Ben Roderick 2018-19 Season:
CHICAGO (March 15, 2019) — In its 34th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Ben Roderick of Olentangy Liberty High School as its 2018-19 Gatorade Ohio Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Roderick is the first Gatorade Ohio Boys Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Olentangy Liberty High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Roderick as Ohio’s best high school boys basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March, Roderick joins an elite alumni association of past state boys basketball award winners, including Karl-Anthony Towns (2012-13 & 2013-14, St. Joseph High School, N.J.), Dwight Howard (2003-04, Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, Ga.), Chris Bosh (2001-02, Lincoln High School, Texas), Paul Pierce (1994-95, Inglewood High School, Calif.), Chauncey Billups (1993-94 & 1994-95, George Washington High School, Colo.) and Jason Kidd (1991-92, St. Joseph Notre Dame High School, Calif.).
The 6-foot-5, 200-pound senior forward had led the Patriots to a 22-4 record and the Division 1 regional semifinals at the time of his selection. Roderick averaged 27.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.1 steals through 26 games. The Central Ohio Player of the Year, he was a First Team All-League and All-District selection and a Second Team All-Ohio honoree as a junior.
Roderick has volunteered locally on behalf of youth sports programs. “Ben Roderick is a tremendous talent,” said Kevin Martin, head coach at Westerville Central High. “He can score in a variety of ways—in transition, off the dribble, threes, in the post. He’s just a matchup nightmare.”
Roderick has maintained a 3.46 GPA in the classroom. He remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Roderick joins Gatorade Ohio Boys Basketball Players of the Year Dane Goodwin (2017-18, Upper Arlington High School), Kaleb Wesson (2016-17, Westerville South High School), Xavier Simpson (2015-16, Lima Senior High School), and Luke Kennard (2014-15, Franklin High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.
As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Roderick also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of his choosing. He is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.
Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.