J.R. Inman ’05 is indisputably the most dominant basketball player in SJR history. His 1,299 points is tops in school history, and he led the Green Knights to their third Bergen County Jamboree championship in 2005.
He amassed 1046 of his career points during his junior and senior years, but also made his mark as a sophomore, when he led the team in rebounds and blocked shots while scoring 11.5 points per game. He was selected to the Bergen Jamboree Tournament First Team, and was named “Sophomore of the Year” by the Ridgewood News. As a junior, he averaged 18.3 points per game, and led a very talented Green Knights team in rebounding by a wide margin.
In his senior year, he averaged 19.8 points per game, and recorded 113 offensive and 176 defensive rebounds. He played every game both years, was a First Team All-County selection both years and the “Athlete of the Week” for February 22, 2005. He was also the 2005
The Record “Player of the Year” on a Green Knights team that finished 26-2 and featured three future NFL stars, and was named to the Bergen County All-Decade team (2000-2010).
He went on to play college ball at Rutgers University, where he became the 37 th player there to score 1,000 points, and then enjoyed a professional career in which he played in China, Japan, Lithuania, Israel, Kosovo and the Czech Republic. He was the 2015 NBA Developmental League draft pick of the Westchester Knicks in 2015.
He is the author of book called “When the Air Went out of the Ball” and is currently the Head Coach of the Charter School of Educational Excellence in Yonkers, and the CEO of the Rocktown Monarchs basketball program.
JR received his Hall of Fame sweater from classmate TJ Caleca '05, who said, “It’s not often we meet someone who truly exemplifies a combination of effort, awareness and vision, but JR has always been one of those people. While his past may reveal his athletic gifts, I truly believe the future will reveal something much more significant as he continues to find his calling in life and in business. He is the kind of person who adds value to everything he does and everywhere he goes."
