JACKSON, Tenn. - Two former Union University men's basketball players, along with current head coach David Niven, were recently highlighted in a story by Mitch Moxley on Grantland.com. The story talked about how basketball and the local stars are helping Haiti continue to rebuild after the earthquake.

Robert Joseph played at Union for two seasons from 2000-02. He broke the NAIA record for blocks in a season. His record-breaking 215 blocks for the season earned him a spot in ESPN's SportCenter and in Sports Illustrated when he surpassed San Antonio Spur David Robinson. At that time, he held the record for blocks in a season in all divisions of NAIA and NCAA. He was named the NAIA Co-Player of the year as a senior.

Pierry Valmera played at Union for four seasons from 2003-07. He was a an NAIA All-American, TranSouth first team all-conference, and conference all-freshman player during his career.

Both players were recruited by Niven, who was the men's basketball assistant coach at the time. Niven has been the head coach now for Union for five seasons, and has been with the Union men's basketball program for 17 seasons.

Follow the link to read part one of the story (story link). Part two will be released in the fall. The story was written by Mitch Moxley (twitter @mitch_moxley; Grantland.com).

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