REACTION: Jeremy Lin (left) of the New York Knicks briefly celebrates with teammate Steve Novak during an NBA game against the Dallas Mavericks at Madison Square Garden in New York City, February 19, 2012. The Knicks won 104-97 (XINHUA)

Time Magazine on April 11 named New York Knicks point guard and hometown hero Jeremy Lin as one of its "100 Most Influential People in the World," along with the likes of Hillary Clinton, Warren Buffett, Stephen Colbert and Benjamin Netanyahu. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who wrote about Lin for the annual "who's-who" list, says the Harvard-educated athlete transcends race, and may have broken the stereotype that "Asian-American guards couldn't hack it in the NBA."

Lin, 24, is one of the few Asian-Americans in NBA history, and the first American player of Chinese descent. After a breakthrough season averaging 14.1 points and 6.1 assists a game, Lin was back on the bench at the end of March with a torn meniscus and waiting for knee surgery. Yet, though the season is "Lincomplete," the popularity of the new star persists.

New York City student Jin Jin Chao, 34, says she and her husband Li Chen began watching Knicks games after Jeremy Lin began his rise from lowly benchwarmer to the starting player who led the Knicks on a seven-game winning streak.

"There is a feeling of being overlooked as an Asian-American," Chao said. "People make assumptions about language, like you aren't able to speak English. Jeremy Lin changed a lot of peoples' minds. I feel proud of him."

Now, Chao said "Linsanity" has fully taken hold of her family. She and her parents immigrated from Zhejiang Province--the same province where Jeremy Lin's maternal grandmother lived.

"I do feel connected to him," Chao said. "He represents Asian-Americans."

Students at New York's prestigious Stuyvesant high school pleaded with the basketball star — their "Linspiration" — to speak at their commencement, reported the New York Daily News . A poll at the school, where Asian Americans comprise 73 percent of the student body, ranked Lin as the most popular choice for commencement speaker.

"You're an inspiration for these generations of Asians, but not just us, for every underdog in this nation," students rapped in a video message to the star.

Lina Yeh, a student at the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia, begged Lin to be her date to the senior formal dance. With the help of her friends, professors, the campus mascot and the university president, Yeh filed a four-and-a-half minute video listing reasons why he should be her date. The video has been viewed more than 100,000 times, but Yeh says she has yet to hear back on her offer.

"[The Knicks fans'] embrace of Lin has made millions of Asian Americans feel vicariously, thrillingly embraced. Not invisible. Not presumed foreign. Just part of the team, belonging in the game. It's felt like a breakout moment: for Lin, for Asian America and, thus, for America," wrote Eric Liu, for Time.

Many Asian-American pioneers in the public eye have defied the "condescending complimentary 'model minority' stereotype, wrote Liu, but Lin is something new: an "Asian-American whom millions of other Americans want to be."

When New York's Madison Square Garden is full and the roar of the crowd swells to deafening levels, it's "hard not to feel like this isn't a watershed moment," wrote Jeff Yang in his  weekly column for The Wall Street Journal.

"Hard not to feel like this is historic. Hard not to think that we're at the cusp of an actual tectonic shift in the culture, when an Asian-American 'kid' could be the unquestioned king of one of the most storied franchises in sports, the guy that every guy in the room wishes he could meet and every kid in the room wants to group up to be," wrote Yang.

Lin's meteoric rise has not come without "Lincredible" controversy. Ben and Jerry's ice cream company quickly recalled a custom flavor for the star that included fortune cookies and lychee as ingredients. And, ESPN writer Anthony Federico was fired in late February after writing a racially insensitive headline, calling a recent poor showing by Lin a "Chink in the Armor."

Federico quickly apologized, calling the headline an "honest mistake." Lin's reaction at the time was characteristically low-key, saying he believed the slip was unintentional. The star then invited Federico to lunch, to show he harbored no ill feelings.

The move was classically "Linsightful," say Asian-American fans, and adds to his "Linderella" story.

"He has been very humble, he believes in team work," Howard Lee, a Chinese-American lawyer in New York and Lin fan, told the Christian Science Monitor.

Daniel Chao, an office worker from Los Angeles, told the New York Times that Lin's record of success, despite his humble beginnings and his many setbacks, had inspired him at his own job at a health insurance firm. "In Asian culture, you're supposed to do hard work and you'll get noticed," he said. "All the hard work I've put into where I am — maybe I could be that executive."

Lin has come to represent many things to many people, but he seems to resonate most greatly with his Asian-American fans that see their own life stories in the star's success. They feel overlooked, like Lin, and underestimated.

"Jeremy cares only about one thing — winning," writes U.S. Secretary of Education Duncan, for Time Magazine. "And I don't care whether you are an Asian-American kid, white, black or Hispanic, Jeremy's story tells you that if you show grit, discipline and integrity, you too can get an opportunity to overcome the odds."