Christian Laettner

With one of the most impressive careers of any college basketball player ever, Christian Laettner is a known as a basketball icon. Many will never forget one of the greatest moments in NCAA Tournament history when Christian Laettner caught the full-court pass from Grant Hill and made a fade away jumper at the free-throw line to launch Duke into the Final Four and on to win an eventual second straight NCAA title. Following that incredible season, Christian was named as the only non-NBA member of the legendary U.S. Olympic basketball “Dream Team” that won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. He played 13 seasons in the NBA and has held several coaching jobs within the league including his current job as an assistant coach with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA D-League. Christian was the subject of the ESPN 30-for-30 documentary “I Hate Christian Laettner”.

1992 was a whirlwind year for Sports Speaker Christian as he was highly touted as the best college basketball player in the nation and was decorated with a plethora of individual awards and trophies. Duke was coming off their first ever National Championship in 1991 and the first for head coach Mike Krzyzewski. It was no doubt he was the National Player of the Year after he was presented the Wooden Award, Kodak/NABC and Naismith Awards among others. His performance in the NCAA Tournament was spectacular, and Christian is currently the all-time scoring leader in the NCAA Tournament with 407 career tournament points. As the only player ever to start in 4 consecutive Final Fours, Christian was selected 3^rd overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1992 NBA Draft and went on to play for 7 NBA teams ending his career with the Miami Heat in 2005.

Christian’s iconic shot has been utilized in TV commercials including a commercial for Allstate and a commercial reenactment for a Vitamin Water advertisement. He has also tried his hand as a businessman, starting a community development company in Durham, North Carolina and also becoming a minor stakeholder of the MLS team D.C. United for a time from 2007-2009. Christian also runs the Christian Laettner Basketball Academy that provides training and instruction to players of all levels.