2008 Woodie Awards
The shot heard 'round the world
Jake Kalos
Issue date: 2/18/05 Section: Sports
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By the time I caught up with him he had already been interviewed by the News and Record, ESPN radio, News 12, Fox 8, CNN, USA Today, The Roanoke Times and The Associated Press, to name just a few.
So, how has Snipes' long shot traveled around the world in such a little amount of time?
"It started the day of the game when the videographer from WRIC was there," said Dave Walters, Guilford's Sports Information Director. "He stayed through until the end of the game and got the picture. He took it upon himself to send it on to the CNN Pathfire service."
Walters describes the Pathfire service as "a video news feed service that broadcast medias subscribe to."
After people saw the feed, Walters said, they wanted to learn more about it. The next day alone Snipes conducted 11 interviews.
"It's been crazy," Snipes said. "You play Division III basketball, so you don't expect to be on Sportscenter, or even the local news."
Not only was Snipes' shot aired on Sportscenter, the video clip is appearing all over the Internet.
"It's more than just a sports story," Walters said. "It's one of those incredible videos." It is similar in this sense to the clip of Randy Johnson hitting a seagull with his 90 MPH fastball, or Vince Carter leaping over France's 7'2" Frederic Weis for a slam dunk at the 2000 Olympics.
With everything that Snipes has experienced since making the shot he said the most exciting was recreating the shot for WFMY News 2. "They gave me a rack of 16 balls," he said. "I made the eleventh one."
Despite his busy schedule of interviews, on top of his ordinary classes and practices, Snipes has still found time for his family.
The day after the shot, when Snipes had 11 interviews, "he still found time to come to his brother's game," said Chuck Snipes, Jordan's father. "Justin (Snipes's brother, a high school senior) was thrilled."
"There were a lot of little kids asking for Jordan's autograph," Mr. Snipes said. "We all thought that was pretty amazing."
This sort of recognition has not been uncommon over the last few weeks. "When I go to sports bars around town people will start pointing and talking about me," Snipes said. "Then they come over and say congratulations. People know me now, it's weird. I like it, but it's kind of crazy."
