Jacob Toppin Inspires Youth at the Westchester Knicks 'School Day'
by Warren Rosenberg, MetroSports Magazine - December 11, 2024
On a cold and rainswept December day, the Westchester County Center was filled with an enthusiastic crowd of local school students celebrating ‘School Day’ with the Westchester Knicks of the NBA G-League. And what could be better than seeing a local graduate from Ossining High School, Jacob Toppin, put on a dominant performance to show them what is possible for their own future success in whatever field they pursue.
Although well into their 2024-25 season with eleven games into the record book for the Westchester Knicks, this was the first start and only the second game this season for Jacob Toppin and what a show he and his teammates put on. Toppin, the game’s leading scorer, contributed 36 points and pulled down 14 rebounds, 11 of them on defense, a double-double for double zero! The Westchester Knicks went on to defeat the College Park Skyhawks, the G-League affiliate of the Atlanta Hawks, 118-107.
For the 2024-25 season, Toppin is working under a two-way contract which in the NBA qualifies him to play in games with both the G-League's Westchester Knicks and the NBA’s New York Knicks. Although undrafted out of the University of Kentucky, Jacob joined the NBA’s Knicks last year as an undrafted free agent, playing 9 games with the NBA team and the rest of last season with the G-League franchise.
Jacob's older brother, Obi Toppin, also a graduate of Ossining High School had previously played with both the G-League and NBA Knicks before signing on with the Indiana Pacers and establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with in the NBA.
The Toppin brothers are not the only professional athletes to come out of Ossining. Going back more than a century, Ossining native Chester “Red” Hoff played professional baseball in the major league with the New York Highlanders from 1911-1913(later renamed the Yankees) and with the St. Louis Browns in 1915 (later renamed the Cardinals) and Ossining native Everett Duane “Eppie” Barnes played professional baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 1923 and 1924 seasons.
Ossining native Mike da Fonte played professional soccer, locally with the New York Red Bulls in 2015. A 2013 Ossining High School graduate, Jamie Loeb, who competed for the Anne Dorner Middle School and Ossining High School went on to a successful career in professional tennis winning 11 career titles with the ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour. Ossining High School graduate, Alex Tejera, the youngest varsity soccer player in school history went on to play professional soccer with the Chattanooga Red Wolves of the United States Soccer League where he is still active.
Kenneth Horton, a 2007 Ossining High School graduate is now in his second decade playing professional basketball overseas and Saniya Chong, a 2013 graduate of Ossining High School and a member of the school’s women’s basketball team, went on to play for the UConn Huskies (2013-1017) and was drafted into the WNBA to play for the Dallas Wings in the 2017-18 season. Aubry Griffin, a 2019 graduate of Ossining High School currently plays college basketball with the UConn Huskies and will likely move on to the NBA.
MetroSports Magazine looks forward to continue to follow the careers of the Toppin brothers and other local athletes.
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