Jalen (pronounced JAY-lin) was born on January 30th 1973 in Detroit Michigan and played college basketball there after attending high school at Southwestern (Detroit). While playing in college he was playing for Michigan where he and four of his teammates ( Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, Ray Jackson, and Chris Webber) became known as the "Fab Five". Before Rose was drafted out of Michigan after his junior season Jalen had ties to the NBA his father (Jimmy Walker) was a guard for the Detroit Pistons (1967-1968 through 1971-1972), Houston Rockets (1972-1973 through 1973-1974), Kansas City/Omaha
… More Kings (1973-1974 through 1974-1975), and finally the Kansas City Kings (1975-1976).
Jalen Rose was drafted by the Denver Nuggets in the first round (13th overall) in the 1994 NBA draft. He played two years for the Nuggets before playing in Indiana and the Bulls of Chicago before joining the Raptors in December of 2003. He has been honoured with a trio of awards in his basketball career capturing The Sporting News All-America First Team during his college playing days. In the NBA he has made the Second All-Rookie Team and in 1999-2000 as a member of the Indiana Pacers he was awarded the Most Improved Player award.
