Vince Carter to wed chiropractor (Donovan McNabb of the NBA)

NJ Online ^ | 10.08.03 | LYDIA HINSHAW

[RedBloodedAmerican]

The basketball star and the cheerleader finally got together. Who cares if it took eight years?

Carter family

Dr. Ellen Rucker, left, is engaged to Daytona Beach native and NBA superstar Vince Carter. The pair met in 1995 and renewed their friendship in July. Rucker, a chiropractor, and Carter are planning a July 2004 wedding in Palm Beach.

Vince Carter and Dr. Ellen Rucker got engaged Friday in Toronto and plan a July 2004 wedding in Palm Beach, according to Carter's mother, Michelle Carter, of Port Orange.

Carter is a Daytona Beach native and Mainland graduate who plays for the NBA's Toronto Raptors. Rucker, a chiropractor, hails from Lancaster, S.C., a town of 10,000 that's about 30 miles south of Charlotte, N.C.

The young couple met at the University of North Carolina in 1995, when Carter was a freshman basketball player and Rucker was a sophomore cheerleader. They left Chapel Hill at the same time, in 1998, although Carter, who jumped to the NBA after his junior year, returned to attend classes in the offseason until he completed his degree.

Romance bloomed when the two met again at the wedding of Carter's former North Carolina teammate Antawn Jamison in Charlotte July 12. Jamison, who was traded from Golden State to Dallas in August, married Rucker's younger sister Ion.

So Carter is not only getting a wife, he's becoming a brother-in-law to one of his closest friends.

"I'm very excited," said Michelle Carter Tuesday. "She's a very nice young lady, from a nice family."

Michelle Carter is delighted to be getting a daughter-in-law because she needs help in planning the 35,000-square-foot home Carter is building in an exclusive Orlando development. It's completion date is some time in 2005.

"She's been having input and I welcome it," said Michelle Carter. "I'm glad to have another female involved in picking fabrics and deciding where the sink should be."

Michelle Carter thinks the young couple will make their permanent home in Orlando. Vince Carter lives in his Toronto condominium during the season.

They are planning their wedding in Palm Beach because it's an area both of them like, and also in the hopes that they can keep the guest list to a reasonable number.

Jamison's wedding was a huge affair, Michelle Carter says, and Vince and Ellen would like something a bit smaller.

That may be wishful thinking. Vince has countless friends and fans and Ellen, whose parents are Ruby and Dr. Douglas Rucker, has seven siblings.

lydia.hinshaw@news-jrnl.com

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Hey Rush!

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[BrooklynGOP]

Good for him.

[montag813]

(Donovan McNabb of the NBA)

Huh? What does this mean? I don't follow basketball because it sucks. But it seems to me that since nearly every single star except Jason Kidd is black, that the analogy does not apply.

[brewcrew]

I don't follow basketball because it sucks.

You have got to stop holding it all inside - it's going to eat you up if you don't start telling us all how you really, truly feel. ;^D

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Did you follow the comments by Rush regarding McNabb? Didn't he say McNabb was overrated by the media due to skin color?

[GSWarrior]

Expectations are still high for Carter. However, year in and year out he always underachieves. This is common knowledge in the media. Nothing racial about it, IMO.

[Denver Ditdat]

Vince Carter to wed chiropractor

Golllleeeee! Sgt. Carter, what's Miss Bunny going to say about that?

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I guess since I live in his hometown, I see the media hype over him. well, I see it in major sports news, too across the Nation. He was dubbed the "next MJ" in his 2nd year at NC

[GSWarrior]

That Jamison for Carter trade is looking better for the Warriors every year....wait a minute, uh, never mind.

[Egregious Philbin]

However, year in and year out he always underachieves. This is common knowledge in the media. Nothing racial about it, IMO.

And nothing racial about McNabb being overrated either, IMO.

Sorry about those Warriors, GS. Maybe Nick will stick around after all...

[montag813]

You have got to stop holding it all inside - it's going to eat you up if you don't start telling us all how you really, truly feel. ;^D

Hey it's true, basketball sucks! It doesn't come close to football for excitement or complexity of strategy.

[brewcrew]

Hey it's true, basketball sucks!

Hey, I know! But I told you before, it's going to be hazardous to your health bottling everything up inside like you do! Your head's going to explode.

[RightFighter]

I know Carter personally - I used to teach at Mainland High School and drove the bus for Vince's team his entire senior year and worked the clock at all the home games, so although I don't know him well, I do know him and I know his mom. Vince is a classy kid (he'll always be a kid to me) - one that had unlimited potential coming out of high school. If you'd seen him play back then, you'd understand what all they hype was about. He was simply incredible to watch. I have seen him do amazing things with a basketball. I'm disappointed that he hasn't done more as a pro, although I know he's been hampered by injuries and by playing for a sub-par team. I really hoped a few years back that when it came contract time, he would return to Orlando where he could play in front of home-town fans all the time. I still hope he will do that one day. And, I hope that one day, he is able to justify, at least to some extent, the "next Jordan" talk that has surrounded him since high school. If he doesn't, I'll still think he's a great kid.

I'll leave the talk about whether he's overrated to the rest of you. I just like the guy and love to see him play. I hope one day you all get to see some of the brilliance that he used to show off every game in high school.