LAKEWOOD, CO- What began as a way to pass time while the laundry was going has now turned into something extremely special for Jeremy Ware. On January 29th of this year, the former CCU men's basketball player attempted and achieved a Guinness World Record for farthest basketball shot made backwards at 85 feet and 6 inches. 

Ware first began attempting backwards shots in 2010 while playing at Colorado Christian, and the skill developed from there into something special. 

"I was blessed with the opportunity to play collegiately and started off at Colorado Christian and played two seasons there. The backwards shot started in my freshman year in 2010. There wasn't any hazing for freshmen, so there were a few times after practice where they would make some of the freshmen do the team's laundry so we rotated who did it. I didn't want to go back and forth between the gym and the dorms so I would workout and do things relevant to me playing. I got done with my workouts and started messing around and doing trickshots," said Ware. 

Ware is a native of Cheyenne, Wyoming, just a few hours from Denver, and he grew up going to Nuggets games and cheering them on. The mascot Rocky would always do a half court shot backwards between the third and fourth quarter, and Ware was inspired to attempt the shot and eventually became proficient at it. It became too easy from halfcourt at a certain point for Ware, and he would go on to move further and further back until he got to the point where he was hitting full court shots at parks with ease. 

Though Ware did not begin shooting backwards shots with the intention of breaking a world record, his peers in high school could tell he was bound for great things in the future. In his senior year of high school, he was voted most likely in his class to break a world record, something that at the time was not even on Ware's radar. But after someone broke a number of basketball records in June of 2022, Ware began to have friends blow up his phone saying he should go for one knowing he had the skill to break it. 



"Everyone was telling me, you could beat this. That's where I got interested in ok there's a different angle I could go about this. One of the records that this guy broke was the world's farthest backwards shot, and he made the record at 84 feet. I thought I could realistically probably break this, so I went to Home Depot and bought one of those 100 yard measuring sticks and measured out 84 feet. I made it within three tries from that distance, and that's when I knew I had something going on here." 



From there, Jeremy reached out to Guiness and sent them videos of his trickshots and let them know who he was and his intentions to break the record. He went through the process and got approved, but from there he needed to find a venue. Ware currently lives in Arizona but was unable to secure any of the major arenas in the area. Amazingly enough, it was a CCU connection that secured the eventual venue that would see the world record broken. 

"I remembered that another fellow CCU athlete named Ashley Behabetz who played softball her junior and senior years, and she works for the San Antonio Spurs currently. I reached out and said hey Ashley you've been seeing me do this shot since we were at CCU together 12 years ago. I told her what I had going on, and asked if I could use the Spurs arena. She showed her boss and they all loved it and hosted me in San Antonio for it and got to watch the Spurs game the night before."

Ware was given the arena for three hours, but it took him just 40 minutes to break the record. The Coyote, the official mascot of the San Antonio Spurs, as well as the team's hype squad was there to witness the amazing feat, and Coyote tackled Ware to the ground after he made the unbelievable shot. Ware spent just 28 hours in Texas, but he achieved what he went down there to do and set his name in the record books. 



"It's surreal knowing I'm going to be in the book that's coming out this next year. Because I've been doing this so long I don't think I was surprised that I broke it, I went into it expecting to make the shot. I'm very excited and pleased and I don't take it for granted," said Ware. 



With the 12 year dedication that Ware gave to perfecting his craft, he offered some advice for the younger generation.

"Do what you love. Never do anything for views, I never did anything for content as people do know, some people can get lost in the image of social media. Whatever you do, do it for yourself if you enjoy it, never lose yourself and never do anything for anybody else's approval."

Jeremy is now a senior accountant in Arizona, working for a father and son that own many franchises across the southwest. He took advice from a business professor his freshman year who told him that it's not about what you know but who you know. He used this to leverage connections both in business and with regards to his new world record. 

Spiritually, Ware has learned that as long as God is first in all He does he will guide him, and when we stray from the Lord, He is always waiting to welcome us back in. 

Jeremy has achieved an incredible feat with his world record, something most can only dream of in their lifetime. Through his hard work and dedication, Ware now has his name in the record books, an honor that is something he will never forget. Congratulations to Jeremy Ware on his incredible achievement, CCU Athletics is very excited for you and your achievements to come!