McDonald's Honors Local 2009 American Boys Basketball Nominees

ALBANY, NY (02/11/2009)(readMedia)-- Jordan Stevens of Saratoga Springs High School, and Chris Pelcher and Tyler Foster of The Albany Academies will be recognized as three of the finest high school basketball players in the country through their nominations to the 2009 McDonald's All American High School Boys Basketball Team. They are three of the 2500 high school basketball standouts in the nation nominated to the All American teams and will be considered for positions on the final team.

Stevens will be recognized by McDonald's on Thursday, February 12th, at Saratoga Springs High School. Pelcher and Foster will be recognized on Friday, February 13^th at The Albany Academies. Both events will take place on Senior Night and prior to the final home basketball games scheduled for 7:30 pm.

Owner/Operators of the Capital Region McDonald's will be in attendance at both games to present special certificates to the players. According to Renee Reardon, President of the Co-op, "We McDonald's Owner/Operators are extremely proud of these student athletes and their dedication to the sport of basketball. McDonald's continues to demonstrate leadership and commitment to young athletes and I am honored to have the opportunity to personally congratulate them for their hard work on the court."

Jordan Stevens, of Saratoga Springs, averaged 14 ppg as an 8^th grader and has been Suburban Council all star during his fours years in high school. He was named senior Suburban Council MVP as a sophomore. He led Saratoga to its second Suburban Council league championship in the school's history and its first league tournament championship in the school's history. Stevens reached 1669 total points when there were still five regular season games left in his career. According to his coach, Peter Sheehan, Stevens will be attending Holy Cross College on a basketball scholarship.

After 18 games, Chris Pelcher from The Albany Academies has achieved 157 field goals and a total of 375 points. According to Coach Brian Fruscio, Pelcher "has gotten stronger each year of his high school career." He has a 21 ppg average, 66% field goals percentage, 9.7 rebound average per game and 82 blocked shots this year. He will be attending Iona College with a full athletic scholarship.

Tyler Foster, also of The Albany Academies, "has maintained a consistent record of achievement during his high school years," according to Coach Fruscio. Foster has achieved a total of 66 field goals, 21 for 30 from the free throw line for 70%, with an average of 15.1 and 273 total points. He has been recruited by a number of colleges and is considering his final decision.

This year's McDonald's games will be played Wednesday, April I, 2009 at the University of Miami, Florida Campus. The Boys Game tips off at 8:00 pm EST, and will be broadcast live on ESPN. McDonald's All American alumni include current and former NBA and NCAA superstars Michael Jordan (retired), Magic Johnson (retired), Kevin Garnett (Minnesota Timberwolves), LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers), Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets), as well as Chris Duhon (Duke), Taliek Brown (UConn) and Shannon Brown (Michigan State).

Proceeds from the game will benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities Chapters of South Florida. Throughout the 32-year history of the Games, millions of dollars have been raised for RMHC and its local chapters. The Ronald McDonald House program has provided a "home-away-from-home" for millions of family members of seriously ill children since its inception in 1974.

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McDonald's USA, LLC, is the leading foodservice provider in the United States serving a variety of wholesome foods made from quality ingredients to millions of customers every day. More than 80 percent of McDonald's 14,000 U.S. restaurants are independently owned and operated by local franchisees. For more information on McDonald's visit www.mcdonalds.com or log on at any of the 10,000 Wi-Fi enabled McDonald's U.S. restaurants.

The McDonald's Operators of the Capital Region Co-op consists of 21 owner/operators who own 73 restaurants in the following counties: Albany, Bennington (VT), Berkshire (MA), Columbia, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Rutland (VT), Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Ulster, Warren and Washington.

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