FULL ARTICLE
JERSEY CITY, NJ…New Jersey City University men's basketball junior All-America guard
DANA JOHN (Hillside, NJ/Pocono Mountain East (Pa.)) will be featured in a five-page article in the December 10, 2007 issue of ESPN The Magazine, which hits newsstands on December 6. He is the first athlete in NJCU history ever to appear in the national magazine, which currently has a weekly audience of 13,699,000.
John, a 2007-08 D3Hoops.com Fourth Team Preseason All-American, has his remarkable, day-in-the-life story told by ESPN The Magazine writer Sam Apple. The article, entitled “The Most Exhausted Man in Sports,” chronicles a typical 24-hour day in
John's life.
“It was pretty amazing to witness Dana go through his non-stop routine,” Apple noted after spending 24 hours with
John to write the story. “By game time, I was tired, and I had slept the night before. Dana, meanwhile, went out and scored 25 points. I still don't know how he manages to perform at such a high level on so little sleep, but after spending the day with him, I did learn that he gets his tremendous work ethic from his family and that he never puts basketball before the more important things in life. He's an inspiring guy, and I was glad I had the chance to see him in action.”
The 27-year-old shooting guard's story of perseverance has been highlighted in numerous national publications and on local,
regional and national television over the last two seasons.
John, who was honored by the New York Knicks on April 16, 2007 with its
Sweetwater Clifton “City Spirit” Award, most recently appeared on television on April 1, 2007 in a story by the MSG Network as part of the program “MSG, NY.” On March 12, 2007, he was featured on WWOR-TV/My-9 New York.
On February 19, 2007, he became the first men's basketball player on record to be featured in
Sports Illustrated's
Faces in the Crowd. On February 22, 2007, he was featured in a lengthy article on
Sports Illustrated.com. His story has been told by several local and national newspapers and websites, including the NCAA's ncaasports.com.
He will also appear on D3Hoops.com's weekly Division III basketball show “Hoopsville” on Sunday, December 9.
After never playing organized basketball at any level prior to attending NJCU as a freshman in 2005-06, he had emerged into perhaps the top player in the Atlantic Region.
John was selected to the
2007 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Men's Basketball First-Team as a forward, in voting by the region's head coaches and to the
National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) First-Team All-Atlantic District. He was also named to the
D3Hoops.com First-Team All-Atlantic Region in voting by the region's sports information directors and tabbed
First-Team All-New Jersey Athletic Conference.
For three years, he has managed to balance a successful basketball career with a full-time, five-day-per-week job with the United States Post Office—working the graveyard from midnight to 8 a.m. Monday thru Friday—while maintaining a full-time academic course load, and basketball practice, and family commitments that include caring for his four-year-old son and handicapped nephew. He is majoring in Special Education at NJCU.
This season he has already become NJCU's all-time leader in career three-pointers with 167 and counting and needs just 13 more points to become the 26
th member of the 1000-point club. He has scored 20 or more in four of NJCU's first seven games and currently averages 21.7 per game.
