A beloved urban pop culture icon and true hero to millions of basketball fans since his glory days as one of the fabled “Fab Five” at the University of Michigan in the early 90s, Jalen Rose was known throughout his storied 13-year NBA career as “The Natural” for his ability to master multiple positions on the court—point guard, shooting guard and small forward.

The charismatic 6’8” Detroit native, who skipped his senior year at the University of Michigan to launch his professional career with the Denver Nuggets in 1994, may have earned his colorful nickname for fulfilling his lifelong hoop dreams, but it applies equally well to his success as a world class philanthropist, ESPN/ABC broadcaster, analyst and show host and as one of the sporting world’s most idolized fashion icons.  Inspired by his childhood hero, basketball superstar and business mogul Magic Johnson, Jalen—who helped revolutionize the Pacers teams in the 90’s which went on to three straight eastern conference finals and won the east in 2000, and concluded his NBA career with the Phoenix Suns, in which the team ended up at the Western Conference Semi-finals in 2007--is branching out beyond his roots, exploring his passions for music, film, politics, sports and fashion, and in the process, quickly becoming a multi-media sensation.

While many basketball stars make the transition to the small screen after they hang up their basketball kicks, Jalen made the bold leap in the midst of his career, becoming a multi-faceted reporter and on-air personality for Fox Sports Net’s famed “Best Damn Sports Show Period” in his seventh season with the Chicago Bulls in 2002.  In addition to covering the NBA Finals since 2002—interviewing a variety of superstars and entertainers such as Jack Nicholson, Steven Spielberg, Denzel Washington, Kid Rock, Bill Russell, Kobe Bryant, and Stevie Wonder, to name a few—he reported on everything from the Bernard Hopkins-Oscar De La Hoya middleweight fight to the 2006 Olympics USA basketball team to the MTV Awards and ESPY Awards. Working with the “Best Damn Sports Show Period” for six years, the budding broadcast star developed his own lifestyle-oriented “Jammin’ With Jalen” segment, where he would rant about the goings on in the fashion world, current events, music, movies, etc.  During his time with “Best Damn…,” he also scored regular gigs on “Cold Pizza” and the “James Brown Radio Show;”  and did interviews for outlets like ABC, ESPN, TNT and MSNBC—all while starring on the courts for the Chicago Bulls (2002-04), Toronto Raptors (2004-06), New York Knicks (2005-06) and Phoenix Suns (2006-07).

Shortly after retiring from basketball, Jalen—a mass communications major at U of M who ultimately earned his Bachelor of Science from the University of Maryland University College --went full throttle pursuing his passion in the multi-media, sports and entertainment world, signing with ESPN/ABC as a broadcaster and studio analyst.  Covering a wide range of current events in the landscape of sports, he’s appeared on the network’s flagship shows “Sportscenter,” “Mike and Mike In The Morning,” “First Take,” and ESPNews, as well as the NBA-related shows “Fast Break” and “Shootaround.”  Most recently, Jalen extensively covered the Lakers vs. Celtics 2008 NBA Finals.  While working with the worldwide leader in sports television, Jalen will appear in-studio and on radio regularly on their family of networks, which includes ESPN2, podcasts, web blogs for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine.

While fans are tuning in to hear Jalen share his basketball knowledge and insight, they’re also excited about checking out his latest formal or casual wear ensemble.  So renowned for his fashion sense on and off the court that “Hoop Magazine” enlisted him as their Style Editor.  The trendsetting celeb has been making waves since his “Fab Five” days at U of M, when he and his fellow All-Americans Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson bucked tradition and wore baggy uniform shorts, black shoes and black socks. This vibe seems mainstream now, but in the early 90s was considered revolutionary.  Fans still talk about the buzz Jalen created when he showed up at the 1994 NBA draft in a red and white pinstripe suit.

“Fashion is all about confidence in your look and yourself.  What really makes your outfit are the accents you wear beyond the jacket, pants and shirt,” Jalen says.  “How you put it together is something you develop. Dressing the part is growing into an understanding of your style. It’s about the right clothes for your size and some experimentation;  and when you look in the mirror and it speaks to you, go with it.”

In 2000, while winning the NBA’s “Most Improved Player Award” and helping lead the Larry Bird-coached Pacers to the NBA Finals against the Lakers, Jalen began giving back to his beloved hometown, as well as his NBA home, by creating the Jalen Rose Foundation.  The foundation is devoted to distributing grants for sports and education related causes for at risk youth.  Recurring programs include:  an endowed scholarship at The University of Michigan, five $10,000 college scholarships for Detroit high school students, financial support for Team Michigan AAU (in which Jalen was a former player and is current head coach) and a charity ticket section called “The Rose Garden,” that was started in Chicago and will continue this year at U of M home games providing underprivileged children with the opportunity to attend a collegiate sporting event.  Jalen, who led his team at Southwestern High School to three Public School League Championships, three City championships, two State championships and the USA Today National Championship, designates a minimum of one college scholarship for a student from his alma mater Southwestern High School.

The Jalen Rose Foundation, which in 2007 passed the $1 million mark in charitable donations--made a generous endowment of $240,000 to Jalen’s alma mater, the University of Michigan, to ensure that the foundation will always have a student at the U of M.  The Jalen Rose Endowed Scholarship is available to a first year student with special consideration for those who come from Michigan and either resides in an inner city area.  Beyond the educational realm, the Foundation has donated substantial amounts to the development of a children’s hospital in the Congo, Africa, as well as victims’ assistance programs for those affected by Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Tsunami disaster in Asia.

 “Growing up as a child in a single parent home, my family faced a lot of hardships,” says Jalen, whose mother Jeanne raised him, two older brothers and one sister on a keypuncher’s salary at Chrysler for more than 20 years.  “Being raised this way, I learned to appreciate the things I had and not worry too much about the things I didn’t have or anything out of my control.  I knew that I probably wouldn’t get 90 percent of what I put on my Christmas wish list and I know what it’s like to not have heat and hot water.  But my mom gave us the more important things. She taught me to be a God-fearing man, the importance of humility, a strong work ethic, discipline and a toughness and willingness to fight through all kinds of adversity.  Those virtues were invaluable to me whether I was on the court or in the classroom, and they’re the foundation of everything I do now.  It’s important that people with influential roles in society take the initiative to help others in need.  I hope that my charity efforts motivate others to get more actively involved in their communities.”

Jalen’s renown as one of basketball’s top philanthropists has earned him recognition by “The Sporting News” as an “NBA Good Guy” several times and honors from “Black Enterprise Magazine” as the only athlete atop their individual donor list of “America's Leading Black Philanthropists” (along with Oprah Winfrey, Robert Johnson & others);  he also received NBA Community Assist accolades on two occasions.  Following in his idol's footsteps, Jalen also received The “2003 Magic Johnson Award,” which is given to the NBA player who best combines the attributes of the legendary Lakers Hall of Famer:  excellence on the basketball court, cooperation with the media and public/community service. Recently, “OT Magazine” recognized the Jalen Rose Foundation as one of the Top 25 Sports Foundations in America.

Despite his substantial achievements on and off the courts, Rose is keenly aware that his mark on our culture will in some ways always be defined as a member of the “Fab Five” at U of M, where he and his teammates revolutionized the sport of basketball.  Playing point guard as his team went down in history as the best freshman class and only NCAA team to ever start five freshman, Jalen—the most outspoken of the Five and their official leader-- set a scoring record his first year of 597 points.  One of only two players in the college’s history to score 1,500 points, 400 rebounds, 300 assists and 100 steals, he was named to the All-Big Ten First Team and the AP All-American Second Team.  During Jalen’s time there (1991-94), the Wolverines made back to back NCAA Championship game appearances and he won team MVP honors during his freshman and junior years;  he also received the Leadership award for his sophomore season.

Drafted 13th by Denver, he was a member of the All-Rookie Team in 1994-95 and played in the “Rookie Challenge” in 1994.  While with Indiana, Jalen earned NBA “Player of the Week” honors and was named the NBA’s “Most Improved Player.”  After being named Bulls “Player of the Year” in Chicago, the NBA recognized him as “NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week” for his amazing performance with the Raptors;  and one of his greatest thrills was playing three years for one of his idols and mentors, NBA Hall of Famer Larry Bird, on the revitalized Pacers team in the late 90s.

Jalen had a grand total of 13,220 points (an average of 14.3 per game), 3,527 assists (3.8 per game) and 2,695 rebounds (3.5 per game).  He became the first player in eight years, other than Reggie Miller, to lead the team in scoring in the 1999-2000 season when he averaged 18.2 points per game for the eventual Eastern Conference Champions (the only time the Pacers has won the Eastern Conference crown).  He also helped lead them to the Eastern Conference Championship in 2000, and averaged 23 points per game in the six game Finals series, including two 30-plus point efforts.  Jalen’s NBA career includes a storied night vs. Philadelphia in which he and Hall of Famer Reggie Miller became a part of playoff history eclipsing 40 points in the same playoff game in 2002, which has only been done a few times in NBA history.

 “I’m very proud of what I accomplished in the NBA,” he says, “but I’m even more excited to be acknowledged as someone who has done so much more beyond that, especially my media career and my work with the foundation.  These days, I’m enjoying just being a chameleon and embracing these great opportunities as they come along. Still, looking back, nothing is bigger than being part of the ‘Fab Five,’ when we changed the game and made history. Every night was like Oscar night.”

Then with a smile, Jalen Rose, truly a self-made phenomenon of his time and a Renaissance man of the 2000s, says, “The rest of my life now is about setting goals and striving to achieve them. And I’m having a blast!”