James "Twiggy" Sanders, born in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

, is a retired American basketball player and coach. He played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

at Ligon High School where he earned All-Conference, All-State and All-American honors. Sanders went on to star at

Johnson C. Smith University Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and accredited by the ...

. He was voted to the CIAA All-Tournament team in 1973 and 1974. He received his B.S. in Physical Education in 1974. Sanders later gained fame when in 1974 he joined the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...

in which he played for 17 years, retiring from the team in 1991. Since then Sanders become head basketball coach at Bonner Academy in Raleigh and also was head coach for two years with the Raleigh Cougars of the

United States Basketball League The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

(USBL). He later became an assistant coach for two years at

Morris Brown College Morris Brown College (MBC) is a private Methodist historically black liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded January 5, 1881, Morris Brown is the first educational institution in Georgia to be owned and operated entirely by African Ame ...

. In 2004, Sanders became the first head coach of the American Basketball Association expansion team the

Maryland Nighthawks The Washington GreenHawks were a team of the Atlantic Coast Professional Basketball League (ACPBL) based in Washington, D.C. As the Maryland Nighthawks they were formerly part of the American Basketball Association (ABA) and a founding member of ...

. Twiggy is now a substitute teacher at

Carnage Middle School The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) is a public school district located in Wake County, North Carolina. With 157,673 students in average daily membership and 194 schools as of the 2021–2022 school year, it is the largest public scho ...

Twiggy has three children. Monty Jackson is currently the Director of Operations for the men's basketball team at Elon University in North Carolina. Twiggy is also a substitute teacher at schools such as Carnage Middle School in Raleigh, NC. He once was the basketball coach at Carnage.

External links

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James "Twiggy" Sanders
via Globetrotters site Living people African-American basketball players Basketball players from North Carolina Harlem Globetrotters players Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls basketball players American men's basketball players Year of birth missing (living people) United States Basketball League coaches 21st-century African-American people {{1940s-US-basketball-bio-stub