The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States, from Minnesota in the east, to the Dakotas, Nebraska and Colorado to the West, and Missouri and Oklahoma to the South. Founded as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities in 1982, it rebranded as the Mid-Continent Conference in 1989, then again as the Summit League on June 1, 2007. The league headquarters are in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Brian Joshua Cook is an American former professional basketball player. He was drafted out of the University of Illinois with the 24th overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Erazem Lorbek is a Slovenian former professional basketball player. At a height of 6 ft 10+3⁄4 in (2.10 m) tall, he primarily played at the power forward position, but he was also capable of playing at the center position. A three-time All-EuroLeague Team member, he won the EuroLeague title with FC Barcelona in 2010.
Brian Lee Cardinal is an American former professional basketball player. He played 456 games in the NBA between 2000 and 2012, and won an NBA championship with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. Before his NBA career, he was one of the best players in the history of Purdue University.
Frisman Jackson is an American football coach and former player who is the wide receivers coach for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as a wide receivers coach at Baylor, Temple, NC State, Northern Illinois, Akron, and Western Illinois. Jackson also previously served as a wide receivers coach for the Tennessee Titans, Carolina Panthers, and Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football at Western Illinois and signed as an undrafted free agent with Cleveland Browns in 2002.
Danny Clark IV is a former American football linebacker. He was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the seventh round of the 2000 NFL Draft. He played college football at Illinois.
Jonathan Lewis Wallace is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Walter Tigers Tübingen of the Basketball Bundesliga. The 6'2" guard from Huntsville, Alabama played college basketball for Georgetown University where he was the school's all-time three-point shooting leader in both percentage and field goals made (240). He was a government major and was accepted to the Georgetown University Law Center.
Rick Rickert is a former American professional basketball player. He is a 2001 graduate of Duluth East High School where he was a basketball star and highly recruited college prospect. He was named 2001 Minnesota Mr. Basketball.
William H. Spaulding was an American football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. Spaulding coached at UCLA from 1925 to 1938. He had a successful tenure, compiling a 72–51–8 (.580) record. He also served as the head football coach at the University of Minnesota from 1922 to 1924. His record there was 11–7–4 (.591). He succeeded the legendary football coach Henry L. Williams. Prior to coaching at Minnesota he coached Western State Normal School from 1907 to 1921. Spaulding was the head football, basketball and baseball at Western State Normal. Spaulding attended Wabash College, where he played college football. In 1984, he was inducted into the Wabash College Athletic Hall of Fame.
Goran Dragić is a Slovenian former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Dragon", he played professional basketball in Slovenia and Spain before entering the NBA in 2008. Dragić also played for the Phoenix Suns, Miami Heat, Houston Rockets, Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls and the Milwaukee Bucks. He was an All-NBA Third Team selection and the NBA Most Improved Player with the Suns in 2014. He was named an NBA All-Star for the first time in 2018 with Miami. He led the senior Slovenian national team to its first FIBA EuroBasket title in 2017, while being named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
The Western Illinois Leathernecks men's basketball team represents Western Illinois University of Macomb, Illinois, in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball competition. As of the 2023–24 NCAA season, the Leathernecks compete in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Alysha Angelica Clark is an American-Israeli professional basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In college, she led the NCAA in scoring three years in a row. She was drafted in the second round of the 2010 WNBA draft by the San Antonio Silver Stars. In 2018, Clark won a championship with the Seattle Storm as they swept the Mystics in the 2018 WNBA Finals, and in 2020 won her second championship as the Storm swept the Las Vegas Aces. She won her third WNBA championship with the Las Vegas Aces in 2023. She was also the Most Valuable Player in the league in 2018 when her team CCC Polkowice of Poland in the Basket Liga Kobiet Basketball won that league's championship. In 2019, she won a Ligue Féminine de Basketball championship with her French team, Lyon Asvel. Clark is known for her swarming defense and clutch shooting.
Brandon Stephan Paul is an American professional basketball player for JL Bourg of the LNB Pro A. During his senior year at Warren Township High School, Paul was named Illinois Mr. Basketball for 2009. Paul played college basketball for the University of Illinois and became only the second player in program history to record 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, 300 assists and 100 steals.
Josh Douglas Harrellson is an American professional basketball player for Fukushima Firebonds of the Japanese B.League. Standing 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m), he played center for the Kentucky Wildcats from 2008 to 2011. He was selected by the New Orleans Hornets as the 45th pick in the 2011 NBA draft, but was traded to the New York Knicks. He signed with the Miami Heat in 2012. In 2013, he joined the Brujos de Guayama in Puerto Rico, but he was released on May 18 so that he could join Chongqing Flying Dragons in the Chinese National Basketball League for a two-month period. In August 2013, Harrellson joined the Detroit Pistons.
Ian Patrick Clark is an American professional basketball player who last played for Melbourne United of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball at Belmont University. As a senior, Clark was the 2012–13 Ohio Valley Conference Co-Player of the Year with Murray State's Isaiah Canaan. He was third in the nation in three-point field goal shooting percentage and led the Bruins to the conference championship in the school's first year as an OVC member. In July 2013, Clark signed a two-year contract with the Utah Jazz after his performance at the Las Vegas Summer League impressed numerous teams. Clark won an NBA Championship with the Warriors in 2017.
Jackie Carmichael is an American professional basketball player for Igokea of the Adriatic League (ABA) and the Bosnian League. He was a standout college player at Illinois State University before playing professionally in Spain, Israel, Turkey, Russia, Lebanon, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovenia.
Jordan Daniel Morgan is an American-born naturalized Slovenian professional basketball player who last played for AEK Athens of the Greek Basket League. He played college basketball at Michigan. He represents the Slovenia basketball team internationally.
Zena Ray "Zeke" Upshaw was an American professional basketball player. He began his college basketball career with the Illinois State Redbirds. After playing sparingly for three seasons, he transferred to join the Hofstra Pride, where he led the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in scoring and was named second-team all-conference. Upshaw played professionally in Slovenia and Luxembourg before returning to the United States and joining the Grand Rapids Drive of the NBA Development League. In the Drive's regular season finale in 2017–18, he collapsed on the court in the game's final minute and died two days later.
Terell Allen Parks Sr. is an American professional basketball player. He is a 6'9" (2.06 m) tall center. After two years at Iowa Central Community College and two years at Western Illinois, Parks entered the 2013 NBA draft, but he was not selected in the draft's two rounds.
Bryce Alexander McGowens is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Rip City Remix of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
