Chris Street

Along with basketball, Street also excelled in baseball and football during high school. He moved with his family to Indianola, Iowa in the fall of 1987 and starred on the town's Class 4A team at Indianola High School. Street committed to play basketball at the University of Iowa as a junior in high school.[1]

Street played in 28 games as a freshman and averaged 5.0 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. As a sophomore, he averaged 10.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. In the first 15 games of the 1992–93 season Street averaged 14.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.[2] In his final game he scored 14 points and collected 8 rebounds and extended his record of made free throws to 34, in a 65-56 loss to Duke. In that game his 33rd and 34th consecutive free throws set an Iowa school record.[3]

On January 19, 1993, following a team dinner at the Highlander Inn outside of Iowa City, Street was killed when he drove his car onto the highway and collided with a snow plow. His girlfriend, Kim Vinton, was a passenger. She survived the accident and was treated at a local hospital for a punctured lung and separated shoulder. The basketball game scheduled against Northwestern the following night was postponed.

After Chris Street died, Iowa Hawkeye Men's Basketball Coach Tom Davis said "Chris represented all that is good about the Midwest and the state of Iowa. He was open, caring, honest, loving and lived life to the fullest every day."[4]

Chris Street's number 40 was retired by the University of Iowa's Men's Basketball team at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on February 6, 1993. No other Hawkeye numbers have been retired since.[5] At the end of each season, the Chris Street Award is given to the Hawkeye player or players who best exemplify the spirit, enthusiasm, and intensity of Chris Street.[6] When it was announced that the award was created shortly after Street's death in 1993, Iowa Coach Tom Davis said "We want to remember everything Chris represented. He was one of the greatest Hawkeyes of all time."[7]

On February 25, 2018, Iowa Hawkeye guard Jordan Bohannon purposely missed a free throw against the Northwestern Wildcats that would have broken Street's school record, instead tying it with 34 consecutive made free throws. After the game Bohannon spoke with reporters and said, "That's not my record to have. That record deserves to stay in his name."[8]

Street is buried in the IOOF Cemetery in Indianola, Iowa beneath a monument that says "Son * Brother * Grandson * Friend * Cousin * Nephew * Hero".[9]

• List of basketball players who died during their careers