Dan Cross is a University of Florida Hall of Fame basketball player who played point guard for the first Gator basketball team ever to advance to the Final Four. While at Florida, he was awarded many accolades, including two-time All-American, 1995 UF Male Athlete of the Year as well as John Wooden Player of the Year Candidate.
Throughout his playing career, Dan saw firsthand how deeply troubled many athletes became once they progressed out of the educational system, and has made it his life’s purpose to change that. In 2006, he created Athlete Connections Foundation with a vision to enhance youth sports by providing programs that create well-rounded student athletes prepared to succeed in life.
Since then, Dan and his team of board members have enabled the Foundation to:
- Successfully help place over 60 high school players into college over the last nine years
- Secure well over $6,000,000 in scholarship dollars which provided scholarship funding to more than 60 graduating high school seniors
- Give away 50+ laptops to graduating seniors
- Place more than 60 recruitable high school graduating seniors in D1 or D2 college athletic programs
- Provide $30,000+ in Christmas toys and holiday gifts to families and communities in need in Orlando, Florida