twice named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference second team, he was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2000 NBA draft and was traded immediately to the Houston Rockets for whom he played three seasons. He started 44 games for Atlanta in 2004-05 and was about to begin his sixth professional season on Oct. 15, 2005, when he died in Cumming, Georgia, of a “sudden heart rhythm disturbance” caused by an enlarged heart. The NBA’s D-League named their Sportsmanship Award after Jason after his death and the Atlanta Hawks invite Jason’s parents to Atlanta every year to present the Jason Collier Award, given to the player that does the most for the community.
“Our goal is to have a great representation of Ohio basketball, and that includes high school, all divisions of college basketball, and the professional level. We induct and honor those that were either born in Ohio or contributed to the game here. We are working with universities, individuals, and historians to capture and preserve the legacies of Ohio’s greatest players, coaches and contributors,” said Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame Executive Director Sheila Fox. Congrats to the family of Jason Collier.
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