The Illinois State Redbirds are the athletic teams that represent

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Illinois' seventh most ...

. Teams play at the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

level ( FCS in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

). The football team competes in the

Missouri Valley Football Conference The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), formerly the Gateway Football Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivis ...

while most other teams compete in the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

. The fight song is Go, You Redbirds.

History

Athletics at Illinois State consists of 19 sports, having won 160 MVC league titles. Illinois State began its athletics program more than 100 years ago. In 1923, athletics director Clifford E. "Pop" Horton and the '' Daily Pantagraph'' sports editor Fred Young collaborated to change the university's nickname from "Teachers." Horton wanted "Cardinals" because the colors were cardinal and white (set in 1895–96). Young changed the nickname to "Red Birds" to avoid confusion in the headlines with the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

. It took roughly 10 years for Red Birds to become one word. From approximately 1908 to 1970, Illinois State was affiliated with the

Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) was a college athletic conference that existed from 1908 to 1970 in the United States. At one time the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, or IIAC, was a robust league that clai ...

and were charter members. The school, which had already been an

competitor for a decade, left behind its independent status in 1980 and affiliated itself with the

. From 1981 to 1992, Redbird women's teams competed under the

Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference The Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference was a women's-only college athletic conference which operated in the midwestern United States from its inception in 1982 to its absorption by the Missouri Valley Conference in 1992. History The Gateway Co ...

banner before women's sports were absorbed into the Missouri Valley Conference. Today, 14 of the 17 Redbird sports compete in the Missouri Valley Conference, with the football team playing in the

, formerly known as the

Gateway Football Conference The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), formerly the Gateway Football Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivis ...

Redbird 7

On 7 April 2015, seven men died when a privately owned

Cessna 414 The Cessna 414 is an American light, pressurized, twin-engine transport aircraft built by Cessna. It first flew in 1968 and an improved variant was introduced from 1978 as the 414A Chancellor. Design and development The pressurized 414 was dev ...

carrying Redbirds men's basketball coach

Torrey Ward Torrey Ward (July 7, 1978 – April 7, 2015) was an American assistant coach of men's college basketball. An undrafted 6'3" (1.90 m) guard from the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Ward played professionally in China for several years before s ...

, Deputy Director of Athletics Aaron Leetch, and five community members and athletics supporters crashed. The group was returning from

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, where they attended the

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

Final. The plane crashed in a soybean field outside of

Central Illinois Regional Airport Central Illinois Regional Airport at Bloomington-Normal is a public airport in McLean County, Illinois, three miles east of Bloomington and southeast of Normal. Owned by the Bloomington-Normal Airport Authority, it is also known as Central Illi ...

in McLean County. The University and Athletics Department memorialized the victims in several ways, including a uniform patch worn by all 19 teams throughout the 2015–16 sports seasons. In addition, a permanent memorial called Redbird Remembrance directly in the heart of the Redbird Athletics.

Sports sponsored

A member of the

, Illinois State University sponsors eight men's and eleven women's teams in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

sanctioned sports:

Men's basketball

Titles *Regular Season: 1984, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2017 *Conference Tournament: 1983, 1990, 1997, 1998

Appearances:

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

NIT Appearances:

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

CBI Appearance:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Women's basketball

Titles: 1983, 1989, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2022

Appearances: 1983, 1985, 1989, 2005, 2008, 2022

Women's National Invitation Tournament The Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) is a women's national college basketball tournament with a preseason and postseason version played every year. It is operated in a similar fashion to the men's college National Invitation Tournam ...

Appearances: 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 *During the 2007-2008 season, former Head Coach Dr.

Jill Hutchison Jill Hutchison (born March 8, 1945) is an American retired women's basketball coach, having served as head coach for 28 seasons at Illinois State. Hutchison also served as the first president of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. She was a ...

was recognized for her pioneering work in the advancement of women’s basketball. A banner was hung from the rafters at Redbird Arena in her honor. *2009

Kristi Cirone Kristi Mary Rose Cirone (born May 19, 1987) is an American basketball coach and former player. She played collegiately for Illinois State University and led the school to three national postseason tournaments in 2007 through 2009 while also being ...

becomes the all-time leading scorer. *December 28, 2009 Kristi Cirone's No. 10 jersey was retired at Redbird Arena. *March 13, 2020 - After the cancellation of NCAA postseason play, Redbird Women's Basketball earned a share of the 2020 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship. *Fell to Iowa in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, in their first appearance under Head Coach Kristen Gillespie.

Women's soccer

Regular Season Titles: 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016

Tournament Titles: 2003, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016

Appearances: 2003, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 *2016: W vs. Michigan (PKs), L vs. #3 Duke (1-3) First season: 1996 All-Time Record: 225-145-37 (.600) All-Time Missouri Valley Conference Record: 82-25-11 (.746) 10 Missouri Valley Conference Players of the Year

Football

Championships: 1999, 2014, 2015

NCAA Division I Football Championship The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was kn ...

Playoffs: 1998, 1999, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019 *1998: Lost at

Northwestern State Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSU) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the Univer ...

*1999: Defeated Colgate and

Hofstra Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of New ...

before losing at eventual National Champion

Georgia Southern Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hin ...

*2006: Lost at

Youngstown State Youngstown State University (YSU or Youngstown State) is a public university in Youngstown, Ohio. It was founded in 1908 and is the easternmost member of the University System of Ohio. The university is composed of six undergraduate colleges an ...

*2012: Defeated App State in overtime before losing at

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the Hanfor ...

*2014: Defeated

UNI Uni or UNI may refer to: Entertainment *Uni Records, a division of MCA, formally called Universal City Records *"U.N.I.", a song by Ed Sheeran from ''+'' (''Plus'') *Uni, a species in the Neopets Trading Card Game *Uni, a character in the anim ...

, and

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

before losing to

NDSU North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as t ...

in the FCS National Championship Game *2015: Defeated

before losing to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

*2016: Lost at

Central Arkansas Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state of ...

*2019: Defeated Southeast Missouri State,

, before losing to

FCS National Championship Game Bowl Games *The 1999 & 2006 the Midwest Region Championship (FCS Quarterfinal) was referred to as the Pecan Bowl *In 1999 the Redbirds football team advanced to the Final Four and finished 3rd in the AP poll. *Illinois State holds the NCAA Division I FCS record for the most tied football games with 66.

Softball

Illinois State's softball team played in the

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

eight times in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1978 and 1981. The team finished as runner-up in the first WCWS in 1969, and in 1973, falling to Arizona State, 4-3, in 16 innings in the title game. On the day of the 1973 defeat, Redbirds pitcher

Margie Wright Marjorie Ann Wright (born December 28, 1952) is a former college softball coach. She was the head softball coach at California State University, Fresno—more commonly known as Fresno State—from 1986 to 2012. She led the Fresno State Bulldogs ...

heroically hurled 30 innings in three games. Ironically, for pitching too many innings in one day, a three-woman Illinois sports commission suspended her from pitching in any game in her upcoming senior season and also banned the softball team from post-season play in 1974. Wright went on to play professional softball, followed by a 33-year head coaching career. She coached the Redbirds from 1980–85, followed by 27 years at Fresno State, where she became the first NCAA Division I softball coach to reach 1000 wins and the NCAA's all-time winningest softball coach.

National Championships

Team

Facilities

*Doug Collins Court at

Redbird Arena CEFCU Arena, formerly known as Redbird Arena, is a 10,200-seat multi-purpose arena located in Normal, Illinois, on the campus of Illinois State University. Built in 1989, the building is notable for its use of a Teflon-coated roof that gives off ...

– main indoor arena. *

Hancock Stadium Hancock Stadium is a 13,391-seat multi-purpose stadium in Normal, Illinois. It opened in 1963. It is home to the Illinois State University Redbirds football team as well as University High School. Central Catholic High School also played its ...

– football stadium. * Duffy Bass Field – baseball field. * Adelaide Street Field – soccer field. * McCormick Courts – outdoor tennis courts. * Marian Kneer Softball Stadium – softball field. * Weibring Golf Club – golf course. * Horton Field House *

Evergreen Racquet Club In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

– indoor tennis court.

Notable former athletes

Football *

Mike Zimmer Michael Zimmer (born June 5, 1956) is an American football coach for the Colorado Buffaloes. Prior to this, Zimmer was with Jackson State, both college programs being led by Deion Sanders. He previously also served as the head coach of the Minn ...

–

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) Head Coach for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

* Joe Woods – NFL Defensive Coordinator for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

Nate Palmer Nathan Palmer Jr. (born September 23, 1989) is a former American football linebacker. He played college football at Illinois State. Palmer was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the sixth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. Early life Palmer was b ...

– Former NFL

inside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

and

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

. * James O'Shaughnessy – NFL

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

* James Robinson- NFL

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the

* B. J. Bello – NFL

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for the

Davontae Harris Davontae Harris (born January 21, 1995) is an American football cornerback who is a free agent. He attended high school at Wichita South High School in Wichita, Kansas. He played college football at Illinois State Redbirds football, Illinois St ...

– NFL

for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

Cameron Meredith Cameron Meredith (born September 21, 1992) is a former American football wide receiver. He was signed by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2015. He played college football at Illinois State. He also played for the New Orleans Saint ...

– NFL wide receiver currently a Free Agent. * Cameron Lee – NFL

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

currently a Free Agent. * Michael Liedtke – NFL offensive lineman for the

Washington Football Team The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) E ...

. *

Kevin Glenn Kevin Glenn, Jr. (born June 12, 1979) is a former American professional Canadian football quarterback. He was originally signed by the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) as an undrafted free agent in 2001. He played co ...

– Former

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. *

Colton Underwood Colton Scott Brown-Underwood (born January 26, 1992) is an American reality television personality and former professional football player. He played defensive end at Illinois State and was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free ...

– Former NFL

for the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

and

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

and was a part of Season 14 of

The Bachelorette A bachelorette is an unmarried woman. Bachelorette may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Bachelorette'', a reality television dating show part of ''The Bachelor'' franchise with numerous versions: ** ''The Bachelorette'' (American TV ser ...

. *

Shelby Harris Shelby Harris (born August 11, 1991) is an American football defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Illinois State and was selected in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draf ...

– NFL

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

for the

* Boomer Grigsby – Retired NFL fullback and 2017

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

Inductee *

Mike Prior Michael Robert Prior (born November 14, 1963) is a former American football safety who played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Indianapolis Colts and Green Bay Packers in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Illinois St ...

– Former NFL player and part of

team that won Super Bowl XXXI * Dennis Nelson – Former NFL player and part of

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

team that won

Super Bowl V Super Bowl V was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Colts and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys to determine the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

* Tom Nelson – Former NFL wide receiver with the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

and the

. *

Aveion Cason Aveion Marquel Cason (born July 12, 1979) is a former American football running back and kick returner in the National Football League for the St. Louis Rams, Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys. He also was a member of the Florida Tuskers in the ...

– retired NFL

Running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

Laurent Robinson Laurent Robinson (born May 20, 1985) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Atlanta Falcons, St. Louis Rams, Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars. He was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the thir ...

– Retired NFL wide receiver. Men's Basketball * Doug Collins –

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

broadcaster, player, coach, and Olympian. *Dan Muller (basketball), Dan Muller – Current Illinois State men's basketball head coach. *Chamberlain Oguchi – Member of Nigeria's 2012 Summer Olympics team. *Steve Fisher (American basketball coach), Steve Fisher – Former basketball Coach (sport), head coach at Michigan Wolverines men's basketball, Michigan, where he won a 1989 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game, national title in 1988–89 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team, 1989 and recruited the Fab Five (University of Michigan), Fab Five, and San Diego State Aztecs men's basketball, San Diego State. *Tarise Bryson – Harlem Globetrotters (1998–2002). *Rico Hill – Was a guard for Illinois State prior to playing for the Los Angeles Clippers and in Europe. Women's Basketball *Cathy Boswell – College Basketball All American and 1984 Summer Olympics Gold Medalist for United States women's national basketball team. *Charlotte Lewis (basketball), Charlotte Lewis – 1976 Summer Olympics Silver Medalist for the USA. *

– Former WNBA point guard *Lorene Ramsey – Former Women's basketball coach of Illinois Central College, who with a career record of 887–197. Baseball *Brock Stewart – Major League Baseball pitcher currently a Free Agent. *Paul DeJong – MLB shortstop for the

. *Dave Bergman – Retired MLB player and World Series Champion (1984). *Matt Herges – Former MLB pitcher for the Florida Marlins and Cleveland Indians. *Neal Cotts – Former MLB pitcher with the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Minnesota Twins. World Series Champion (2005). *Dan Kolb – Retired MLB relief pitcher. *Buzz Capra, Lee "Buzz" Capra – former Atlanta Braves pitcher who led the National League. Track & Field *Tim Glover – 2011 & 2012 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships National Champion in Javelin Throw. *Aisha Praught – Former All-American & 2016 Summer Olympics athlete for Jamaica. Softball *

– Former professional softball player, coach for 33 years. NCAA all-time winningest softball coach. Men's Golf *D. A. Weibring – Professional golfer on the PGA Tour. Volleyball *Cathy George, women's volleyball head coach at Michigan State File:Osiris for 3.jpg, Three-point field goal, Three Pointer File:Redbird Arena.jpg,

File:Dyer Free Throw.jpg, Free throw File:Redbird Starting Lineup.jpg, Basketball starters introduced

References

External links

* {{Illinois Sports Illinois State Redbirds, de:Illinois State University no:Illinois State University