While Montana is yet another state not known for pumping out professional athletes, the state was the birthplace to one of the greatest basketball minds the NBA has ever seen. Phil Jackson is officially Montana's greatest NBA player of all-time. While he might not be particularly known for his playing days, Phil Jackson was a problem on the court for many, standing at 6'8 playing the power forward position.
The then NBA hopeful bright-eyed kid, now known as The Zen Master was selected 17th overall in the 1967 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks. Jackson spent eleven out the thirteen years in the blue and orange (1967-78) before closing out his playing career with the New Jersey Nets in 1980. In that time, Jackson won two NBA Championships with the Knicks (1970, 1973) and earned the honor of NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1968. Two NBA Championships is definitely nothing to blow off, but that's nothing compared to the eleven he earned as a head coach coaching the likes of two of the greatest NBA players ever in Michael Jordan and Kob Bryant.
Most of your favorite celebrities either studied acting in college or went straight from high school into a life of the arts. But, hey, not all of them. Some celebrities actually have advanced college degrees.
Turns out Mayim Bialik is just as much of a genius as the one she plays on The Big Bang Theory. She earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles, focusing on obsessive compulsive disorder among people with Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare condition in which the hypothalamus malfunctions.
Little known fact: Natalie Portman skipped the premiere of Star Wars: Phantom Menace because she was studying for her high school exams. She had two papers published in scientific journals while she was still in high school, and graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Psychology.
Before he was looking for answers on X-Files, David Duchovny was just trying to find the answers for English finals at Princeton University90. David graduated from Princeton in 1982 with a B.A in English. He continued to feed his love of literature by receiving a master’s degree in English Literature at Yale University. David was an excellent writer and poet. His work consistently received praise by his fellow classmates and teachers at Yale. His writing was even nominated for a college prize by the Academy of American Poets.
Sigourney Weaver graduated from Stanford University in 1971 with a bachelor’s in Literature. It was while studying at Stanford that Sigourney realized her true passion in life was to become an actress. Shortly after graduation, she attended Yale for their well-known drama program. She would go on to receive a master’s in Acting from Yale University and become friends with fellow famous actress Meryl Streep.
Meryl Streep is considered one of the most successful actresses of all time. She is also one of the most highly educated. Before collecting an array of Oscars, Meryl collected diplomas. She graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in 1971. Meryl has a habit of being unsatisfied with impressive accomplishments as her acting career has shown, so she attended Yale University and earned a master’s degree in Acting.