Anderson Hunt (born May 5, 1969) is an American former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player.

NCAA career

Hunt is best known as a member of the successful 1989–91 Runnin' Rebels from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) that made back-to-back

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

appearances including a

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

in 1989–90 where he contributed 29 points in a 103–73 rout of the Blue Devils of

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

and named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. In May 1991, the

Las Vegas Review-Journal The ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area. The ''Review-Journal' ...

published photos of Hunt with teammates David Butler and Moses Scurry in a hot tub with known sports fixer Richard Perry, igniting a monumental firestorm between coach

Jerry Tarkanian Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Reb ...

, UNLV president Robert Maxson, and the NCAA. This battle would eventually lead to Tarkanian's resignation at the end of the 1991–92 season. Hunt left school as a junior after the 1991 season to enter the NBA Draft, much to the dismay of his coach, who had hoped to convert him to

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

and make him the centerpiece of the team in the 1991–92 season.

Professional career

Despite his solid college resume, Hunt was not selected in the

1991 NBA draft The 1991–92 NBA season, 1991 NBA draft took place on June 26, 1991, in New York City, New York. Larry Johnson (basketball, born 1969), Larry Johnson was selected first overall; he won the 1992 NBA Rookie of the Year award and as a two-time All ...

. The La Crosse Catbirds selected him in the second round of that year's

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

(CBA) draft with the 25th overall pick. He played 42 total CBA games over three seasons with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Fort Wayne Fury and Quad City Thunder, averaging 11 points per game for his CBA career. Hunt also played professionally in Turkey, Poland, and France.

Legal troubles

In October 1993, Hunt was arrested for marijuana possession in connection with a traffic stop and later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges. In 2002, he again ran into legal trouble, facing charges of attempted

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

after he failed to return a rental car for an extended period of time. He was ordered to pay $1,300 in restitution and placed on

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

After basketball

After his retirement, Hunt worked at the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. He is now with a youth basketball program sponsored by 4POINT4 Sports. UNLV retired Hunt's number 12 jersey on November 11, 2023.

References

1969 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Poland American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players Basketball players from Detroit Fort Wayne Fury players Quad City Thunder players Shooting guards Sioux Falls Skyforce (CBA) players United States Basketball League players UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball players {{1960s-US-basketball-bio-stub