The man behind the mission.

Anthony Golden grew up on the hardwood of Portland, where the game wasn't a hobby — it was an identity. At Madison High School he earned All-PIL honors every year from 2005–2008, back-to-back All-State selections in 2007 and 2008, a McDonald's All-American nomination, and graduated as the school's all-time leading scorer.

At Northwest Nazarene University he played four years of NCAA Division II basketball in the GNAC, earned All-Conference Honorable Mention as a senior, averaged 14.2 points per game, and finished on the program's Top-50 All-Time Scoring list with 1,112 career points before graduating with a B.A. in Psychology in 2012.

From there the game took him around the world. Anthony played professionally across Canada, Mexico, Malaysia, the United States (Vancouver Volcanoes, TBL), and most notably Australia, where he suited up for the East Perth Eagles in the SBL — a program whose trophy case includes an Australian SBL Championship. International basketball sharpened the version of the game he now teaches: disciplined, physical, team-first, and mentally tough.

But the real work started when he came home. Anthony saw too many talented Portland kids with no roadmap — great athletes with no structure, hungry hoopers with no one to teach them how to train. So he built one.

Golden Basketball Academy is the result: a program where skill and character are trained with equal intensity. The old motto still holds — "Practiced failure to confident success." Kids don't just learn crossovers here. They learn how to carry themselves.