October 14, 2004
FORMER SCCC SAINT MELVIN SANDERS TRAINS WITH DENVER NUGGETS TO BE POSSIBLE ADDITION TO ROSTER
Southwest Daily Times Reporting
One of Liberal’s own could be playing in the NBA this season. Melvin Sanders was recently asked to attend training camp with the Denver Nuggets to see if he could grab one of the 12 spots on the 2004-2005 roster.
Sanders is originally from Liberal where he attended high school from 1995-1999. He participated in basketball for four years under coach Scott Hinkle (former Lady Saints Basketball coach, now the LHS Athletic Director) where he earned first team All-State his junior and senior years and was first team All-Conference as a sophomore, junior and senior.
Sanders also lettered in track and field for four years under Gary Cornelsen. In track he was part of the 1996-1999 state champion teams, he was named the Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior and senior, was 11-time state champion in the triple, long and high jumps and recorded a high jump of 7’2” along with a 52-foot triple jump and a 25 foot long jump. Sanders holds the most Kansas state records as a Liberal Redskin which is three- the high jump, long jump and triple jump.
Sanders then moved on to college where was recruited and coached by Seward County Head Coach Dave Brown. At Seward County he contributed to the Saints 23-9 record in 1999-2000 and was first team All-Jayhawk West Conference and Honorable Mention All-Region.
After SCCC, Sanders moved on to Oklahoma State University where he played lettered three years for the Cowboys and finished his collegiate basketball career. His junior year he earned second-team Academic All-Big 12 honors. His senior year he was named third-team All Big 12 by the Associated Press, honorable mention All-Big 12 by the league coaches, named to the national All-Defensive team and Big 12 All-Defensive team by insider.com.
Known to be a defensive prowess, Sanders should help the Nuggets defensive game. According to Nuggets head coach Jeff Bzdelik, he was impressed by the rookie swingman’s athleticism by calling him “tenacious defensively.”
The Nuggets have held training camp Oct. 7-9. On Tuesday the Nuggets held a Blue and White intra-squad scrimmage and according to a Nuggets correspondent, Sanders, “Despite only scoring six points, (Sanders) displayed great defense and did all the little things that will keep him in contention of making the team.” The official roster for the season will be made public Nov. 1.
