1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
Most valuable player
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In sports, a most valuable player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best-performing player in an entire league, for a particular competition, or on a specific team. Initially used in sports, the term is now also commonly used in amateur sports, as well as in other completely unrelated fields such as business. In many sports, MVP awards are presented for a specific match—in other words, the term is most common in the United States and Canada. In other cases, Player of the Year is used, in Australia, Australian rules football clubs and leagues use the term best and fairest, while those playing rugby league use Player of the Year, such as the Dally M Medal. The National Basketball League, however, uses the American-style MVP for its awards, in many cases the awards are voted on by members of the media. In others the vote is by players, coaches, or umpires, in recent years, online polls from the public decide some awards
3.
Naismith College Player of the Year
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The Naismith College Player of the Year is an annual basketball award given by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to the top mens and womens collegiate basketball players. It is named in honor of the inventor of basketball, Dr. James Naismith, first awarded exclusively to male players in 1969, the award was expanded to include female players in 1983. By February, the list of nominees is narrowed down to 30 players based on performance, in March, four out of the 30 players are selected as finalists and are placed in the final ballot. The final winners are selected in April by both the board of selectors and fan voting via text messaging, the winners receive the Naismith Trophy. Since its beginning in 1969, the trophy has been awarded to 42 male and 23 female players, lew Alcindor of the University of California, Los Angeles and Anne Donovan of Old Dominion University were the first winners, respectively. Bill Walton of UCLA and Ralph Sampson of the University of Virginia have been the men to win this award multiple times. Eight women in all have won this award multiple times, Davis and Moore are the only ones of either sex to have won multiple times in non-consecutive years. Five winners of the award, all men, were born outside of the United States. S, the only three award winners who have been born outside the jurisdiction of the United States were, Andrew Bogut, born in Melbourne, Australia. Patrick Ewing, born in Kingston, Jamaica, buddy Hield, born in Freeport, Bahamas. Duncan did not move to the U. S. proper until he arrived at Wake Forest University, duke has had the most male winners with seven, while the Connecticut has had the most female winners, with nine awards won by six individuals. The award has been won by a freshman twice, Kevin Durant playing for Texas in 2007, women List of U. S. mens college basketball national player of the year awards Naismith Prep Player of the Year Award Official site
4.
John R. Wooden Award
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The John R. Wooden Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding mens and womens college basketball players. The program consists of the mens and womens Player of the Year awards, the awards, given by the Los Angeles Athletic Club, are named in honor of John Wooden, the 1932 national collegiate basketball player of the year from Purdue. Wooden later taught and coached basketball at Indiana State and UCLA. Coach Wooden, whose teams at UCLA won ten NCAA championships, was the first man to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and his 1948 Indiana State team was the NAIB National Finalist. The award, which was given only to male athletes, was first given in 1977. Starting in 2004, the award was extended to womens basketball, additionally, the Legends of Coaching Award was presented first in 1999. The 2015 presentation was broadcast on ESPN2 and the show was presented by Wendys at Los Angeles Club Nokia on Friday, each year, the Awards National Advisory Board, a 26-member panel, selects approximately 20 candidates for Player of the Year and All-American Team honors. The candidates must be students and have a cumulative grade point average of 2.00 or higher throughout their college career. Players who are nominated must have made outstanding contributions to team play, the selection ballot is announced prior to the NCAA basketball tournament. The voters consist of 1,000 sportswriters and sportscasters representing the 50 states, the top ten vote-getters are selected to the All-American Team, and the results are announced following the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament. The person who receives the most votes is named the Player of the Year, the Player of the Year is awarded a trophy consisting of five bronze figures. The players school receives a trophy, as well as a scholarship grant. The other top four members of the All-American Team receive an All-American Team trophy, a jacket, each coach of the top five All-American Team members also receives a jacket. The All-American Team members ranked six through ten receive an All-American Team trophy and a jacket, the criteria for the womens Player of the Year award and All-American Team honors are similar to those for the men. For the womens award, the National Advisory Board consists of 12 members, the voters are 250 sportswriters and sportscasters. In contrast to the mens All-American Team, only five members are selected for the womens team, the Player of the Year receives a trophy, and her school receives a duplicate trophy and a scholarship grant. The concept for the trophy originated with Wooden Award Chairman, Richard Duke Llewellyn, work began on the trophy in 1975, and sculptor Don Winton, who had sculpted many top sports awards, was given the task of designing the model of the trophy. The figures are bronze plated and attached to a base plate
5.
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
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The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as the sports most complete library, in addition to promoting and preserving the history of basketball, dedicated to Canadian physician and inventor of the sport James Naismith, it was opened and inducted its first class in 1959. As of the induction of the Class of 2016 on September 9,2016, the Naismith Hall of Fame was established in 1959 by Lee Williams, a former athletic director at Colby College. In the 1960s, the Basketball Hall of Fame struggled to raise money for the construction of its first facility. The Basketball Hall of Fames Board named four inductees in its first year, in addition to honoring those who contributed to basketball, the Hall of Fame sought to make contributions of its own. In 1979, the Hall of Fame sponsored the Tip-Off Classic and this Tip-Off Classic has been the start to the college basketball season ever since, and although it does not always take place in Springfield, Massachusetts, generally it returns every few years. In the 17 years that the original Basketball Hall of Fame operated at Springfield College, the popularity of the Basketball Hall of Fame necessitated that a new facility be constructed, and in 1985, an $11 million facility was built beside the scenic Connecticut River in Springfield. As the new hall opened, it also recognized women for the first time, with such as Senda Berenson Abbott. In 2002, the Basketball Hall of Fame moved again—albeit merely 100 yards south along Springfields riverfront—into a $47 million facility designed by renowned architects Gwathmey Siegel & Associates, the buildings architecture features a metallic silver, basketball-shaped sphere flanked by two similarly symmetrical rhombuses. The dome is illuminated at night and features 80,000 square foot, including numerous restaurants, the second Basketball Hall of Fame was not torn down but rather converted into an LA Fitness health clubs. The current Basketball Hall of Fame features Center Court, a basketball court on which visitors can play. Inside the building there are a gallery, many interactive exhibits, several theaters. A large theater for ceremonies seats up to 300, the honorees inducted in 2002 included the Harlem Globetrotters and Magic Johnson, a five-time NBA champion, three-time NBA finals MVP and Olympic gold medalist. As of 2011, the current Basketball Hall of Fame has greatly exceeded attendance expectations, despite the new facilitys success, a logistical problem remains for the Basketball Hall of Fame and the City of Springfield. Urban planners at universities such as UMass Amherst have called for the I-91 to be moved, in 2010, the Urban Land Institute announced a plan to make the walk between Springfields Metro Center and the Hall of Fame easier. Since 2011, the induction process employs a total of seven committees to both screen and elect candidates, since 2011, the Veterans and International Committees also vote to directly induct one candidate for each induction class. Contributor Direct Election Committee Note that other committees may choose to elect contributors, for example, the 2014 class included two contributors. However, each screening committee is limited as to the number of candidates it can put forth to the Honors Committee—10 from the North American Committee, any individual receiving at least 18 affirmative votes from the Honors Committee is approved for induction into the Hall of Fame
6.
Christian Steinmetz
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Christian Chris Steinmetz was an American basketball player. He played forward for the University of Wisconsin from 1903 to 1905 and he was college basketballs leading scorer in the games first 25 years from 1895 to 1920. He became known as the Father of Wisconsin Basketball and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1961, Steinmetz was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1882. He was the son of Chris, a Milwaukee real estate man, Steinmetz attended Milwaukees South Division High School where he was a member of the schools basketball and track teams. He led South Division to the high school basketball championship in 1902 and was the state champion in the high jump that year. Steinmetz enrolled at the University of Wisconsin where he was a member of the Badgers track, despite his modest size at 5 ft 9 in and 137 pounds, he became one of the greatest scorers in basketball history. One writer who saw him play wrote, He was a human dynamo on the basketball floor, possessed of an uncanny eye for the basket and a bulldog on defense, Steinmetz always seemed to be at the right place at the right time. He was to basketball what Willie Heston was to football, Steinmetz was credited with being an innovator in technique. In an era when the underhand, two-handed shot was the norm, Steinmetz later recalled that the one-hander was always good for three or four baskets before they caught on to it. He also had the ability to rebound or catch a pass and shoot while in the air, in 1958, Steinmetz told a reporter that the modern game was as different from the game he played as hearts is from poker. He concluded that the biggest change in the game was eliminating the center jump and he noted, It makes basketball a percentage game. Whichever team is hitting for the best percentage of their shots wins and it used to be that the good team would get the ball again in the center jump and one team would pull farther ahead of the other. Basketball in those days was football for lighter fellows, why, we wore moleskin pants or they would have tore them right off you the way they hung on. Basketball was in its infancy at the University of Wisconsin when Steinmetz arrived, the team was jokingly called the squat tag team, had no coach and received no financial support from the university. Players supplied their own equipment, and Steinmetz later recalled the condition of the balls they had to use. The ones we used had lumps and corners on them, in 1904, Emmett Angell became the coach of the basketball team. The Badgers lost to Nebraska 24–22 for the western championship, Steinmetz recalled that Wisconsin lost the game when a fan sitting right on the edge of the court grabbed our guards arm and kept him from throwing the ball in as time ran out. Steinmetz noted that they were running a set play in which Steinmetz would break down court, after the fans illegal participation, a free-for-all battle broke out, and Nebraska was declared the winner
7.
Paul Endacott
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Paul Endacott was a well-known collegiate basketball player in the 1920s. The Lawrence, Kansas native attended University of Kansas from 1919 to 1923, playing under Hall of Fame coach Phog Allen, Endacott led Kansas to consecutive Helms Foundation national championships in 1922 and 1923. In 1923 he was named Helms Foundation Player of the Year and his No.12 jersey is retired by the University of Kansas. Following his collegiate career, he spent four years with the AAU Phillips Petroleum Company Team and he went on to serve as President of Phillips Petroleum in his later years. Basketball Hall of Fame page on Endacott KU Endacott Society history http, //www. kuonlinedirectory. org/endacott/. page_id=63
8.
Bill Russell
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William Felton Bill Russell is an American retired professional basketball player. Russell played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association from 1956 to 1969, a five-time NBA Most Valuable Player and a twelve-time All-Star, he was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty, winning eleven NBA championships during his thirteen-year career. Along with Henri Richard of the National Hockey Leagues Montreal Canadiens, before his professional career, Russell led the University of San Francisco to two consecutive NCAA championships. He also won a medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics as captain of the U. S. national basketball team. Russell is widely considered one of the best players in NBA history and he was listed as between 6 ft 9 in and 6 ft 10 in, and his shot-blocking and man-to-man defense were major reasons for the Celtics success. He also inspired his teammates to elevate their own defensive play, Russell was equally notable for his rebounding abilities. He led the NBA in rebounds four times, had a dozen consecutive seasons of 1,000 or more rebounds and he is one of just two NBA players to have grabbed more than 50 rebounds in a game. Though never the point of the Celtics offense, Russell also scored 14,522 career points. Playing in the wake of pioneers like Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper and he also served a three-season stint as player-coach for the Celtics, becoming the first African American NBA coach. For his accomplishments in the Civil Rights Movement on and off the court, Russell is one of only seven players in history to win an NCAA Championship, an NBA Championship, and an Olympic gold medal. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, in 2007 he was enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame. In Russells honor the NBA renamed the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player trophy in 2009, Bill Russell was born to Charles Russell and Katie Russell in West Monroe, Louisiana. Like almost all towns and cities of that time, West Monroe was a highly segregated place. Once, Russells father was refused service at a gas station until the staff had taken care of all the white customers. When his father attempted to leave and find a different station, at another time, Russells mother was walking outside in a fancy dress when a policeman accosted her. He told her to go home and remove the dress, which he described as white womans clothing, while there the family fell into poverty, and Russell spent his childhood living in a series of public housing projects. Charles Russell is described as a stern, hard man who was initially a janitor in a paper factory, being closer to his mother Katie than to his father, Russell received a major emotional blow when she suddenly died when he was 12. His father gave up his job and became a steel worker to be closer to his semi-orphaned children
