Georgia Gwizzlies Sign League's First Iranian Player
October 18, 2007 - American Basketball Association (ABA)
Georgia Gwizzlies News Release
Macon, GA. The ABA Georgia Gwizzlies today announced that they have signed Iranian born Behdad Sami to their roster of players. Currently residing in Oregon, according to team owner Embry Malone, "We believe that Behdad is the one and only professional Iranian basketball player in the US. USBASKET.COM shoes only six Iranians playing basketball in the US at a higher level than high school. All six are still in college. And the best part, he's very good."
"Atlanta has the second largest Persian community in the USA," added Malone. Hopefully people from Atlanta will spread the word and make the trip to Macon to see him play. I know that they will turn out in force when we visit the Atlanta Vision this season. Behdad is a top notch athlete and will change the perception of Iranian players. Hopefully he will be a huge influence and a role model to all Iranian kids.
Behad is 5'11 and can dunk, he is unbelievably quick and fundamentally sound. For the last three years, he has been training with HoopDreams and personall trains with Kumbeno Memory (www.hoopdreams.info). He played a year at Linn Benton College and has also played professionally in Romania and attended the China Basketball Association camp run by the US Basketball Academy. for more information, email gwizzlies@msn.com or visit www.georgiagwizzlies.com or www.abalive.com.
Note: OurSports Central no longer actively covers the American Basketball Association (ABA) as a professional league due in part to its inability to publish and play a schedule and the transitory nature of many of its teams. For information on professional minor leagues, please see OSC's basketball section.
American Basketball Association Stories from October 18, 2007
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- Georgia Gwizzlies To Be Featured Saturday On All Access Radio - ABA
- Georgia Gwizzlies Sign League's First Iranian Player - Georgia Gwizzlies
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