Jon Thomas "Sunny" Sundvold (born July 2, 1961) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player who was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the first round (16th pick overall) of the 1983 NBA draft. A 6'2"

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

, Sundvold played in 9 NBA seasons from 1983–1992. He played for the Sonics,

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

and

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

Early life

Though born in South Dakota, Sundvold grew up in

Blue Springs, Missouri Blue Springs is a city in Jackson County, Missouri, United States. Blue Springs is located east of Kansas City. It is the 8th largest city in the Kansas City metropolitan area and 10th largest city in the state of Missouri. As of the 2020 cens ...

, in suburban

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

, where his father Robert was a successful home builder. While a player at Blue Springs High School, Sundvold scored over 2,100 points and was twice selected to the All-State team. He earned a basketball scholarship to Mizzou where he played all four years for Norm Stewart's Tigers. As a senior, he averaged nearly 20 points per game and made 87-percent of his free-throw attempts. Sundvold is one of only two Missouri players to play on four consecutive Big 8 Conference championship teams and was an All-American in 1983. Sundvold also played for the US national team in the

1982 FIBA World Championship The 1982 FIBA World Championship was the 9th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Colombia from 15 to 28 August 1982. Qualification Venues Competin ...

, winning the silver medal. Sundvold's older brother Bob is a college basketball coach.

NBA career

Drafted by Seattle in the 1983 draft, Jon Sundvold made an immediate impact by helping the SuperSonics earn an NBA Playoff berth in his first season. Sundvold's best year as a professional came during the 1986–87 season as a member of the Spurs, appearing in 76 games and averaging 11.2 ppg. Selected by the Miami Heat in the 1988 NBA Expansion Draft, Sundvold played more of a bench role but still led the NBA in three point shooting percentage in 1989, hitting more than 50-percent of his attempts. He also participated in the NBA All Star Three Point Contest in 1989 and 1990. A neck injury forced a premature end to his playing career in 1992. In his NBA career, Sundvold appeared in 502 games and scored a total of 3,886 points.

Post-playing days

After his nine-year NBA career came to a close Sundvold returned to

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

and put his degree in finance from MU to use. He first worked full-time for BC Christopher Securities, where he'd already been working part-time during the basketball off-season. In 1997 Sundvold stepped out on his own, establishing the investment firm, Sundvold Capital Management. Despite no longer being active on the court, Sundvold has stayed close to the game he loves as a former college basketball analyst for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

and is currently heard as a color analyst on MU Tiger games broadcast by the Missouri Sports Network. Sundvold and wife Tamara are the parents of one son and two daughters and reside in the Columbia, Missouri area. His son Wilson also attended MU and played on the golf team before joining Jon's firm. His daughter Caroline is a Mizzou alum and former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. His other daughter Anna Kate is also a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. On June 8, 2016, Sundvold was named to the MU Board of Curators by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Jay Nixon Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon (born February 13, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the List of governors of Missouri, 55th governor of Missouri from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

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Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

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, 73, , 1, , 15.8, , .425, , .316, , .814, , 1.0, , 2.8, , .5, , .0, , 5.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, 70, , 4, , 16.4, , .462, , .350, , .813, , 1.1, , 3.7, , .5, , .0, , 7.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 76, , 42, , 23.2, , .486, , .336, , .833, , 1.3, , 4.1, , .5, , .0, , 11.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 52, , 12, , 19.7, , .464, , .406, , .896, , .9, , 3.0, , .5, , .0, , 8.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, 68, , 8, , 19.7, , .455, , style="background:#cfecec;", .522*, , .825, , 1.3, , 2.0, , .4, , .0, , 10.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 63, , 2, , 13.8, , .408, , .440, , .846, , 1.1, , 1.6, , .4, , .0, , 6.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 24, , 0, , 9.4, , .402, , .429, , 1.000, , .4, , 1.0, , .3, , .0, , 4.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 3, , 0, , 2.7, , .333, , 1.000, , –, , .0, , .7, , .0, , .0, , 1.0 , - class=sortbottom , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 502, , 71, , 17.6, , .452, , .392, , .849, , 1.1, , 2.9, , .4, , .0, , 7.7

Playoffs

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1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

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, 3, , , , 7.3, , .375, , .000, , 1.000, , .7, , 1.7, , .0, , .0, , 2.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

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, 3, , 0, , 14.3, , .389, , .167, , 1.000, , .3, , 1.7, , .0, , .0, , 5.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1988 , style="text-align:left;",

, 3, , 3, , 30.0, , .500, , .333, , .667, , 1.3, , 5.0, , 1.3, , .0, , 11.7 , - , align=left,

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

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, 1, , 0, , 2.0, , .000, , –, , –, , .0, , .0, , .0, , .0, , .0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 10, , 3, , 15.7, , .439, , .222, , .833, , .7, , 2.5, , .4, , .0, , 5.9

Honors

* University of Missouri Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, 1990. * University of Missouri Basketball All-Century team member. * Member, National Federation of State High School Associations Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sundvold, Jon 1961 births Living people 1982 FIBA World Championship players All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from South Dakota College basketball announcers in the United States Miami Heat expansion draft picks Miami Heat players Missouri Tigers men's basketball players Sportspeople from Blue Springs, Missouri San Antonio Spurs players Seattle SuperSonics draft picks Seattle SuperSonics players Shooting guards Sportspeople from the Kansas City metropolitan area Sportspeople from Sioux Falls, South Dakota United States men's national basketball team players