Steve Stipanovich

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stephen Samuel Stipanovich (born November 17, 1960, in St. Louis, Missouri) is a retired American professional basketball player.

A 7-foot,center from the University of Missouri, Stipanovich was selected by the Indiana Pacers with the second pick of the 1983 NBA Draft. While healthy, Stipanovich was a somewhat consistent performer. However, knee problems limited his career to five seasons, and retired in 1988 with career totals of 5,323 points and 3,131 rebounds. At Missouri, between November 1979 and March 1983, he and Jon Sundvold helped their coach Norm Stewart to four consecutive winning seasons and NCAA tournament appearances.

[edit] College career

Prior to arriving at Mizzou, "Stipo" (pronounced stee-po) was the star center at DeSmet, a Catholic high school in St. Louis. During his three seasons on the DeSmet varsity squad (Stipanovich had begun high school at Chaminade College Prep, and transferred to DeSmet after his freshman year), he won two Missouri State Championships.

Stipanovich struggled early in his college career, both personally and on the court. He missed a portion of his sophomore season after accidentally shooting himself while playing with a gun at an off campus party, and he was involved in a fight at a St. Louis area White Castle restaurant after another customer made disparaging remarks about his play. Before his senior year at Missouri, Stipanovich gave an interview to Sports Illustrated in which he declared his intention to, essentially, "grow up." He began training harder, studying harder, and partying less. The results showed on the court, as Stipanovich averaged over 18 points and almost 9 rebounds per game, and dominated the Big Eight Conference. In a nationally televised game, Stipanovich and teammate Greg Cavener combined to stop future NBA number one pick Ralph Sampson and upset top ranked Virginia.

[edit] External links

• NBA Draft Busts - No. 8