This Was Always About Basketball

Craig Leener grew up on the hardscrabble basketball courts of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. He has studied the game as a player, coach, referee, fan, and sportswriter. Craig earned an associate degree in liberal arts from Los Angeles Valley College and a bachelor's degree in radio, TV, and film from California State University, Northridge (CSUN). He subsequently worked in the entertainment industry in film operations, postproduction technical services, and human resources management before finding his calling as a sportswriter and young-adult novelist. Craig sits on the board of directors of the Journalism Alumni Association at CSUN, where he mentors student journalists and serves as the organization's director of scholarships. He is a member of the North Valley Family YMCA and lives in the suburbs of Los Angeles with his wife, Andrea. Craig purports to be an 87-percent free-throw shooter on his backyard home court, a claim that has never been independently verified.