Harvard's Hoops Star Is Asian

Harvard's Hoops Star Is Asian. Why's That a Problem?
By Sean Gregory Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009

Harvard's Jeremy Lin drives by Boston College's Biko Paris during the first half of an NCAA basketball game in Boston on Dec. 9, 2009
Elise Amendola / AP


Certain truths are tied to March Madness, that time of year when the NCAA men's basketball tournament turns every cubicle dweller into a college-hoops junkie. That batty lady who picks the winners based on the cuteness of the mascots will crush you in your office pool. Duke will have a guy who gets under your skin. And the Harvard basketball players will be locked in the library instead of pulling off a Cinderella upset.

It's been 64 years since the Crimson appeared in the NCAA tournament. But thanks to senior guard Jeremy Lin, that streak could end this year. Lin, who tops Harvard in points (18.1 per game), rebounds (5.3), assists (4.5) and steals (2.7), has led the team to a 9-3 record, its best start in a quarter-century. Lin, a 6 ft. 3 in. slasher whose speed, leaping ability and passing skills would allow him to suit up for any team in the country, has saved his best performances for the toughest opponents: over his past four games against teams from the Big East and the Atlantic Coast Conference, two of the country's most powerful collge-basketball leagues, Lin is averaging 24.3 points and shooting nearly 65% from the field. "He's as good an all-around guard as I've seen," says Tony Shaver, the head coach of William and Mary, which in November lost a triple-overtime game to Harvard, 87-85, after Lin hit a running three-pointer at the buzzer. "He's a special player who seems to have a special passion for the game. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the NBA one day." (See Dick Vitale's top 10 NCAA moments.)

A Harvard hoopster with pro-level talent? Yes, that's one reason Lin is a novelty. But let's face it: Lin's ethnicity might be a bigger surprise. Fewer than 0.5% of men's Division 1 basketball players are Asian-American. Sure, the occasional giant from China, like Yao Ming, has played in the NBA. But in the U.S., basketball stars are African Americans first, Caucasians second, and Asians ... somewhere far down the line. (One historical footnote: Wat Misaka, a Japanese American, became in 1947 the first nonwhite person to play in the NBA.) (See the classic sports photography of Walter Iooss.)

Lin caught the hoops bug from his father Gie-Ming. Before he emigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s, Gie-Ming would scour Taiwanese television for highlights of NBA games. Once in the States, he studied Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the classic Los Angeles Lakers–Boston Celtics games from the 1980s. "I cannot explain the reasons why I love basketball," says Gie-Ming, a computer engineer. "I just do."

By the time Jeremy was 5, Gie-Ming was taking him to the local YMCA in Palo Alto, Calif., to play ball in a kids' league. For Jeremy, it wasn't exactly love at first sight. "He stood at half-court sucking his thumb for the entirety of about half his games that season," says Jeremy's older brother Josh, 24. "It came to the point where my mom stopped going to watch his games." Then Jeremy asked his mother Shirley to start coming to the Y again. Before Shirley would commit, however, she wanted to know if he'd actually try. "He responded with something along the lines of 'I'm going to play, and I'm going to score,' " Josh says. She showed up, and Jeremy scored the maximum number of points one player could amass under the kiddy-league rules. "From that game on, he just took off and never looked back," says Josh. (See the top 10 sports moments of 2009.)

Throughout Jeremy's childhood, Gie-Ming would take him to the YMCA after he finished his homework. They would practice and play in pickup games. "Many Asian families focus so much on academics," says Gie-Ming. "But it felt so good to play with my kids. I enjoyed it so much." Jeremy won a state championship as a senior in high school, but he received no Division 1 scholarship offers (Ivy League schools cannot give athletic scholarships). Yes, he was scrawny, but don't doubt that a little racial profiling, intentional or otherwise, contributed to his underrecruitment.

Some people still can't look past his ethnicity. Everywhere he plays, Lin is the target of cruel taunts. "It's everything you can imagine," he says. "Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian." Even at the Ivy League gyms? "I've heard it at most of the Ivies if not all of them," he says. Lin is reluctant to mention the specific nature of such insults, but according to Harvard teammate Oliver McNally, another Ivy League player called him a C word that rhymes with ink during a game last season. On Dec. 23, during Harvard's 86-70 loss to Georgetown in Washington, McNally says, one spectator yelled "Sweet-and-sour pork!" from the stands. (See pictures of the college dorm's evolution.)

In the face of such foolishness, Lin doesn't seem to lose it on the court. "Honestly, now, I don't react to it," he says. "I expect it, I'm used to it, it is what it is." Postgame, Lin will release some frustration. "He gets pissed about it afterwards," says McNally. "I have to tip my hat to him. I don't know how I'd react. The type of dude I am, I might not be as mature as Jeremy."

Lin's maturity could lead him to the ministry. A devout Christian, Lin, who is an economics major, is considering becoming a pastor in a church near his Palo Alto home. "I've never really preached before," Lin says. "But I'm really passionate about Christianity and helping others. There's a beauty in seeing people change their lifestyles for the better." (See pictures of John 3:16 in pop culture.)

Before settling on a career, however, Lin has some on-court business to attend to. Harvard has racked up some impressive wins early in the season. The team upset Boston College in early December and knocked off a 9-2 George Washington team on Dec. 30, 66-53. The Crimson, who play next at Seattle University on Jan. 2, should challenge two-time defending champion Cornell for the Ivy title; a league championship would give Harvard that elusive trip to the NCAA tournament. And Lin wants to give pro basketball a shot — most likely overseas or, who knows, maybe in the NBA.

"I can definitely see him being in ministry," says Steve Chen, Lin's mentor and the pastor of the Mountain View, Calif., church the Lin family attends. "But right now, God has gifted him in a specific way, and he's going to go after it hard." If Lin leads Harvard to the tournament, he'll be off to a pretty holy start. Consider it his first miracle.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1951044,00.html#ixzz0drVDz1Jd