EMORY, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Department of Athletics will host Glenn Roberts Day on Saturday, February 6 in conjunction with its basketball doubleheader. Glenn Roberts, a member of the College’s class of 1935, is widely crediting with being one of the innovators of the “jump shot” which revolutionized the game of basketball.
The event will begin at 1:40 p.m., with a ceremony unveiling a plaque in honor of Roberts’ accomplishments in the lobby of the John Rutledge King Center. The Roberts family will be honored at center court during halftime of the men’s basketball game against Virginia Wesleyan College, which is scheduled for a 2:00 p.m., tipoff. The Emory & Henry women’s basketball team is scheduled take on Randolph College at 4:30 p.m., and will honor their four seniors prior to tipoff.
The President and CEO of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, John Doleva, will be on hand to participate in the ceremony. A page devoted to Roberts on the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame website is entitled “The Genesis of the Jump Shot.”
Roberts, a native of Wise County, was the first collegiate player to score more than 2,000 points in his career, posting 1,531 points in 80 college games and an additional 482 points in 24 exhibition games against professional and semi-professional teams, giving him a total of 2,013 points for his career.
In his time at E&H, the Wasps posted a 72-8 record against college teams and captured three Virginia State Championships. As a senior, Roberts was named an All-American by the Helms Foundation alongside four players from major college basketball programs. He was selected four times as both All-Conference and the league’s Most Valuable Player.
Roberts was a charter member of the Emory & Henry Sports Hall of Fame in 1972 and was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in April of 1980.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams have alumni reunions scheduled for Saturday. The men’s reunion will take place after the conclusion of the men’s game while the women’s reunion will be held at halftime of the men’s contest.
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