While today’s Austin-American Statesman devotes far more column inches to Express OF Luke Scott’s evangelical bent and participation in Round Rock’s recent Faith Night than they do in covering the team’s 6-5 win over Albuquerque, the former 38 Year Old Virgin of the NBA is back in the news for similar reasons. From the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette’s Michael Zennie.

A.C. Green, a retired Los Angeles Lakers player and NBA œIron Man, told graduates of three Fort Wayne schools Sunday that he owes his success “ both on the basketball court and off “ to personal discipline and obedience to God.

Green, 42, played on the L.A. Lakers 2000 championship team and holds the NBA Iron Man record for most consecutive games played “ 1,192.

He gained acclaim for remaining a virgin until he married in 2002 “ through 16 seasons in the NBA. In 1989, he established the A.C. Green Youth Foundation to promote sexual abstinence education, according to the foundation™s Web site.

Green told the crowd of about 300 at the commencement ceremony for Cornerstone Christian Bible College, the Cornerstone Christian Preparatory School and Chosen Christian Beauty and Barber College in the Johnny Appleseed Room of Memorial Coliseum that his accomplishments and skill in the NBA were God™s reward for his abstinence.

œWaiting for those 38 years “ it was worth it, he said.

Green focused on his decision to abstain from sex until he married his wife, Veronique, when he was 38.

Oscar Underwood, the president and founder of Cornerstone Bible College and the Cornerstone Preparatory School, said he invited Green to speak at commencement because the new graduates can overcome most of the challenges they face with the personal discipline that Green champions.

œIt will pay great dividends if you choose to abstain from anything this immoral and corrupting, he said.

I don’t mean to diminish A.C.’s personal sacrifice, but I don’t think he can really claim he waited 38 years. For at least the first 5 or 6 years of his life, I sincerely doubt he had many opportunities to lose his viginity (at least in a consensual manner).

That said, the A.C. Green Foundation has some amazing merchandise on offer.