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On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. speaks with Jonathan Bender former professional basketball player. When Bender skipped college to go?play for the Pacers in 1999, he became an instant millionaire. Not just millionaire, but multi-millionaire earning nearly $7 million for his first three years on the team. For a baller coming straight out of a town like Picayune, Mississippi, even $1 million would have been an extraordinary amount of money?let alone seven. Overnight he had literally become the richest man from his hometown. What?s more, only a few basketball superstars had made the transition straight from high school to the NBA successfully, the likes of Moses Malone, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant. While the odds were seemingly against him, Bender realized early success in the NBA. Then his knees started to give out.
So debilitating was the pain in his knees that, after 7 years in the league, he took a 4-year retirement. Not one to sit idle or suffer helplessly, during this time Bender worked with scientists and engineers to painstakingly develop a first-of-its-kind rehabilitative product to address joint pain and physical limitation problems that, even today, cannot be rectified with any other physical therapy intervention of device on the market. While using his own product prototype?now coined the ?JB Intensive Trainer??Bender became fit enough to re-enter the NBA, where he played for another year with the New York Knicks. Amazingly, when the team doctors did strengthening tests on Bender, they discovered he had the strongest lower extremities on the team! But, this time around things had changed. Bender had the entrepreneurial bug and the game just didn?t mean as much to him as it used to. So, at the ripe age of 29 and to the surprise of many, Bender again retired and the former NBA hopeful seemed to be at a career crossroad.
Suddenly the ?boy wonder? who had shocked everyone by making the top-5 of the ?99 Draft was yesterday?s news. Fan support and media attention was no more. Without an MBA, let alone a college degree, he was already at a distinct disadvantage. But, Bender had always been one to beat the odds. And so he did?again.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 28:59 ? 33.2MB)
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