Eldridge Recasner

Eldridge David Recasner (born December 14, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player.

In college, he was a three-time All-Pac-10 Conference guard for the Washington Huskies.

After college, he played in a variety of professional leagues such as the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), Europe and the Philippine Basketball Association before entering the NBA.

He subsequently played for several National Basketball Association (NBA) teams including the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets and Los Angeles Clippers.

In junior high, Recasner wore jersey number 32 before switching to number 14 in high school in honor of his birthday, December 14, 1967.

Recasner attended University of Washington where he played for the Huskies.

He redshirted during his freshman 1985–86 season.

Recasner was a member of the 1990 class at Washington, and he was a three-time All-Pac-10 guard who was selected to the Washington Huskies all-20th-century team.

He was the first three-time captain of the Huskies.

He led the Pac-10 in free throw shooting as a senior (88.4%).

Recasner was an architecture major at Washington by his own account, but another account claims he was a black history major.

Recasner once scored 29 points against the undefeated and number one ranked Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team while guarding Sean Elliott.

The Wildcats won the game while scoring the most points the Huskies had ever given up (109).

Recasner, a 6ft 3in, 190 lb guard, was never selected in the NBA draft.

However, after spending the 1990–91 season with TTL Bamberg in Germany, he played in the Global Basketball Association in 1991–92.

He also played in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) for the Presto Ice Cream Kings together with Allan Caidic, Vergel Meneses, Onchie dela Cruz and others while he played during the Third Conference.

Then, he returned to Washington to play in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) during the 1992–93 and 1994–95 seasons.

He played in the CBA for the franchise located in Yakima, Washington, which was near to the Seattle metropolitan area where the University of Washington was located.

He played in Turkey in 1993–94.

In the 1994–95 season, his fifth season after college, he earned the CBA MVP award while leading the Yakima Sun Kings to the league championship.

After that CBA season was completed, he signed to play in the NBA at the end of the 1994–95 NBA season for the Nuggets.

The following season, he earned a spot on the roster of the two-time defending champion Rockets.

He played in the NBA for seven more seasons.

He had a career 41% three-point shot field goal percentage and 89% free throw percentage in eight NBA seasons.

After leading the Yakima Sun Kings to the CBA championships as the league MVP, he signed to a 10-day contract with the Denver Nuggets on March 3, 1995 and played in three games.

For the 1995–96 NBA season he signed as a free agent with the Houston Rockets.

He signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Hawks for the 1996–97 and 1997–98 seasons.

He then signed with the Charlotte Hornets in January of the 1998–99 season where he stayed for parts of four seasons.

In each of his first four full seasons in the NBA, he shot at least 40% from the three-point line, but he suffered injuries as a passenger during an accident in an automobile driven by Derrick Coleman before the 1999–2000 season and never achieved the same level of success after the accident.

He later became an assistant coach for the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Recasner was introduced to basketball in fifth grade by his uncles.

His first organized game was in junior high school.

During the first game, Recasner scored on the wrong basket because he had learned the game on a half-court one-basket basketball court.

While growing up, he admired Dr. J, George Gervin, and Marques Johnson.

He attended Alfred Lawless High School in New Orleans and was a high school teammate with Robert Pack.

Recasner was a senior when Pack was a sophomore.

Recasner was a better professional prospect than Pack and outscored Gary Payton five of nine times when the two point guards opposed each other in college.

He ended his career with two 10-day contracts for the L.A. Clippers in January 2002 after having been waived by the team.

Recasner himself considers being signed by the two-time defending NBA Champions Houston Rockets the highlight of his career.

At that point he had gone from playing in the CBA to the best team in the NBA.