Lowell Hamilton (born May 3, 1966) is an American former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player.

High school

Hamilton was a dominant high school basketball player at

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's Providence St. Mel, where he led the Knights to four consecutive IHSA boys' sectional championships from 1982 to 1985, three consecutive ''"Elite-Eight"'' appearances from 1983 to 1985 as well as appearances in the ''"Final-Four"'' in 1984 and a state championship in 1985. In his four years of varsity basketball, Hamilton scored 165 points in 11 IHSA tournament finals games, averaging 15.0 points per game and was named to the all-tournament team at center in '83, '84 and '85. While playing for St. Mel, Hamilton's teams would lose only 14 times while winning 116 games for an 89.2 winning percentage. Each season at St. Mel, Hamilton's teams would advance further in the state tournament. During his freshman year, under the direction of head coach Tom Shields, Hamilton's team would finish the season with a loss in the IHSA super-sectional to future

Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

basketball player Scott Meents and the Herscher Tigers. As a sophomore, Hamilton's team would win the super-sectional but lose in the quarterfinals to future

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Ath ...

guard, Marty ''"The Mule"'' Simmons and the defending state champion, Lawrenceville Indians. It would be Hamilton's junior year when the Knights would dominate Illinois high school basketball, finishing the regular season with 22 wins and only 3 losses. As the final day of the season started, Hamilton's team had increased their win total to 29, however, a hot-shooting Mt. Pulaski High School would hold off the Knights on their way to the championship game, leaving a third-place game versus

Lena-Winslow High School Lena-Winslow High School, dedicated December 7, 1958 and affectionately known as "Le-Win", is a high school located in the town of Lena, Illinois. Part of the Lena-Winslow Community Unit School District, Le-Win became the second largest school ...

where they would earn their 30th victory. As a senior, Hamilton and the Knights entered the post-season tournament ranked #1 in the state of Illinois with a record of 22 and 3. Hamilton's team won their regional, sectional and super-sectional contests on their path to the ''"Final-Four"'' in the IHSA. In the semifinalsm Hamilton's team was pitted against

Thad Matta Thad Michael Matta (born July 11, 1967) is an American college basketball coach and the current head coach of the Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team. From 2004 to 2017, Matta led the Ohio State Buckeyes to five Big Ten Conference regular seas ...

and the Cornjerkers from Hoopeston for the chance to play for a state championship. St. Mel won this game and moved into the championship game against Chrisman High School. The Knights dominated the game, taking a 30 to 8 lead after the first quarter and cruising to a final score of 95 to 63. Hamilton scored 21 points in the game and 64 points in the tournament and the St. Mel Knights finished the year with a record of 31 and 3. In his four years of varsity basketball, Hamilton's teams would win 116 games while only losing 14, winning 89.2 percent of all games played. After the season, Hamilton was named a

McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger s ...

and played in the 1985 game with teammates

Quin Snyder Quin Price Snyder (born October 30, 1966) is an American basketball coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After being named a McDonald's All American as a high school pla ...

Sean Elliott Sean Michael Elliott (born February 2, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who starred at small forward in both the college and professional ranks. He attended the University of Arizona, where he had a standout career a ...

and

Roy Marble Roy Lane Marble, Jr. (December 13, 1966 – September 11, 2015) was an American professional basketball player, 6'6" tall, who played as a swingman (shooting guard/small forward). After playing four seasons at the University of Iowa from 1985 t ...

while opposing

Danny Ferry Daniel John Willard Ferry (born October 17, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and an All-American college player at Duke University. He most recently served as interim genera ...

and

Pervis Ellison Pervis Ellison (born April 3, 1967) is an American former National Basketball Association (NBA) player. Nicknamed "Never Nervous Pervis" for his clutch play with the University of Louisville, after leading Louisville to a national championship, El ...

. Hamilton would score 13 points in a losing effort for the West team. In 2007, the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National Fe ...

named Hamilton one of the

100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) celebrated 100 years of the IHSA State Tournament in the 2006-07 season. A list of "100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament" was assembled on December 14, 2005. Throughout the state, 281 ind ...

. Hamilton went on to play for the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

for four years, 1985–1989. He was part of the Flyin' Illini team that qualified for the 1989

NCAA men's basketball tournament 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 Four. Hamilton scored 1,241 career points with 87 blocked shots while having a .534 field goal percentage for the

College career

1985–86 season

As a freshman, Hamilton appeared in 24 of the Illini's 32 games. He totaled 88 points and hauled in 41 rebounds.

1986–87 season

During Hamilton's sophomore season, his playing time jumped to nearly 24 minutes per game, including 22 starts out of the 31 games he played. He finished the season with the fourth highest point total (334) averaging 10.8 points per game. Hamilton was tied with the highest field goal average at .578 and the third most rebounds with 121. Teammate

Ken Norman Kenneth Darnel Norman (born September 5, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player. After graduating from Crane High School in Chicago, Kenny was an outstanding forward for the Illinois Fighting Illini who was selected 19th overa ...

finished the season with 48 blocked shots with Hamilton taking second place on the team with 31.

1987–88 season

The Fighting Illini experienced a surge in performance sparked by the play of sophomore guards Nick Anderson and

Kendall Gill Kendall Cedric Gill (born May 25, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who now works as a television basketball analyst. Early life Gill was born in Chicago and attended Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, Illinoi ...

along with the addition of junior forward

Kenny Battle Kenneth R. Battle (born October 10, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player. High school career In 1984, Battle led Aurora West High School to third place in the Illinois High School Association Class AA state basketball tourn ...

. These additions, however, limited Hamilton's playing time and reduced his starts to 6 out of the 33 games he played in during the season. Even with a reduced role, Hamilton finished the season with the fifth highest point total averaging 10 points per game, and the third most blocked shots.

1988–89 season

Hamilton was an instrumental force in the

1988–89 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team The 1988–89 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois. Regular season The 1988-89 team may have been the most talented team ever assembled at the University of Illinois. The team was so athletic tha ...

's drive to the Final Four. He started 33 games during that season and played in all 36. Hamilton was third on the

in scoring with 488 points (13.6 per game), second on the team in rebounding with 204 (5.7 per game) and second on the team in blocked shots with 31. His quiet, assertive play under the basket sparked the Fighting Illini's running game while helping Illinois to a team average 86.4 points per game, its highest since 1966. Hamilton was co-captain along with Battle during the ''"Flyin Illini's"'' magical run.

Honors

High school

* 1983 – IHSA All-Tournament Team * 1984 – IHSA All-Tournament Team * 1984 – Parade Magazine 2nd Team All-American * 1985 – All-State 1st Team * 1985 – IHSA All-Tournament Team * 1985 – Parade Magazine 1st Team All-American * 1985 –

* 1998 – Inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association's Hall of Fame as a player. * 2007 – Named one of the

College

* 1987 – Honorable Mention All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

* 1989 – Honorable Mention All-Big Ten * 1989 – Team Captain

College statistics

References

External links

St. Mel vs. Chrisman 1985 – YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Lowell 1966 births Living people African-American basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Chicago Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players McDonald's High School All-Americans Papagou B.C. players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Centers (basketball) 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople