CHICAGO (March 21, 2014)In its 29th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Shake Milton of Owasso High School as its 2013-14 Gatorade Oklahoma Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Milton is the first Gatorade Oklahoma Boys Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Owasso High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Milton as Oklahoma’s best high school boys basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March, Milton joins an elite alumni association of past state boys basketball award winners, including Dwight Howard (2003-04, SW Atlanta Christian Academy, Ga.), Chauncey Billups (1993-94 & 1994-95, George Washington HS, Colo.), Jason Kidd (1991-92, St. Joseph Notre Dame HS, Calif.), Paul Pierce (1994-95, Inglewood HS, Calif.) and Chris Bosh (2001-02, Lincoln HS, Texas).
The 6-foot-4, 190-pound junior guard averaged 28 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game while shooting 63 percent from inside the arc and 88 percent from the free throw line this past season, leading the Rams (21-6) to the Class 6A semifinals. A 2013 First Team All-State selection, he scored a season-high 40 points to go with 10 rebounds and five assists in an 80-77, double-overtime win over Muskogee in early February.
Milton has maintained a 3.94 GPA in the classroom. A member of the National Honor Society, he has volunteered locally on behalf of the Special Olympics and in association with his church youth group. “Shake Milton is a tremendous player who can do it all,” said Clay Martin, head coach at Jenks High. “He’s an opposing coach’s nightmare. He faces double teams each and every night as opposing teams will do everything they can to get the ball out of his hands. It’s amazing to see how calm and cool he remains. He never shows emotion in a negative way.”
Milton will begin his senior year of high school this fall. The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.
The selection process is administered by the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Milton joins recent Gatorade Oklahoma Boys Basketball Players of the Year Stephen Clark (2012-13 & 2011-12, Douglass High School), Ryan Spangler (2010-11, Bridge Creek High School), Tyler Neal (2009-10, Putnam City West), Xavier Henry (2008-09 & 2007-08, Putnam City High School), Blake Griffin (2006–07, Oklahoma Christian School) among the state’s list of former award winners.
For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information, a complete list of past winners and the announcement of the Gatorade National Player of the Year, visit www.gatorade.com/poy
