Matthew Todd Steigenga (born March 27, 1970) is a retired American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He was a 6'7", 220-40 lbs.

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers. When on Of ...

who most notably played a part of one season with the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

and a season in the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

. He is currently a broadcaster for Michigan State basketball games.

Early life

Born in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

, Steigenga showed athletic ability at an early age, winning the

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 ...

Punt, Pass, and Kick Punt, pass and kick (PP&K) was a skills competition offered by the US National Football League for children aged 6 to 15. Overview PP&K began in 1961 and at one time, event highlights were shown by CBS Sports as part of its NFL coverage. The co ...

for youths at age nine.

Basketball career

As a high schooler, Steigenga had starred for South Christian High School, leading them to the 1988 Michigan Class B title while being named

Mr. Basketball of Michigan Each year the Hal Schram Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best Secondary education, high school senior boys basketball player in the U.S. state of Michigan. The award is named in honor of the late Hal Schram, a sports writ ...

. In the year's

McDonald's All American The McDonald's All-American Game is the all-star basketball game played each year for American and Canadian boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the concl ...

All-star game, Steigenga won the slam dunk contest. As a collegian, Steigenga started his final three years at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

, averaging 10.5 points and 4.3

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

per game in his four years. He finished the Spartans 11th all-time leading scorer and currently stands 17th with 1296 career points, and was also the school's leading career shot blocker with 97 until 2008, when

Drew Naymick Andrew "Drew" Naymick (born February 18, 1985) is an American professional basketball player for Link Tochigi Brex of the Japanese B.League. He played college basketball for Michigan State. College career Over his first two years with Michigan ...

surpassed this total. The

Jud Heathcote George Melvin "Jud" Heathcote (May 27, 1927 – August 28, 2017) was an American basketball player and coach. He was a college basketball head coach for 24 seasons: five at the University of Montana and nineteen at Michigan State University H ...

-coached Spartans in 1990 won

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 ...

championship and reached the NCAA tournament sweet 16. A second round pick of the

in the

1992 NBA draft The 1992 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1992, at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. The draft is considered to be one of the deepest in NBA history. The top three picks (Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner) were considere ...

(52nd overall), Steigenga was signed late in the 1996-97 season when the Bulls needed to fill an injury-depleted roster. He appeared in two games playing a total of 12 minutes and scoring three points. Athletic, he scored his only field goal on an

alley oop ''Alley Oop'' is a syndicated comic strip created December 5, 1932, by American cartoonist V. T. Hamlin, who wrote and drew the strip through four decades for Newspaper Enterprise Association. Hamlin introduced a cast of colorful characters an ...

dunk, against the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

at the

United Center United Center is an indoor arena on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is home to the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). It is named ...

. Steigenga would again sign with the Bulls in January 1999, but was put on waivers a few weeks later, without appearing in any games. Despite playing so little, Steigenga was awarded an NBA championship ring as the Bulls, led by

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

and

Scottie Pippen Scotty Maurice Pippen Sr. (born September 25, 1965), usually spelled Scottie Pippen, is an American former professional basketball player. He played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning six NBA championships with the ...

, won the 1997 NBA Championship. Additionally, Steigenga played the 1995-96 pre-season with the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Sou ...

, but failed to make the regular season roster. From 1992 to 2000, the Bulls notwithstanding, he represented the CBA's

Grand Rapids Hoops The Grand Rapids Hoops were a basketball team that played in the Continental Basketball Association based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their first season was in 1989 and their final season was in 2003. Professional basketball later returned to Grand ...

(1992–93),

Rochester Renegade The Rochester Renegade (later Rochester Renegades) were a professional basketball team based in Rochester, Minnesota. They played 2 seasons in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), the defunct development league for the National Basketbal ...

(1993),

Quad City Thunder The Quad City Thunder was a Continental Basketball Association franchise that was based in the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa. They played in the CBA from the 1987–88 season until the CBA folded in 2001. The Thunder were successful on the co ...

(1996–98) and

Rockford Lightning The Rockford Lightning was a basketball team that played in the Continental Basketball Association. They were based in Rockford, Illinois. History The Lightning were the oldest team in the CBA, originally existing as the Lancaster Red Roses fro ...

(1998–2000), also playing abroad in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

( Taugrés, 1993) and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

(Mitsubishi Electric Melco Dolphins, 1995–96). At the international level, Steigenga was on the silver-medalist

1999 Pan American Games The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games or the 13th Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and surrounding towns and ...

US team. He was also a member of NBA Ambassador teams who played in league championships in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

during the summer of 1999, and China the following summer.

External links

NBA.com profileBasketpedya career data
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steigenga, Matt 1970 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Japan American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players American people of Dutch descent Basketball players at the 1999 Pan American Games Basketball players from Grand Rapids, Michigan Chicago Bulls draft picks Chicago Bulls players Grand Rapids Hoops players Liga ACB players McDonald's High School All-Americans Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Michigan State Spartans men's basketball players Nagoya Diamond Dolphins players Pan American Games medalists in basketball Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Quad City Thunder players Rochester Renegade players Saski Baskonia players Small forwards