Professional NBA basketball player Iman Shumpert was born in Berwyn, IL on June 6, 1990. His family moved to Oak Park, and Iman played on the Gwendolyn Brooks middle school team, and then went on to play for Oak Park and River Forest high school team, the Huskies. While he was a member of the team, the Huskies won three conference titles. Shumpert’s athletic prowess won him the conference MVP award for both his junior and senior years. In 2008, he was rated among the nation’s 30 top senior high school basketball players. As a senior, he also played In the McDonald’s All American Game, and in the Jordan Brand Classic. He has the distinction of being the first OPRFHS athlete to be honored by having his number retired, and his jersey on display in the school fieldhouse.
Shumpert went on to play for Georgia Tech and by his third year led the team in scoring, rebounds, and assists. Shumpert decided to waive his final year of college eligibility, and declared for the NBA draft in March of 2011. He was drafted by the New York Knicks and played for at them until 2015, when he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 2016, with Shumpert on the team, the Cavaliers won the NBA championship over the Golden State Warriors. Shumpert played for Cleveland, primarily as backup point guard, until February, 2018 when he was traded to the Sacramento Kings where he played 40 games during the 2018-2019 season. He was then traded again to the Houston Rockets, for whom he played 20 games. Shumpert was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in 2019 and played five games for them.
In addition to basketball, Iman has been involved in various aspects of popular culture and entertainment. In 2012 he wrote and performed the first of several rap videos, “Knicks Anthem,” and has produced fashion and talk videos. He is married to singer, actress, dancer Tevana Taylor (2016) and as of 2022 they have two children. In 2021, Shumpert and dance partner Daniella Karagach won the grueling Dancing With the Stars television dance competition. He is the first NBA player to compete in Dancing With the Stars. Shumpert went on to tour with the Dancing With the Stars travelling show during 2021-2022.
Shumpert has maintained strong ties with his childhood home town. During his rookie year he supplied the entire Huskies basketball team with his signature orange Adidas basketball shoes (WJ 3/21/2012), and a 2012 article in the Oak Park Wednesday Journal reported that he sports a tattoo of the CTA elevated map that includes his home stop at Ridgeland Avenue. (WJ 1/18/2012). From 2012 through 2017, he returned to Oak Park to host an annual youth basketball camp at OPRFHS, and contributed all proceeds to Oak Park charities (WJ 5/21/14). He has returned to visit frequently throughout his career, and during the basketball season has made it a point to drop in to Huskies games when possible. On one such visit, he remarked, “I saw my {retired] jersey hung up in the fieldhouse, and I’m reminded that me coming back through is not only doing something for me but is also inspiring for them. They see me and say to themselves, ‘Man, there’s somebody that did it in the same soil as me.’ “(Sun Times 2/6/22).
Submitted by Thomas Madden, February 2023
Photo courtesy of Chicago Tribune.