Jeremy Evans to visit awesomely obscure towns on Junior Jazz summer tour

2012 NBA Slam Dunk Champion to conduct 12 clinics in Utah and Nevada

The Jazz announced today that Jeremy Evans will return to rural Utah and Nevada for his third summer Junior Jazz tour later this month. Check the bottom of this post for a calender of appearance dates for the first leg of the tour. I love love love the cities Evans gets to visit, including Kanab, Orderville, Dugway, Bryce Valley, Escalante, Salina, and Beaver. Seriously, this is one of my favorite outreach things the Jazz do each year.

Here’s most of the press release:

SALT LAKE CITY (June 15, 2012) – The Utah Jazz announced today that forward and 2012 NBA Slam Dunk Champion Jeremy Evans will take part in the first leg of this summer’s annual Junior Jazz road trip, which tips off on Monday, June 18. This will mark the third straight season Evans has participated in the Junior Jazz road trip, a barnstorming tour which conducts approximately 42 basketball clinics covering more than 4,000 miles across four states for three weeks each summer.

The 2012 edition of the Junior Jazz road trip marks the 28th straight year the Jazz has conducted the events, which feature Jazz players running hour-long basketball clinics for kids in participating Junior Jazz towns across Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming. Following each clinic, the Jazz player will sign autographs and pose for pictures.

The initial week (June 18-22) will feature Evans running Junior Jazz clinics in 12 cities in Utah and Nevada. Additional details on weeks two and three of the Junior Jazz road trips, including specifics on Jazz players, clinics and cities, will be announced at a later date. A complete schedule of Week One of the Junior Jazz tour is found below.

Former Jazz greats Karl Malone and John Stockton are among the numerous Jazz players to have participated in the Junior Jazz trips over the years. The Junior Jazz program is the largest and longest-running youth basketball league in the NBA and the Jazz is the only team in the NBA to conduct a summer tour.

About Junior Jazz
Junior Jazz, the longest-running youth basketball league in the NBA, has been shaping the face of local amateur sports for the past 29 years. Beginning with only 7,133 participants in its initial year, the popular program has grown to the largest in the NBA with 55,000 players and an additional 13,000 volunteers who take part each year. Kindergartners through 12th-graders are eligible to participate, and individual programs are managed through recreation centers in Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Wyoming. Junior Jazz programs promote sportsmanship, fundamental athletic development and having fun.

Each Jazz player participates in one-to-two Junior Jazz clinics per year, visiting both local and outlying districts, where they speak to youth and conduct a total of 15 basketball clinics along the Wasatch Front each season.

In 2006, Junior Jazz launched a good sportsmanship initiative that recognizes and rewards kids, coaches and parents for being good sports. This year’s sportsmanship winners attended a party on March 19, 2012, where Jazz forward Josh Howard and guard Raja Bell presented awards to individual sportsmanship winners.

Notable alumni of the Junior Jazz leagues include current NFL players Kevin Curtis (Kansas City) and Brady Poppinga (Green Bay), former Brigham Young University and NBA players Shawn Bradley and Travis Hansen, ex-University of Utah star and NFL player Kevin Dyson, American Idol finalist David Archuletta and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter DaMarques Johnson.

About Jeremy Evans
Originally selected by the Utah Jazz in the second round (55th overall selection) of the 2010 NBA Draft, Jeremy Evans (6-9, 194, Western Kentucky) has appeared in 78 games (three starts) over his first two NBA seasons, averaging 3.1 points and 1.9 rebounds while shooting .656 from the field. A fan favorite because of his leaping prowess and high-flying dunks, scoring more than 63 percent of his baskets on dunks (48 of his 76 made shots were dunks), including 19 alley-oops off Earl Watson passes.

The Crossett, Ark., native was the first-ever Utah Jazz draft selection from Western Kentucky and the 43rd NBA player ever drafted out of WKU. Evans and New Jersey’s Courtney Lee are the only WKU players selected in the NBA Draft since 1996.