Jeremy Lin: Race Was A Barrier In College Recruiting Process

Jeremy Lin says his race was a barrier in his college recruiting process, with major programs refusing to give him a look because he was Asian.

Now the starting guard for the Houston Rockets after a breakout season with the Knicks in 2012, Lin wasn’t offered a scholarship to play Division I basketball despite a stellar high school resume. Lin led his Palo Alto (California) high school to a 32-1 record his senior year of 2005-06, scoring 15.1 points per game along with 7.1 assists, 6.2 rebounds and 5.0 steals.

Jeremy Lin also finished that season on the first-team All-State and was named Northern California Division II Player of the year. But he still attracted no looks from major Division I programs — including nearby Stanford and UCLA — and instead went to the Ivy League to star at Harvard University (which does not offer athletic scholarships).

Lin said he was hurt by a stereotype that Asian-Americans do not traditionally make for ball players.

“Well, I think the obvious thing in my mind is that I was Asian-American, which, you know, is a whole different issue but … I think that was a barrier,” Lin told Charlie Rose in a 60 Minutes interview that will air Sunday. “I mean … it’s a stereotype.”

Lin still slipped under the radar after college, going undrafted but eventually being signed by the Golden State Warriors after a strong showing in the NBA Summer League.

Even NBA commissioner David Stern found it odd that Jeremy Lin failed to garner any attention.

“I think in the true sense the answer to that is yes,” NBA commissioner David Stern told Rose, according to CBSNews.com.

“In terms of looking at somebody … I don’t know whether he was discriminated against because he was at Harvard,” he laughed, “Or because he was Asian.”

But Jeremy Lin didn’t stay quiet for long. After being sent to the NBA D-League and recalled, Lin burst out for the Knicks in 2012, leading to what was known as “Linsanity” in New York.