NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
March 18, 2008
Media Contact:
Mahlon Parker, Executive Committee Chair
Portsmouth Invitational Tournament
757-235-1615 (cell)
PORTSMOUTH, VA – Ryan Blake, Assistant Director of NBA Scouting, will be the featured speaker at the Portsmouth Invitational Celebrity Luncheon, an event held annually to honor seven South Hampton Roads student athletes with P.I.T. scholarships.
The luncheon will be held April 11 at the Renaissance Portsmouth Hotel, 425 Water St. Doors open at 11:30 a.m., with lunch served at 12 noon. Tickets are $20 each. Call (757) 484-2494 for ticket information
As the son of Marty Blake – the NBA’s Director of Scouting for 50+ years – Ryan Blake has been scouting and evaluating prospects since age 17. He continued scouting throughout his studies at Georgia Southern University, where he earned a BA in journalism in 1988.
Before turning to scouting full time in 1996, Blake spent six years as a professional athlete, playing tennis around the globe on the ATP tour, traveling to Australia, India, Africa, South America, Central America, and many countries throughout Europe. He also played Team Tennis in New Zealand and 13 years of Team Tennis for Schott Mainz in Germany.
While on the professional tennis circuit, Blake also scouted basketball players – which helped the NBA make inroads into the international basketball scene. He also set up a worldwide scouting network, still used today. When Blake left tennis, he continued expanding the multinational dimension of the NBA by aggressively seeking talent overseas and continuing to build upon his earlier networking efforts.
Blake marshals and compiles the complex data necessary for NBA teams to evaluate current and future NBA draft prospects, essentially advising teams who to see, how to see them and who not to see. He also is a member of the United States Basketball Writers Association and the United States Tennis Writers Association and has contributed to articles in major publications worldwide.
Blake is a regular guest on the NBA-TV show, Draft Preview, and a longstanding commentator on the D-League Draft. He currently resides in Georgia with his wife Darla and two children, Elijah, 8, and Sarah Jade, 6.
In his spare time, Blake is a drummer with The Other White Meat, the house band of the famous Blue Pig Bar, which was covered by HGTV for an episode on Man Land.
Additional P.I.T. information can be obtained
by visiting
www.portsmouthinvitational.com
or by sending E-mail
to
info@portsmouthinvitational.com.