Who is Jeremy Lin?

Well, he's an Asian-American (specifically Taiwanese-American) kid who grew up in Palo Alto, California. While living in Palo Alto, he went to Palo Alto High School. After high school, Jeremy went on to attend the prestigious Harvard University, graduating with an Economics degree.

Don't you feel like you've heard this story before? Asian kid with immigrant parents studies hard so he/she can attend an Ivy League school to graduate with some sort of business, medical, or law degree. Yeah, I'm pretty sure you've heard this one.

So let me spice up the story a bit. Jeremy Lin is also a basketball player. He led his high school to a CIF State title in 2006 and was considered by many California publications as the player of the year. He didn't receive any scholarship offers from Division I schools, so he decided to go to Harvard University. Although he was known for his basketball, Jeremy still had to pay Harvard's full tuition because the school did not offer sports scholarships. In his senior year (2009–10), Lin averaged 16.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.1 blocks, and was a unanimous selection for All-Ivy League First Team for the second time in his college career.

Getting a bit more interesting? After graduating Harvard, he was offered a spot on the Dallas Mavericks Summer League team. During the NBA Summer League, Lin garnered much attention after his tremendous play against the #1 draft pick, John Wall. Here are some highlights from that game...

After playing in the Summer League, Lin was offered a contract from his favorite team growing up, the Golden State Warriors. With this signing, Lin has a great opportunity to shine in the NBA. Lin is the first graduate from Harvard to play in the NBA since the 1953-54 season, when Ed Smith appeared in 11 games with the New York Knicks. Lin is also the first Asian-American to play in the NBA since Wat Misaka, a Japanese-American, played in 1947. Misaka was also the first non-white player to ever play in the league. When asked by ESPN writer Kevin Arnovitz, "How important is the [Asian-American] identity stuff," Lin replied by saying, "You know, it's important but not as important as my being a Christian. That's first and foremost the most important thing to me when it comes to my identity."

Although I wish Arnovitz would have followed up on Jeremy's statement that being Christian is important to him, he didn't. Haha. So here's a more in depth interview about Jeremy Lin's faith and how important it is to him regarding basketball (please read!).
The Faith and Fate of Jeremy Lin
There is also a second part to the interview. Link below.
Jeremy Lin, Faith, and Ethnicity

What a great encouragement it is to see a fellow Asian-American succeed where it's been 60+ years for anyone else to do so. But it's an even greater encouragement to see a fellow Christian succeed. I know I'll be tuning in to watch a few more Golden State games than usual, to see Lin play on the hard court. My hope and prayer for Jeremy Lin is that he would really use this opportunity to show Jesus whenever, wherever, however he can. He's already proclaimed his faith, now it's up to him to show it.

So who is Jeremy Lin? A Taiwanese-American basketball player? Yes, but more importantly, he is a Christian. God bless and Good luck in the NBA, Jeremy!