Northern Illinois Sports Beat: Listing of area NBA and ABA Players

Collected here are the nine (9) former National Basketball Association (NBA) and American Basketball Association (ABA) players who were born in Northern Illinois. This listing pertains to those birthplaces that are in the NISB coverage area. There are some players who were "from" Northern Illinois and played high school ball at Northern Illinois high schools, but they are not on this list. Five of the nine players listed played for Northern Illinois high school teams, two of the nine played in the ABA, and three of the nine played overseas (Italy).

This listing focuses mostly on the professional spotlight of their careers, although their collegiate careers are noteworthy as well. The nine players here advanced to the next level in play.

This listing was created on July 4, 2005 and if there is another NBA player from Northern Illinois (within the NISB boundaries) drafted and playing in the NBA in the future, their name will be on here as well. This listing is due for an update sometime within the 2008-09 sports season.

References: http://www.basketball-reference.com, 100 Legends of Illinois High School Basketball, and the Rockford Register Star.

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NISB Story Archive (2007-)

**ELMER BENKE (Rockford) (1929 - ):
Benke played center for the 1952 Milwaukee (now Atlanta) Hawks and played collegiately at Bradley University. In four games and 55 minutes played, Benke was 6-for-22 from the field and 4-for-7 from the charity stripe. He also had 17 rebounds and four assists.

**A.J. BRAMLETT (DeKalb) (1977 - ):
Bramlett was born in DeKalb, but moved to Albuquerque where he attended high school at La Cueva (a 1995 alum). In the 2000 season, he played eight games for the Cleveland Cavaliers playing 61 minutes as a center. He was 4-for-21 from the field with 22 rebounds. He was drafted by the Cavaliers in 1999.
Bramlett's biggest basketball highlight was being a member of the 1997 NCAA Tournament Champions Arizona Wildcats. He was in the starting five and had six rebounds and three points in their 84-79 overtime win over Kentucky. His 62 rebounds and 10.3 rebounds per game led the whole 1997 NCAA Tournament.
Currently, Bramlett is playing on the Tucson Summer Pro League.

**BRIAN EVANS (Rockford) (1973 - ):
Evans was born in Rockford, but moved to Terre Haute, Indiana where he attended Terre Haute South High School (a 1991 alum). Drafted out of Indiana University, where he played for Bobby Knight, by the Orlando Magic, he played in the NBA from 1997 to 1999 with the Magic, New Jersey Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves. In 102 total games, he scored 375 points, going 144-for-378 from the field. Evans was the 1996 Big Ten Conference Athlete of the Year finalist from Indiana. He is now playing in Italy on Rome's Reggio Calabria team of their A-1 league.

**CHAD GALLAGHER (Rockford) (1969- ):
A product of Steve Goers' Boylan Titans from 1984-1987, Gallagher attended college at Creighton University and played for the 1994 Utah Jazz with Karl Malone and John Stockton. He only played two games, but never missed a shot in the NBA, going 3-for-3 from the field.
Gallagher was a star player on Boylan's 1986 and 1987 state qualifying teams.

**KIM HUGHES (Freeport) (1952 - ):
Hughes played on two of Farrell Benefiel's Regional Championship teams at Freeport High School and played at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. One of two Northern Illinois players to play for the ABA, he played with Julius Erving on the 1975-1976 New York Nets for 84 games and went 300-for-566 from the field, his best season ever.
After the ABA folded, Hughes played for the New York (later Jersey) Nets from 1977-1978 and then the Denver Nuggets from 1979-1981 and spent the rest of the 1981 season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. In his professional career, he played 425 games and scored 1,624 points with a field goal percentage of 48%.
After playing in the NBA, Hughes played for Rome's Reggio Calabria team and Milan's Innocenti team until retiring in 1989. He also played in Italy before coming to the ABA in 1975.
Hughes is currently an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers and also coached with the Denver Nuggets. He also worked with the Milwaukee Bucks program.

**STEVE KUBERSKI (Moline) (1947 - ):
A member of the Maroons' 1965 25-3 State Qualifying team under Herb Thompson, Kuberski played for the 1974 and 1976 NBA Champion Boston Celtics. A product of Bradley University, Kuberski played from 1970-1978 spending his first five seasons at Boston. In 1975 he played for the Milwaukee Bucks and spent the first half of the 1976 season with the Buffalo Braves (now Los Angeles Clippers). In 568 total games, he scored 3,114 points and had a field goal percentage of 42%.
Kuberski played at Bradley University in his college days and currently owns a locker company for schools and warehouses in Woborn, MA. In 1974, he was enshrined in the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

**GLENN MCDONALD (Kewanee) (1952 - ):
The forward-guard was born in Kewanee, but played high school at Jefferson High School in Los Angeles (a 1970 alum). After playing in college with Cal State-Long Beach, he played with Kuberski (above) on the 1976 NBA champion Boston Celtics. He started his career with Boston in 1975 and ended it in 1977 with the Milwaukee Bucks. In three seasons and 146 games, he scored 609 points and went 191-for-456 from the field.

**JOE RUKLICK (Princeton) (1938 - ):
For three years with the Philadelphia Warriors (now Golden State Warriors), the forward-center played 114 games. He also played on Don Sheffer's state qualifying PHS teams in 1954 and 1955 before playing at Northwestern. Ruklick scored 398 points and went 176-for-481 from the field.
Ruklick is a 2002 Inductee of the Bureau County Sports Hall of Fame.

**SKIP THOREN (Rockford) (1943 - ):
One of the best ABA players to come out of Illinois, and one of the best prep players in IHSA History, Duane Thoren played for Rockford East's 1961 state qualifying team under coach Art Sadler. The center played at the University of Illinois before joining the ABA in 1968. In 1969, he was the ABA's leader in offensive rebounds with 391 and third in defensive rebounds with 655 for a total of 1,046 which ranked second. He had 13.4 rebounds per game that year as well.
Drafted by the Baltimore Bullets (now Washington Wizards) in 1965, his American career started with the Minnesota Muskies in 1968 before the team became the Miami Floridans (known for their skin-clad ball girls) in 1969, where he became an all-star for the ABA Eastern Division. His career ended in 1970 with the Floridans.
In 170 games, he scored 2,239 points and had a field goal precentage of 47%.
Thoren was named to the Illini All-Century Basketball team in 2005 (he's ranked 25th on the all-time scoring list) and was a first-team All-American his senior year at Champana.
Thoren turned down the Bullets $6,500 offer to play for Olympia Milan in Italy, where he was a teammate of future NBA star and congressman Bill Bradley. The duo helped Olympia Milan win the European Cup of Champions.