CHICAGO – Former UIC head men's basketball coach Bob Hallberg passed on November 19. He was 75 years old and had valiantly battled liver cancer since being diagnosed in November 2018.
Hallberg served as the head coach of the UIC men's basketball program from 1987-96, leading the Flames to 134 victories over nine seasons. His teams went toe-to-toe with some of the top teams in the country. One of the more memorable wins that Hallberg often reflected on came on November 29, 1990, when the Flames went down to Champaign and toppled Illinois to open the season, 71-60.
Hallberg was inducted into the UIC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009. He is also a Hall of Fame member at Leo High School, Saint Xavier University (SXU), Catholic League, Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA), Chicagoland Sports and Chicago State University.
During his time on the bench at UIC, Hallberg coached five All-Conference First Team selections, six Second Team honorees and three players to receive honorable mention. Five of Hallberg's standouts were named to the conference's All-Newcomer Team and eight earned All-Tournament status.
Kenny Williams became the first UIC student-athlete under Hallberg's guidance to be named the Mid-Continent Conference (Mid-Con) Player of the Year following the 1993-94 season. The next season, in 1995, Sherrell Ford was named the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (MCC) Player of the Year. A few months later, Ford would go on to be selected by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 26
th pick in the first round of the NBA Draft.
Coached by Hallberg, Williams and Ford are the second and third leading scorers in program history with 2,025 and 2,012 points, respectively. Williams remains the all-time leader in career steals with 237, while no one donning a UIC uniform has converted more field goals than Ford's 790, which he amassed in just three seasons.
Hallberg and his staff helped the Flames reach the 20-win mark for only the second time in program history during the 1993-94 campaign. During his nine seasons at the helm, UIC won at least 15 games and finished .500 or better six times.
In nearly 50 years as a coach at multiple area schools, Hallberg collected well over 1,000 wins. Prior to his arrival at UIC in 1987, he also coached Kennedy High School's boys team (1966-71), and men's teams at SXU (1971-77) and his alma mater Chicago State (1977-87). He was the first-ever coach of the women's basketball program at SXU from 1999 until his retirement following the 2019 campaign. He also served as the Athletic Director at SXU from 2001-2019.
Visitation will be held Sunday, Nov. 24 from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.at Curley Funeral Home, 6116 W. 111
th St. Chicago Ridge, Ill.. Mass will be celebrated on Monday, Nov. 25 at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Loretto Church, 8925 S. Kostner Ave., Hometown, Ill. For more information,
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