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The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams. The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional basketball league in the world.
The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA), and in 1988 was renamed the Big West Conference. The conference stopped sponsoring college football after the 2000 season.
The America East Conference (AmEast) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college competitions, and has since spread globally. As of 2020, basketball is one of the most popular and fastest growing sports in the world.
College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of amateur student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athletic bodies, including the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), and the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). Each of these various organizations is subdivided into one to three divisions, based on the number and level of scholarships that may be provided to the athletes. Teams with more talent tend to win over teams with less talent.
Violet Renice Palmer is a retired American basketball referee in the NBA and WNBA and the first female official to reach the highest competitive tier in any major U.S. professional sports league. She also earned recognition as a member of two NCAA Division II women's championship basketball teams. Palmer was the first woman to officiate an NBA playoff game when she did so in the April 25, 2006 match between the Indiana Pacers and New Jersey Nets. In the NBA, Palmer wore uniform number 12. She retired in 2016.
Michael Jerome Cooper is an American basketball coach and former player. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers during his entire career in the National Basketball Association, winning five NBA championships with the Lakers during their Showtime era. He was an eight-time selection to the NBA All-Defensive Team, including five times on the first team. He was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 1987. In 2024, it was announced that Cooper would be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Following his Hall of Fame announcement, it was announced on August 15, 2024, that Cooper would have his No. 21 retired by the Lakers on January 13, 2025.
The International Basketball League (IBL) was a semi-professional men's basketball league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States. In 2010 the Albany Legends became the first team in the Northeastern United States to join. The IBL also sometimes featured teams from China and Japan which temporarily relocated to the United States for the IBL season. The IBL season typically ran from the end of March through July.
Earl "Yogi" Strom was an American professional basketball referee for 29 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and for three years in the American Basketball Association (ABA). Strom is credited as one of the great referees in the history of the NBA and was known for his flamboyant style and ability to control the game. Nicknamed "The Pied Piper", the assertive Strom made foul calls with his whistle by using a "tweet-pause-tweet-tweet" tune and pointing at the offending player. In addition to calling fouls with flair, he was known for ejecting players from games with style and he sometimes supported his rulings with physical force.
Norm Drucker was a major influence in professional basketball officiating for over 35 years. His NBA and ABA officiating career as both a referee and Supervisor of Officials spanned the careers of all-time pro basketball greats, from George Mikan, Bob Cousy, Dolph Schayes and Bob Pettit in the 1950s, to Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Bill Russell in the 1960s, to Julius Erving, Rick Barry, Bill Bradley and Walt Frazier in the 1970s and to Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in the 1980s.
The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as California or Cal, the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I primarily as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and for a limited number of sports as a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). In 2014, Cal instituted a strict academic standard for an athlete's admission to the university. By the 2017 academic year 80 percent of incoming student athletes were required to comply with the University of California general student requirement of having a 3.0 or higher high school grade point average.
Richard W. Bavetta is an American retired professional basketball referee for the National Basketball Association (NBA). He debuted in the league in 1975 and never missed an assigned game until 2014, and he holds the league record for most officiated games with 2,635.
Marvin "Mendy" Rudolph was an American professional basketball referee in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 22 years, from 1953 to 1975. One of the few basketball game officials to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, Rudolph was the first league referee to work 2,000 games. and officiated 2,112 NBA games in all, a record that he held at retirement. He was also selected to referee eight NBA All-Star Games and made 22 consecutive NBA Finals appearances.
Hubert "Hugh" Evans was an American basketball referee in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 28 seasons. He worked 1,969 regular season NBA games and 35 NBA Finals games during his NBA officiating career from 1972 to 2001. He subsequently served as an assistant supervisor of officials in the NBA front office.
Solar Sports is a Philippine digital free-to-air television network based in Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong, Philippines. It serves as the flagship network of Southern Broadcasting Network a subsidiary of Solar Entertainment Corporation. The channel was originally launched as a cable channel on October 30, 2002, and is available for Sky Cable, Cablelink, other local cable operators in the Philippines and via digital free-to-air television in Mega Manila starting October 7, 2024.
The San Jose State Spartans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San José State University. SJSU sports teams compete in the Mountain West Conference at the NCAA Division I level, with football competing in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
Each year the California Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school boys basketball player in the U.S. state of California. It has been awarded since 1905. Many have gone on to play in the NBA.
Sports in San Diego and its surrounding metropolitan area includes major professional league teams, other highest-level professional league teams, minor league teams, and college athletics. San Diego hosts two major professional league teams, the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB) and San Diego FC of Major League Soccer (MLS). The area is home to several universities whose teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), most notably the San Diego State Aztecs. The Farmers Insurance Open, a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, is played annually at Torrey Pines Golf Course.
The Cal State Los Angeles Golden Eagles are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Los Angeles in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Golden Eagles compete as members of the California Collegiate Athletic Association for all 10 varsity sports. Cal State LA previously competed in Division I and was a founding member of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association in 1969, leaving in 1974 but not before winning the conference's basketball title and participating in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
Cal Calamia is a non-binary transmasculine runner, sports activist, poet, and educator. He was born in 1996. Calamia was the first winner of the non-binary division of the San Francisco Marathon and has been an advocate for transgender and non-binary runners since 2022.
References
- 1 2 "Che Flores". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 18, 2024.
- 1 2 3 Carmichael, Emma (October 23, 2023). "NBA Referee Che Flores on Becoming the First Out Trans and Nonbinary Ref in American Pro Sports". GQ. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
- 1 2 3 Ingemi, Marisa (March 1, 2024). "NBA's first non-binary referee didn't seek the spotlight, but they aren't hiding". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 4, 2024.