- David Cullen
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This article is about the basketball player. For other uses, see David Cullen (disambiguation).
David Cullen 
Forward Personal information Date of birth 1969 Place of birth Belfast, Northern Ireland Nationality Irish Listed height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Listed weight 260 lb (118 kg) Career information Pro career 1985–2005 Career history Team Smithwicks, Star Of The Sea, St Malachy’s Old Boys, Queen's Basketball Club Career highlights and awards Arthur Ashe award for Courage, twice represented the Northern Ireland Universities basketball team at the BUCS games Stats at NBA.com David Cullen (born 1969 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a former basketball player who currently assists the organisation Crossover Basketball with its work in Northern Ireland. David has attended and currently works for Queen's University Belfast.
Contents
Basketball career
Dave started playing basketball in the senior leagues for Team Smithwicks at 16 years old, but had to pretend he was 18 to be available for selection. He them moved to Star of the Sea at age 20 who compete in the Irish Super League, the top level of basketball in Ireland which involves professional players brought in from America.
At age 25, David moved to the newly founded Queen's Basketball Club. He also enrolled as a mature student at Queen's, which enabled him to play for the varsities team. This led to David twice representing the Northern Ireland Universities basketball team at the BUCS games. It was through the varsity team that David met Sean Tuohey and became involved with Peace Players International (formally Playing For Peace). David is currently the General Manager/Coach of Belfast Tropics. Dave and his wife Kerry live in South Belfast with their four children.
Queen's Invitational Basketball Tournament
David is the organiser of the largest pre-season basketball tournament in Northern Ireland, The Queen's Invitational Basketball Tournament[1][2][3] (formerly known as the Errigle Inn Invitational tournament). The Tournament has been up and running for over 5 years now and clubs such as Star of the Sea, Tolka Rovers and North Star Basketball Club have lifted the trophy. Teams from England, Cyprus and America have attended the competition. In 2008 Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry helped finance the Cyprus team's trip to Belfast to participate in the tournament. In 2010 the tournament sponsored by ESPN was won by the Belfast Tropics.
Arthur Ashe Courage Award
On Wednesday 11 July 2007, David Cullen and Trevor Ringland received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2007 ESPY awards[4][5] for their work with PeacePlayers International.
Previous recipients of the Award include Muhammad Ali, Dean Smith, Billie Jean King, Tommie Smith and John Carlos and in 2009 Nelson Mandella.
Notes
David is also a published poet, having contributed a poem to the book "You Can't Eat Flags For Breakfast"[6]
David has been added to the Streetball Ireland Hall of Fame[7]
Dave has his own fan site on BEBO called "The Dave Cullen Amazed and Bewildered Society" [8]
David has appeared as a studio guest on Channel 5's NBA show.
References
- ^ Queen's Invitational Basketball Tournament website
- ^ gotobelfast.com reference to Errigle Inn Invitational Tournament
- ^ Belfast.World-guides.com reference to Errigle Inn Invitational Tournament
- ^ ESPN article on Peace Players International
- ^ ESPY Awards Roundup
- ^ Amazon UK listing for "You Can't Eat Flags For Breakfast", a book including one of David's poems.
- ^ Streetball Ireland website
- ^ "Profile from Dave Cullen Amazed and Bewildered Society". bebo.com. http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=4417713415. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
External links
- Video of David Cullen and Trevor Ringland accepting the 2007 Arthur Ashe Courage Award from Samuel L Jackson at the 2007 ESPY Awards ceremony
- Official ESPN ESPY awards site
- The Ireland Funds article on Peace Players International (formally Playing For Peace)
- Queen's Basketball Club
- David losing a game of 1-on-1 against a female basketball coach
- Dave's bebo fan site
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations (1984–2000) Michael Starobin (1984) · Steven Margoshes/Danny Troob (1985) · Rupert Holmes (1986) · John Cameron (1987) · David Cullen/Andrew Lloyd Webber (1988) · Billy Byers (1990) · William David Brohn (1991) · Luther Henderson (1992) · Steve Margoshes (1993) · Jonathan Tunick (1994) · Steve Skinner (1996) · Jonathan Tunick (1997) · William David Brohn (1998) · Don Sebesky (1999) · Don Sebesky (2000)
Complete list · (1984–2000) · (2001–2025) Categories:- 1969 births
- Alumni of Queen's University Belfast
- Living people
- Basketball players from Northern Ireland
- People from Belfast
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