Irish American Museum of Washington, D.C.
Jason Frederick Kidd
Born in San Francisco, California, on March 23, 1973, Jason Frederick Kidd played soccer – not basketball – until he was in the second grade. His father Steven is African-American, whilst his mother Anne is Irish-American. Not taking Basketball up until he was in second grade, his legend grew, by the time he reached his junior year at St. Joseph High School in Alameda, California, he was a national sensation.
He took St. Joseph to two straight state championships and accumulated a host of honors in his senior year: the Naismith Award as nation’s top high school player as a senior, averaging 25.0 points, 10.0 assists, 7.0 rebounds and 7.0 steals, and Parade and USA Today High School Player of the Year.
Every major college basketball program in America wanted Jason, who by the end of high school was 6’4” and 200 pounds. The decision came down to two schools: Kansas and the University of California, Berkeley, choosing California so that his parents could come to see him play.
Kidd he has brought home five gold medals: three from Olympic qualifying tournaments, one from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and one from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Jason over the course of his career has played with Dallas Mavericks (1994-1996), Phoenix Suns (1996-2001), New Jersey (2001–2008) and Return to Dallas (2008–present).
On April 16, 2008, Kidd reached a new career milestone, achieving his 100th career triple-double in the final regular-season game with the Dallas Mavericks that year against the New Orleans Hornets. In the 2008–2009 season, Kidd became just the fourth player in NBA history to reach the 10,000 assist milestone and is now the only player in NBA history with 15,000 points, 10,000 assists and 7,000 rebounds. On April 5, 2009 Kidd passed Magic Johnson at third on the all-time assist list in a convincing 140–116 victory over the Phoenix Suns. Kidd scored 19 points with 6–8 shooting and a season high 20 assists giving him a total of 10142 career assists. On November 26, 2009, Kidd moved into 2nd place on the all-time assists list in a win against the Houston Rockets, surpassing Mark Jackson on the list. Kidd currently holds the record for most games played amongst active player.
The basketball star in 1999 used his fame to establish The Jason Kidd Foundation, a charity which is dedicated to improving education among the youth, by ensuring that kids of all ages have the tools needed through mentoring, tutoring and technology programs to succeed in life. The Jason Kidd Foundation is a non-for profit organization dedicated to providing opportunities for young people to succeed in life through education.
