Stephen Bardo joined the Suburban Illini Club for it's very first event, and has joined us numerous times over the years. It's no exaggeration that his willingness to visit us during our early days has lead to our establishment and continued growth as an organization.
During his stand
out career at the University of Illinois, Stephen was part of the Flyin' Illini team that qualified for the 1989 NCAA men's basketball tournament Final Four. That Fighting Illini team gained the moniker "Flyin' Illini" by Dick Vitale while broadcasting a game during the 1988–89 season. Bardo was named Big Ten defensive player of the year in 1989. Along with Bardo, the other starting members of that team included Nick Anderson, Kendall Gill, Lowell Hamilton, Kenny Battle, and key reserve Marcus Liberty.
Bardo was selected in the 1990 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks, but never played for the team, playing one game (one minute) with the San Antonio Spurs during the 1991–92 NBA season. He also appeared for the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons, amassing 32 more regular season games, and leaving the National Basketball Association with per-game averages of 2 points, 2 rebounds and one assist.
Bardo also played in France, Italy, Japan, Spain, Venezuela overseas as well as the CBA (Quad City, Wichita Falls, Chicago). He enjoyed a 10-year professional playing career. Stephen is a college basketball analyst and sports broadcaster with Fox Sports and the Big Ten Network. He also covers the NBA for Yahoo! and is the color analyst for the Chicago Sky of the WNBA. Bardo received an Emmy award as a reporter with CBS 2 Chicago for his coverage of the Chicago Marathon sporting event. He has worked with ESPN covering college sports basketball and was a frequent contributor to the highly rated show “First Take.”
Please welcome him to the Suburban Illini Alumni Hall of Fame.