Jalen Anthony Rose born January 30, 1973. He was born with basketball genes: Rose's biological father Jimmy Walker was a former #1 overall pick who started in the backcourt alongside Jerry West in the 1972 NBA All-Star Game.
Rose was an All-American and star in high school in Detroit before deciding to join the University of Michigan's epic recruiting class that became known as the "Fab Five".
The Fab Five is considered by many the greatest recruiting class ever. The class consisted of Detroit natives Chris Webber and Rose, Chicago native Juwan Howard, and two recruits from Texas, Plano's Jimmy King and Austin's Ray Jackson. The team would excel with the freshmen players and change the game doing so. They would make baggy short popular and their Hip Hop style and trash talk on the court made them fun to watch.
Rose led the Fab Five in scoring his freshman year, averaging 19 points per game, and set the school freshman scoring record with 597 total points. The team would make the NCAA Championship game that season, but lost to Duke 71–51.
Rose and the Fab Five would return to the NCAA Championship again their sophomore seasons, but again fall short in the championship game, falling to North Carolina, 77-71 in the famous Webber timeout game when he tried to call a timeout the team didn't have.
During his career at Michigan, Rose had over 1700 points, 400 rebounds, 400 assists, and 100 steals. Unfortunately for Rose and Michigan, all of their wins and Final Four appearances were vacated due to Webber (and others) accepting money from Ed Martin, compromising their amateur status.
Rose was the 13th overall pick in the 1994 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets. He would play 14 seasons in the league with six different teams (Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns). His most success came with the Pacers when he teamed up with Reggie Miller to help lead the Pacers to three consecutive Eastern Conference Championship series, and one NBA Finals appearances in 2000 vs the Los Angeles Lakers. Rose was spectacular in the NBA Finals, averaging 25 points per game in the six-game series, including a 32-point effort in a Game 5 win.
Rose retired in 2007, and is now a successful sports analyst with ESPN.
Happy Birthday, Jalen Rose.
