Jeremy Lin’s Class of 2010 Harvard classmate Ansley Rubinstein has seen the NBA basketball player’s success as a classic “breakthrough.” As a dancer on the Harvard Spirit team, Rubinstein saw Lin play for three years. Lin excelled at basketball, but was sometimes the only player on the Harvard team to score points at all. “This was not the heyday of men’s basketball at Harvard,” recalls Rubinstein. The team was experiencing typical morale challenges following a change in the coaching staff and many players.
“All the right factors have to align to get to peak performance,” observed Rubinstein in an interview today. “It’s a challenge to find the right mix to create a good team.” This year’s spectacular results as a point guard for the New York Knicks show poignantly how an excellent team effort can elevate a good athlete to world class status.
Persistence stands out as a key character trait that has helped Jeremy Lin achieve excellence in professional sports. Rubinstein remembers reading about his athletic success in the Harvard Crimson every week of basketball season. At the same time, Lin was unassuming and modest at the basketball team’s many social events. While this did not attract the attention of many major league recruiters while Lin was at Harvard, it has built a bond with fans now that Lin has demonstrated his athletic talents together with a strong team.
Harvard administrator Dr. Abigail Lipson is optimistic that the Lin success story can be a good inspiration to others. Lipson is Director of Harvard’s “Bureau of Study Counsel” and handles the daunting task of advising students who had perfect academic records as high school students adjust to competing with several thousand other high achievers. Lipson is author of “Reflections on Rejections” a guide to optimizing a positive attitude that is particularly valuable for Ivy League athletes with major league aspirations. Most recent Harvard graduates in professional basketball have pursued careers in Europe after major league recruiters here at home decided not to take a chance on them. Following Lin’s example, they make the best of the opportunities that they do have. Now the entire NBA is seeing how great the results can be.
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