ATHENS, GA --- Willie Anderson, a 2-time All-SEC guard, 1988 Olympian and an NBA veteran of 11 seasons, will represent Georgia as part of the 2012 class of the Allstate SEC Basketball Legends. This group, which includes one ex-player or coach from each of the 12 member institutions, will be honored at the SEC Tournament March 8-11 in New Orleans, La.

Each Allstate SEC Basketball legend will be recognized at halftime of his institution’s first tournament game. He will also make appearances at the Sunkist Soda SEC FanFare exhibition. As a group the Legends will be saluted on Saturday during the Tournament semifinal games.

Anderson, a native Atlantan, arrived at Georgia in 1984 as a skinny, 6-7 kid with no true position to play. Head coach Hugh Durham eventually tried him at point guard, where he blossomed into every opponent’s worst nightmare. Twice Anderson made the All-SEC first team, in 1987-88, leading the ’87 team to an improbable NCAA Tournament berth. Despite hardly playing as a freshman, he finished his career with 1,350 points, which currently ranks 16th on Georgia’s list of all-time scorers.

Anderson brought the international spotlight to Georgia when he made the 1988 U.S. Olympic basketball team. He later went on to score nearly 7,000 points during an NBA career that spanned 11 seasons. He spent the first seven of those years with the San Antonio Spurs, for whom he made the NBA All-Rookie Team in 1989.

This marks the 14th year of the SEC Basketball Legends program. Previous representatives from Georgia include: 1999 – Vern Fleming; 2000 – Alec Kessler; 2001 – Zippy Morocco; 2002 – Dominique Wilkins; 2003 – James Banks; 2004 – Lavon Mercer; 2005 – Ronnie Hogue; 2006 – Joe Ward; 2007 – Litterial Green; 2008 – Hugh Durham; 2009 – Shandon Anderson (Willie's younger brother); 2010 - Tom Brennan; 2011 - Walter Daniels.