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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Billiken basketball greats Anthony Bonner and Theresa Lisch Meacham will be honored as part of the inaugural Atlantic 10 Conference Basketball Legends class. The A-10 Legends, made up of former men’s and women’s basketball student-athletes and coaches who made an immeasurable impact on each A-10 institution and its basketball program, will be honored in March at the A-10 Men’s Basketball Championship in Brooklyn, N.Y.
“It’s exciting any time you get the opportunity to celebrate the past, and we are appreciative to the Atlantic 10 Conference for putting on such an event,” SLU director of athletics Chris May said.
“Anthony is certainly deserving of this honor,” May said. “He was successful on the basketball court and electrified the program like few Billikens have. Anthony’s numbers speak for themselves; he is simply one of the best.
“Theresa is the epitome of the term student-athlete,” May said. “While here for just three years, she left an indelible mark on the program as a Billiken who not only performed highly on the court, but in the classroom as well.”
Bonner is the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in Saint Louis University men’s basketball history. He accumulated 1,972 career points and 1,424 career rebounds during his brilliant four-year Billiken tenure. Bonner is also SLU’s all-time leader in steals (192), minutes played (4,536) and games started (130).
During his time at SLU, the Billikens posted an 87-46 record and advanced to the finals of the NIT in 1989 and 1990. He helped the Bills to a school-record 27 wins during the 1988-89 campaign. Bonner holds the Billikens’ single-game scoring mark after he scored 45 points against Loyola Chicago in 1990.
A St. Louis native, Bonner was a first-round pick by the Sacramento Kings in the 1990 NBA Draft and played six seasons in the NBA with the Kings (1990-93), New York Knicks (1993-95) and Orlando Magic (1996).
Meacham is the most decorated player in Saint Louis women’s basketball history despite playing only three years. In her final campaign (2008-09), Meacham was named the A-10’s female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and became the first SLU women’s basketball student-athlete to be selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-America first team. In addition, the summa cum laude graduate earned a place on the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association Scholar-Athlete list for a second consecutive year.
Also an A-10 first-team honoree that season, the 5-9 guard led the league in scoring (19.1 ppg) and free throw percentage (.889) and ranked 25th and ninth, respectively, in the nation in those categories.
On the Billikens’ career lists, Meacham is second in scoring average (17.0 ppg), fifth in 3-point field goals made (137), points (1,363) and 3-point field goal percentage (.364), and eighth in assists (270). She owns school records for points in a season (574), free throws made in a career (406) and season (169), career free throw percentage (.869) and points in a game (37), and she tied the school mark for single-game free throw shooting (12-for-12).
A native of Belleville, Ill., Meacham resides in Champaign, Ill., with her husband, Trent.
The ceremony to honor the A-10 Basketball Legends will be March 16 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., prior to the 2013 Men’s Basketball Championship semifinals. Each honoree will be saluted during a celebration awards brunch in the 40/40 Club at Barclays Center at 11 a.m. (ET).
