Benny Anders

Benny Michael Anders (born October 3, 1963) is an American former basketball player. Anders was a forward on the Guy Lewis-coached Houston Cougars teams during the early 1980s. The team featured a set of players called the Phi Slama Jama basketball fraternity that included Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Michael Young, Alvin Franklin, Reid Gettys, Larry Micheaux and Anders.

Career

High school

Anders was an all-state high school player in Bernice in Union Parish in north Louisiana. While in high school, Anders also played on the same Amateur Athletic Union teams as Joe Dumars, Karl Malone, and John "Hot Rod" Williams. During these years, Anders earned the nickname "The Outlaw."

College

After graduating from high school, Anders was recruited by Louisiana State University. During his visit, he was asked by the LSU coach, Dale Brown, why he was wearing a T-shirt that said "OUTLAW." Anders replied that it was his nickname which was given to him because he was always creating disturbances, a response that effectively ended the recruiting visit.

The 1984 NCAA tournament marked the end of Anders's college career as a knee injury kept him from playing in the 1984-85 season. During a pick-up game, Anders got into a disagreement and altercation with another player which led to Anders going to retrieve a gun from his bag. A subsequent on-campus weapons charge earned him three years' probation and eventual dismissal from the Cougars.

Anders is frequently cited as an example of an athlete who failed to live up to his potential, but while in his prime left a memorable mark on the game he played.

Ask any basketball fan who remembers who Benny Anders was, and he will almost certainly say great things about his ability. He is retrospectively beloved, expressly because he failed in totality ... he's an example of blown potential who makes average people feel better about themselves. Both Willis Reed and Orlando Woolridge were his cousins.