Howard Nathan Jr. (January 21, 1972 – July 28, 2019) was an American 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. Born in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

, Nathan attended

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

, Northeast Louisiana University (now

University of Louisiana at Monroe The University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) is a public university in Monroe, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System. History ULM opened in 1931 as Ouachita Parish Junior College. Three years later it becam ...

) and Northwest Arkansas Community College. He played 5 games during the

1995–96 NBA season The 1995–96 NBA season was the 50th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA), though the 50th anniversary was not celebrated until the following season. The Chicago Bulls defeated the Seattle SuperSonics 4 games to 2 in the NBA Fina ...

with the

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

, averaging 2.6 points and 0.4 assists per game. Nathan attended Manual High School in Peoria and was named Illinois Mr. Basketball in 1991. He appears in the 1994

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

Hoop Dreams ''Hoop Dreams'' is a 1994 American documentary film directed by Steve James, and produced by Frederick Marx, James, and Peter Gilbert, with Kartemquin Films. It follows the story of two African-American high school students, William Gates ...

'' as the victor of

Arthur Agee Arthur Agee Jr. (; born October 22, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player. He was one of two Chicago-area basketball players whose lives were chronicled in the 1994 documentary '' Hoop Dreams''. Agee played college basketball ...

's John Marshall Metropolitan High School Commandos in the 1991 Illinois high school basketball championship tournament.

Shaun Livingston Shaun Patrick Livingston (born September 11, 1985) is an American professional basketball executive and former player. He entered the league directly out of high school and was selected fourth by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2004 NBA draft. ...

called Nathan "the greatest player to come out of Peoria at the high school level." Nathan was paralyzed after an allegedly drunk driver drove into his

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile (formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors) was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produc ...

in Peoria on July 30, 2006. He returned to Manual High School as an assistant coach from 2014 to 2017. On July 9, 2019, Nathan's heart stopped twice after he collapsed in his Peoria home. He was taken to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center where he died on July 28, 2019, at the age of 47. On February 6, 2020, the area where Nathan grew up on the corner of Madison Park Terrace and Proctor Street in Peoria was honored as "Howard Nathan Jr. Court".

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College statistics
1972 births 2019 deaths African-American basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks players Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players from Peoria, Illinois DePaul Blue Demons men's basketball players High school basketball coaches in Illinois Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks men's basketball players McDonald's High School All-Americans Northwest Arkansas Community College alumni Omaha Racers players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People with paraplegia Point guards Road incident deaths in Illinois Rockford Lightning players Undrafted NBA players 20th-century American sportsmen {{1970s-US-basketball-bio-stub