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2024 Illinois basketball fans are well aware of Brad Underwood’s success as Illinois coach. Won three Big Ten Championships in the last four years … Most wins against conference teams in the past five years (76) … Only five college students to lead their school to 20 regular season wins five consecutive years One of the coaches…seven players earned First Team All-Big Ten honors under his tutelage.
But what about Underwood’s competitive history as a high school and college athlete? On his 61st birthday, and the day his Illini players take on the nation’s top-ranked team, Today’s Illini Legends, List & Lore digs into newspaper clippings that News-Gazette readers probably don’t know about. Revealing some facts about Not Underwood.
➜ 1980: The son of Warren and Jan Underwood and eldest brother of TJ and Shari, was an up-and-coming football and basketball star for the McPherson High School Bullpups in central Kansas. In September 1980, 16-year-old Bradley recovered a fumble, intercepted a pass, and kicked a school-record 50-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to lead the football team to a 17-14 victory over Campus High School in Wichita. helped break it.
➜ 1981: Underwood was the Ark Valley Conference’s leading scorer as a junior, scoring 30 points and scoring multiple times for coach Jay Frazier. “He can score from 20 feet, and inside he’s one of the toughest kids in our league,” Frazier said.
➜ 1982: After leading the conference in scoring for the second time (25 points per game), Underwood becomes the conference’s most valuable player and earns a spot on the Salina (Kan.) Journal’s All-Area Boys Team. did. In April 1982, he signed with Hardin-Simmons University in Texas.
➜ 1983: Coach Jim Hatfield’s Cowboys struggled to 3-25 as Underwood contributed as a freshman guard. As a rookie, he averaged 6.3 points and 1.5 rebounds. Later that year, Underwood transferred to Independence Community College in Kansas.
➜ 1984: Underwood helped lead coach Bob Kivisto’s Independence Pirates deep into the National Junior College Athletic Association Basketball Tournament. He scored 30 points, including 13 of 16 from the field, and earned promotion to the ICC in the first round against Northeastern Colorado. Underwood’s Pirates compiled a record of 30-9 and reached the NJCAA championship game, where they lost to San Jacinto (Texas). That season, the all-conference guard averaged 15 points per game and shot 51 percent from the field. In the Jayhawk Conference All-Star Game, Underwood made two free throws with seven seconds remaining to give the East a 108-107 victory over the West. He transferred in April, choosing Kansas State over Oklahoma State or Arizona State.
➜ 1985: In his first season at Kansas State, Underwood played in 19 games, averaging just over seven minutes per game. His best game came in a loss to Kansas, where he scored a career-best 15 points. “Brad showed us toughness, drive and ability to shoot,” coach Jack Hartman said after the game. The Wildcats finished the year with a total of 14 wins and 14 losses.
➜ 1986: As a senior at Kansas State, Underwood started seven games and averaged 15 minutes per game for the Wildcats, who went 16-14. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Radio and Television Communications in December 1986.
➜ 1987: Underwood initially sold insurance, just as his father had done in Kansas. On August 15, 1987, 23-year-old Brad Underwood married Susan Price in Salina, Kansas. The Kansas State University graduate honeymooned in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. (Four months ago, they celebrated their 37th anniversary.) Underwood’s first coaching job was coaching Hardin-Simmons’ cross country program and also serving as a graduate assistant for the basketball program. Underwood’s compensation at Hardin-Simmons was $300 a month. The rent for their apartment was $299, so Susan worked as a cashier at JC Penney.
➜ 1988-89: Underwood began a four-season stint with the Dodge City (Kan.) Community College Conquistadors in the fall of 1988 (first as an assistant coach), compiling a 57-63 overall record. Ta. A 2021 Chicago Tribune profile revealed that Underwood’s job duties included scanning barcodes on electrical equipment in academic facilities.
Irini’s birthday
Saturday: Al Martindale, track and field trainer (74) Sunday: Gus Palma, football (56) Monday: Alex Petrov, tennis (23) Tuesday: Ray Redniak, football (46) Wednesday: Kylie Powell, Softball Thursday: Xavier Scott, football (22) Friday: Gene Cross, basketball (53)
The author is Mike Pearson, author of Illinois Legends, Lists & Lore (3rd edition available online). Get daily Illini birthdays, trivia and historical trivia on IlliniLegends on X and SportsLegendsListsLore on Facebook. His websites are www.SportsLLL.com and www.IlliniPosters.com.
