Spartan Profiles: Eric Snow

HOOPS AND CITIZENSHIP

            MSU’s basketball program produces not only wins, but also NBA players who excel as role model citizens.  Two Spartans have won the annual J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award for excelling in community service—Magic Johnson in 1991-92, and Steve Smith in 1997-98.  Right in that mold is fellow Spartan NBA point guard Eric Snow, ’95, in his first season with the Cleveland Cavaliers after eight years with the Philadelphia 76ers.  

            Snow has emerged as an outstanding point guard, ranking last season in the NBA’s top ten in assists (563, 9th), assists per game (6.9, 6th), and assists-to-turnover ratio (3:1, 7th), and also a good citizen type, being one of only six players to have won the Joe Dumars Sportsmanship Award.  “I never played point guard until my sophomore year at MSU,” recalls Eric, a native of Canton, OH.  “I played for great coaches—Tom Izzo, Stan Joplin, Brian Gregory, and of course, Jud Heathcote.  They worked with me every day and set the pattern for the kind of player I’d be in the NBA.” 

            Snow has usually paired up with a superstar backcourt mate, Shawn Respert at MSU, and Allen Iverson in Philadelphia.  “Both are great players,” explains Eric.  “Shawn was more of a three-point shooter who came off screens, while Allen was more of a playmaker who drove to the basket, a scorer more than a shooter.  My job is to learn their personalities, their tendencies, and to get them into situations to make them the most effective.” 

            Off the court, Eric is well known for his community service.  His foundation (Shoot 4 The Moon) sponsors a series of fatherhood programs, including the Eric Snow Fatherhood Challenge, which encourages fathers to spend quality time with their children.  “As long as the father is there, everything seems to fall into place,” explains Eric, who practices what he preaches. 

            He married his MSU sweetheart Deshawn, whom he met in his first week on campus, and is now the father of three boys, E.J, 6, Darius, 2, and Jarren, 1.  Tom Izzo, who loves character-quality type players, should remember these names.