 | jy826 (15)
07/05/2008 |  Ben Wilson was a hoops star at Chicago's Simeon High School. Standing at six-foot-seven and playing point guard, he was described as "Magic Johnson with a jumpshot" and is described as having Kevin-Garnett like versatility and rated as the number one prep player in the Class of 85. With every college in the nation vying for his services, Ben had narrowed his collge choices to Illinois, DePaul and Indiana and it is believed he would have gone to Illinois. Tragically Ben was shot on Nov. 20 (the day before the first game on his senior season) after a small altercation with two gang-members and died the next day. Future Illinois-star and NBA player Nick Anderson who had transfered to Simeon to play with Ben, wore the number 25 on his jersey (Ben's high school number) through out his career to honor Ben. In 1997 Nike released a commerical which interviewed Ben's HS coach talking about how Ben's spirit lived and urged young black men to "shoot over brothers (as in shoot the ball on the court) and not at brothers"
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