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Wisconsin men’s basketball legend Michael Finley, who helped the Badgers return to the NCAA tournament and left in 1995 being UW-Madison’s all-time scorer, will return in December as the winter commencement speaker.
UW-Madison announced the selection Monday nearly a month and a half ahead of commencement, which is set to take place Sunday, Dec. 17. Each semester, the senior class leadership picks the commencement speaker in consultation with university administration.
Finley will speak at the Kohl Center, where his No. 24 jersey — just the third retired in the program’s history — hangs from the rafters.
“It will be such an honor to welcome Michael Finley back to campus, a place where he brought so much joy to Badger fans and left such an impressive legacy,” Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said in a statement. “Finley is one of our most accomplished alums, on and off the courts. I know he will have a lot to share with this year’s graduates.”
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Michael Finley, flanked by his sister Sandra, left, and his mother Bertha acknowledges the cheers at halftime after becoming UW’s all-time scoring leader on Jan. 14, 1995. Finley finished with 23 points in the 74-67 victory over Minnesota.
Nearly 30 years after leaving the Wisconsin men’s basketball program, few players have matched Finley’s record. Playing with the Badgers from 1991-95, Finley is still second on the all-time highest scorers list, with 2,147 career points and an average of 18.7 points per game. (The all-time leading scorer, Alando Tucker, who played from 2002-07, is ahead by 70 points.)
Finley was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in the 1995 NBA draft and was named to the First-Time All-Rookie team that year before being traded to the Dallas Mavericks, where he played until 2005 and was a two-time All Star. He later played for the San Antonio Spurs, where he won an NBA championship in 2007, and the Boston Celtics before retiring in 2010.
Following his professional playing career, Finley has launched a foundation that shares his name that looks to help young people achieve their goals and founded a film company, Follow Through Productions, LLC.
Finley lives in Plano, Texas, with his wife and three children, and works in the Mavericks’ front office as vice president of basketball operations, UW-Madison’s release said.
Finley completed his bachelor’s degree in agricultural and applied economics in 2014, as he was drafted into the NBA before completing the program, the release said.
“My time at UW as a student-athlete was an amazing chapter in my book of life,” Finley said in a statement. “To be chosen as the keynote speaker is a tremendous honor that I’m truly grateful for. I’ll do my best to give a true Badger effort and make the class of 2023 proud of selecting me to be a part of this joyous occasion.”
40 notable people who attended UW-Madison
Virgil Abloh
Virgil Abloh, center, is a 2002 graduate of UW-Madison who made a mark in the fashion world, collaborating with Kanye West and serving as artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s men’s wear collection. Time magazine named him one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2018.
Shirley Abrahamson
Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson was appointed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court by Gov. Patrick Lucey in 1976. She became chief justice in 1996, the first woman to head the court in the history of the state. She received her doctorate of law in American legal history in 1962 from the UW Law School.
Stephen Ambrose
Stephen Ambrose, American historian and biographer, spent his childhood in Whitewater and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1963. Ambrose, probably best known for his books on Lewis and Clark and World War II, wrote more than 30 books, including biographies of U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.
Don Ameche
Born in Kenosha, Don Ameche was a versatile leading man of 1930s and ’40s films and second cousin of Alan Ameche, the Heisman Trophy winner from UW-Madison in 1954. His second film career began in 1983 with ” Trading Places,” starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd, and two years later, he won an Oscar as supporting actor in “Cocoon.”
Carol Bartz
Carol Bartz, who graduated from UW-Madison in 1971, was formerly the CEO and president of Autodesk and Yahoo! Pictured here in 2004, she studied computer science.
Steve Bornstein
Steve Bornstein was formerly the president and CEO of the NFL Network and also the National Football League’s executive vice president of media. He graduated in 1974 from UW-Madison with a bachelor of science in communications.
Laurel Clark
Laurel Clark was a medical doctor, U.S. Navy captain, NASA astronaut and space shuttle mission specialist who died in the space shuttle Columbia disaster. She was born in Ames, Iowa, but considered Racine in Wisconsin to be her hometown. In 1983, she received a bachelor of science degree in zoology from UW-Madison.
Barbara Crabb
Judge Barbara Crabb, U.S. District judge for the Western District of Wisconsin, graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a bachelor’s degree in 1960 and her law degree in 1962.
Joan Cusack
Actress Joan Cusack has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for best supporting Actress for her work in “Working Girl” and “In & Out.” Cusack performed with Madison’s now-defunct ARK Improvisational Theatre and graduated from UW-Madison.
Ron Dayne
Running back Ron Dayne set an NCAA rushing record for total yards during his career with the Badger football team, wining the 1999 Heisman Trophy. He played seven years in the NFL with the New York Giants, Denver Broncos and Houston Texans.
Ada Deer
In 1957, Ada Deer became the first Menominee to earn an undergraduate degree at UW-Madison. She was also the first woman to head the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and the first Native American woman from Wisconsin to run for U.S. Congress.
Hector DeLuca
Hector DeLuca, a UW-Madison professor and former chairman of the university’s biochemistry department, is one of UW-Madison’s most prolific inventors and has drawn honors worldwide. DeLuca, a protege of the famed Harry Steenbock, is well known for his research involving vitamin D. DeLuca earned a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1955.
August Derleth
August Derleth, a Sauk City native, wrote more than 100 books including biographies, children’s books and fiction, as well as hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1930.
André De Shields
André De Shields got his start in theater at UW-Madison and went on to a stellar Broadway career after graduating in 1970. He played the title role in The Wiz, earned Tony Award nominations Play On! and The Full Monty, and won a 2019 Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Hadestown.
Conrad Elvehjem
Conrad Elvehjem, an internationally known biochemist in nutrition, received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1927. Known for his research in nutrition and vitamin B complex work, Elvehjem was also president of the University of Wisconsin from 1958 until his death in 1962.
William T. Evjue
In 1917, William T. Evjue founded The Capital Times, known as “Wisconsin’s Progressive Newspaper.” Evjue, also the editor and publisher of the newspaper, grew up in Merrill and arrived at UW-Madison in 1902.
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Greenfield, award-winning television journalist and author, obtained his degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1964. While at the UW, he was editor of the campus newspaper, the Daily Cardinal.
Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry attended UW-Madison for two years, then became the first African American female playwright to make it to Broadway with 1959’s A Raisin in the Sun. At age 29, Hansberry was the first African American dramatist to win the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award.
Kevin Henkes
Kevin Henkes, an author and illustrator of children’s books, wrote his first book in 1979, when he was a 19-year-old art student at UW-Madison.
Mary Hinkson
After receiving undergraduate and master’s degrees at UW-Madison in the 1940s, Mary Hinkson broke racial boundaries as a principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company. She also worked with dance legends Alvin Ailey and George Balanchine.
bell hooks
bell hooks, who received her master’s degree from UW-Madison in 1976, is the influential author of Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism and other books about race, gender and feminism. In 1991 she won an American Book Award for Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics.
Jane Kaczmarek
Actress Jane Kaczmarek, one of the stars of “Malcolm in the Middle,” graduated in theater from UW-Madison in 1979. The Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-nominated actress was born in Milwaukee.
Robert M. La Follette
Robert M. La Follette served as governor of Wisconsin, U.S. senator and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and was a candidate for president in 1924. “Fighting Bob” La Follette’s long public career included promoting open primaries, improving the lives of farmers and workers, and leading the state to become one of the first to adopt child labor laws. La Follette graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1879.
Charles Lindbergh
American aviator Charles Lindbergh was the first to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. Lindbergh was a student at UW-Madison before he left the university in 1922.
Karl Paul Link
Karl Paul Link was a UW-Madison researcher and biochemist who is best known for his discovery of the anticoagulant warfarin, which is used in the prevention of the formation of blood clots in blood vessels. The most famous early patient to be helped by warfarin was President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Link obtained his Ph.D. in agricultural chemistry from UW-Madison in 1925.
James Lovell
James “Jim” Lovell Jr. is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission. He was the first person to fly in space four times, the first of only three people to fly to the moon twice and the only one to have flown there twice without making a landing. He attended UW–Madison for two years before transferring to and graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1952.
David Maraniss
Author and 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss grew up in Madison and attended UW-Madison in the early 1970s. He has written biographies of Bill Clinton and Vince Lombardi as well as “They Marched Into Sunlight,” a saga of the Vietnam era.
Steve Miller
Steve Miller is a musician and singer-songwriter who was born in Milwaukee and went on to record a number of top 10 singles including “The Joker,” “Take the Money and Run,” “Fly Like an Eagle,” “Jungle Love” and many more. In 1961, he entered UW-Madison, where he formed the band the Ardells, and was joined by his friend Boz Scaggs a year later. The blues band also included Ben Sidran and Ken Adamany. Miller dropped out six credit hours shy of a literature degree, opting to pursue his music career.
John Morgridge
John Morgridge, who graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1955, was chairman of Cisco Systems in San Jose, Calif.
Errol Morris
Errol Morris is an American film director of “The Thin Blue Line” (1988), “The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara” (2003), for which he won the Academy Award for best documentary, and a number of other acclaimed films. Morris’ debut feature was “Gates of Heaven” (1978), a film on Roger Ebert’s list of the 10 greatest films ever made. He graduated from UW-Madison in 1969 with a B.A. in history.
John Muir
John Muir was a Scottish-American naturalist, author and early advocate of the preservation of wilderness in the United States. In 1860, he entered the University of Wisconsin. After three years, he left Madison to travel the northern United States and Canada.
Gaylord Nelson
Gaylord Nelson, former Wisconsin governor, U.S. senator and the father of Earth Day, was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1942.
Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates, who received her master’s degree from UW-Madison, is the author of more than 40 books, along with plays, short stories and poetry.
Vel Phillips
Vel Phillips was the first African American woman to graduate from the UW-Madison School of Law, earning her degree in 1951. She became a leader in the civil rights movement and Wisconsin’s first African American and woman elected to statewide office.
George Poage
George Poage was a UW-Madison track star and the first African American athlete to win an Olympic medal, earning two bronzes in the 1904 games.
Tommy Thompson
Tommy Thompson, a Republican politician, was the 42nd governor of Wisconsin from 1987 to 2001, making him the longest-serving governor in the state. Thompson also served as the U.S. secretary of health and human services under George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. Thompson earned both his bachelor’s degree (1963) and law degree (’66) from UW-Madison. While in law school, Thompson was elected chairman of the Madison Young Republicans.
Al Toon
Wide receiver Al Toon was a two-time First Team All-Big Ten pick during his 1981-84 career with the Badger football team. In the NFL, he was selected to the Pro Bowl three times and led the league in receptions in 1988.
Greta Van Susteren
Legal analyst and television personality Greta Van Susteren, shown speaking at UW-Madison graduation in 1998, is a native of Appleton and graduated from UW in the late 1970s.
Russell Wilson
Russell Wilson played one year for UW-Madison as quarterback, leading the Badger football team to the 2012 Rose Bowl. His NFL career with the Seattle Seahawks began with a Rookie of the Year award, followed by multiple appearances in the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, shown in 1953 in his home at Taliesin in Spring Green, designed more than 1,100 unique architectural structures, including the Monona Terrace Convention Center. Wright attended UW-Madison in 1886 but left after two semesters without getting a degree.
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