Kendall Gill

Kendall Gill attended Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, Illinois.  Graduating in 1986, as a senior Gill led Rich Central to a 2nd place finish in the IHSA class AA state boys’ basketball tournament.  Gill led Rich Central in scoring with 54 points in the 4 games of the tournament finals, and was named to the six-player All-Tournament team.  

After high school, Gill attended the University of Illinois.  Kendall received an athletic scholarship from University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.  Playing four years for the Fighting Illini, Gill was a starter for his last three seasons.  As a junior and a member of the 1989 Flyin’ Illini Final Four Team, Gill led the team to the 1989 Final Four before losing to Michigan.   As a senior, Gill held the title of Big Ten scoring champion and was named a first-team All-American (United Press International).  Gill left Illinois as the 7th all-time leading scorer in school history.  Gill’s Illini earned NCAA bids each year he played.  Gill also won the NCAA Slam Dunk Championship at the Final Four his senior session.  Kendall graduated in 1990 from the University of Illinois and was the 5th overall selection by the Charlotte Hornets, in the 1990 NBA draft. 

Gill was named First Team All-Rookie for the 1990-91 season.  Kendall also participated in an NBA Slam-Dunk competition.  He played in 15 seasons in the NBA for the Hornets (including two separate stints), Seattle SuperSonics, New Jersey Nets, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Chicago Bulls, and Milwaukee Bucks.  In to different seasons Gill averaged over 20 points per game, first as a second-year player for the Hornets in 1991-92 (20.5 ppg), and again for the Nets in 1996-97 (21.8 ppg.)  In the 1997-98 NBA season, Gil led the league in steals as a member of the Nets.  On April 3, 1999, he recorded 11 steals in a game against Miami, tying Larry Kenon’s single-game record.  Gill’s career totals include 12,914 points in 966 regular season games. 

As a means to maintain his conditioning, Gill took up boxing, eventually entering the professional ranks.  Gill had his first bout in June 2005 at the age of 37, and has won all four professional bouts.  Gill has expressed an interest in eventually becoming a fight promoter. 

In 2006, Gill was added as an analyst to the NBC SportsNet team covering Chicago Bulls games and still serves in that capacity today.  He also worked with the Big Ten Network as an analyst from 2008-2012, and has also worked with NBA TV.

 

He made an appearance as himself in a Nickelodeon TV Show, My Brother and Me; appeared on the January 23, 2008 edition of Spike TV’s Pros vs. Joes; and appeared on the TNA Impact! that preceded it to promote the show.  Kendall has donated over $300,000 to the Cunningham Children’s Home in Champaign, Illinois, held a fund raising golf tournament for Cunningham for close to 30 years, and founded a shelter for the homeless in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1993.  Kendall lives in Chicago with his wife, Wendelyn (Wendy) Mitchell Gill, and their two sons:  Phoenix (age 15) and Kota (age 13).