Grayson Boucher

Cleanup|date=March 2008

Grayson Scott Boucher (born June 10, 1984), better known by his moniker The Professor, is an American basketball player from the U.S. state of Oregon. He plays on the Streetball AND1 Mixtape Tour. Boucher is 5'10" and weighs 150 pounds (1.78 m, 63.5 kg).Fact|date=March 2008

Early life

Boucher was born and raised in Keizer, Oregon, a city outside of the state's capital, Salem. While growing up his main influence was his father, the man responsible for putting the basketball in his hands. Boucher developed his skills during years of practicing in the driveway, youth leagues, and AAU basketball. Although talented, he always was undersized among his peers and teammates. Boucher found himself still on the junior varsity team as a junior in high school at McNary High School. The following year he aspired to be a starter so he could gain attention and work towards playing basketball at the collegiate level. The following year he transferred to Salem Academy, a small private school in Salem, where he became the starting point guard. At the end of the year, Boucher was one vote away from becoming league MVP and was an All-State selection, averaging 20 points and 7 assists per game.Fact|date=March 2008 He was named 2nd team allstate and participated in the 2002 Gatorade Oregon High School All-Star Series. After high school, Boucher had limited offers to play any college basketball so he walked on at the local community college, Chemeketa Community College. He played sparingly behind the scholarship players his freshman year. During the off-season at Chemeketa, Boucher worked out in the weight room and on the court and made the biggest improvement of his career up to that point. He credits his coach, David Abderhalden, with playing an important role in improving his game.

AND1 Mixtape Tour

Boucher entered the AND 1 Mix Tape tour at the open run in Portland's Memorial Coliseum during the 2003 tour. During the 2003 season, he hit game-winning shots in Jackson, Mississippi and New York City at Madison Square Garden, leading to his selection by the AND 1 Mix Tape players to receive an AND 1 endorsement deal and join the And 1 Mixtape team.cite news
title=1-on-1 with The Professor of Street Ball - Grayson Boucher: 145 Lbs of Nothin' But Skill
first=Bernadette
last=Houston
coauthors=Bryan Sims
date=2006-02-21
work=brass
url=http://www.brassmagazine.com/articles/stry_temp.asp?aid=129
accessdate=2008-04-15] At the time of his tryout, he was working in a grocery store and attending Chemeketa Community College in Salem.cite news
title=Riding with … Grayson Boucher
first=Jemele
last=Hill
date=2007-08-15
work=ESPN SportsCenter Page 2
url=http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hill/070815
accessdate=2008-04-15]

During the And 1 Mixtape Tour in 2003, Boucher was put on the map and given the name 'Professor' by tour MC Duke Tango because that summer Duke said he was 'schooling people on the court.' After a full summer of being on ESPN and noticing the popularity of the And 1 Mixtape Tour and ESPN tv show 'Streetball', Boucher thought that the tour is where his future was at as opposed to going back to school. From then on the 'Professor' has become well known among basketball fans everywhere around the world.Fact|date=March 2008 He has been able to play in about 20 countries outside of the United States and has been featured on 6 seasons of the show 'Streetball' on ESPN.Fact|date=March 2008 Boucher credits his success to endless hours in the gym, loving the game of basketball, and never giving up on a dream.Fact|date=March 2008 While being signed to And 1 Boucher has also ventured off into other things as well. He played for the Salem Stampede in the Intercontinental Basketball League (IBL) for the 2006 season and, in July 2007, signed with the Atlanta Krunk in the Continental Basketball Association. [cite press release
title=Krunk Reach Verbal Agreement With Professor
publisher=Atlanta Krunk
date=2007-07-17
url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/7/prweb539939.htm
accessdate=2008-04-15] He also started a career in acting, moving from Portland to Los Angeles, California. He stars in the movie 'Ball Don't Lie' set to be released in early 2009. He also had a small role in the comedy 'Semi-Pro' starring Will Ferrell. Boucher is looking to expand his acting career and professional basketball career while also being contracted under And 1 and playing in all the tour events.

References

External links

* [http://www.streetball.com/profile/graysonboucher Streetball.com] The Professor Official Streetball Profile
* [http://streetballvideos.net/the-professor/ The Professor's Streetballvideos.net page]
* [http://www.and1.com/ AND1.com]
* [http://www.myspace.com/professorand1 / The Professor's myspace page]