John Richard "Jack" Leasure (born January 29, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player who spent the majority of his career playing in the New Zealand National Basketball League for the

Taranaki Mountainairs The Taranaki Airs are a New Zealand basketball team based in New Plymouth. The Airs compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at TSB Stadium. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the Steelformers Airs. Te ...

. He is best known for his collegiate career at

Coastal Carolina University Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

in which he was named the 2006 Big South Conference Player of the Year and finished with 411 made three-point field goals, which was the fifth-highest

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

total at the time of his graduation in 2008. He is currently the head basketball coach at

McQuaid Jesuit High School McQuaid Jesuit High School is an all-male, Catholic, Jesuit, college preparatory school run by the USA Northeast Jesuit province of the Society of Jesus in the metropolitan area of Rochester, New York. The school is named Named after Bernard J. M ...

in Rochester, New York.

High school career

Leasure attended

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, where he was a member of the 2003 NYSPHSAA Championship team. As a strong student academically as well as athletically, Leasure figured he would end up playing for either an

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...

basketball program. He caught the attention of

Coastal Carolina Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

assistant coach Jamie Kachmarik in the 2002 Beach Ball Classic; Leasure had a strong showing while leading McQuaid Jesuit to a surprising tournament championship. Shortly thereafter, the

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...

school offered him a scholarship, which he accepted.

College career

Leasure began his career as a Chanticleer in 2004–05. In one game against Winthrop, Leasure connected on 5-of-10 three-pointers en route to 24 points as the Chanticleers handed them their only conference loss of the season. He began to establish himself as a top three-point shooter and he was named the Big South's Freshman of the Year. He was also named the conference's freshman of the week a record six times that season. In 2005–06, Leasure had a breakout year in which he averaged a career-high 17.8 points per game, led the team to a 20–10 overall record as they tied for second place in the conference, was second in NCAA Division I with 4.17 made threes per game, was named the Big South's Scholar Athlete of the Year as well as its Men's Basketball Player of the Year (the first time a player won both awards in the same season), and was named an Honorable Mention All-American by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

. His 125 made three-pointers set school and conference single season records as well. The personal and team successes experienced during his sophomore year did not reach the same level in Leasure's final two seasons. In 2006–07, Coastal Carolina finished fourth in the conference with a 15–15 overall record (7–7 in Big South). Leasure was named a Second Team All-Conference performer after averaging 15.6 points per game, which was seventh best in the league, while also dishing out 108 total assists, good for tenth in the Big South. For the second year in a row, Leasure was named the conference's Scholar Athlete of the Year. The next season, Leasure's last as a Chanticleer, he led the Big South with made three-pointers (111) and attempted (269). His 16.8 points per game was good for fourth in the league, but the team only finished in fifth place. Leasure returned to the All-Conference First Team, and he finished his collegiate career with 411 made three-pointers, which was the fifth-highest in Division I history at the time of his graduation. Leasure was also a finalist for the

Lowe's Senior CLASS Award The Senior CLASS Award is awarded to the most outstanding senior student-athlete in 10 NCAA Division I sports. An acronym for "Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School," the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete ...

, which is presented each year to the outstanding senior

Student-Athlete of the Year.

Professional career

Leasure went undrafted in the 2008 NBA draft following his days at Coastal Carolina University. That summer he had an opportunity to try out for the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...

training camp but he did not make the final cut. He later signed with the Rochester Razorsharks but left after pre-season. In January 2009, he signed with Kelag Wörthersee Piraten of Austria for the rest of the 2008–09 season, where he averaged 14.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game. In the summer of 2009, he re-joined the Rochester Razorsharks but he again left the team after pre-season. In January 2010, he signed with the

for the

2010 New Zealand NBL season The 2010 NBL season was the 29th season of the National Basketball League. Foundation member and nine-time NBL champions the Auckland Stars withdrew from the league in 2010, while the Otago Nuggets returned after a one-year absence and the South ...

. In September 2010, he re-signed with the Mountainairs for the 2011 season. In the fall of 2011, he joined the

South Carolina Warriors The South Carolina Warriors were a semi-professional basketball team based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was an expansion franchise team of the American Basketball Association in the Mid-Atlantic Conference. The team began play in the 2011� ...

of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

. Leasure's stint in the ABA was short-lived, however, as he left the team in January 2012 after competing in only eight games. He then returned to the Taranaki Mountainairs for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. In March 2014, it was announced that Leasure would not return to the Mountainairs for the 2014 season due to his coaching commitments at McQuaid Jesuit.

Coaching career

In June 2013, Leasure was named the head coach of McQuaid Jesuit High School basketball team, returning to the school from which he graduated in 2004.

References

External links