Mark Allen Simpson (born February 4, 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. As a player, Simpson was known for being a great 3-point shooter.
College career
At a height of 2.03 meters (6'8") tall, Simpson, who was born in
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 census ...
, USA, played at the
power forward
The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...
position. He attended
Catawba College
Catawba College is a private college in Salisbury, North Carolina. Founded in 1851 by the North Carolina Classis of the Reformed Church in Newton, the college adopted its name from its county of origin, Catawba County, before moving to its c ...
, where he played
college basketball
College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...
, from 1979 to 1984.
Professional career
Simpson was selected in the seventh round, with the 149th pick of the
1984 NBA draft
The 1984 NBA draft was the 37th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was held at the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, on June 19, 1984, before the 1984–85 season. The draft is generally ...
, by the
Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...
. However, he did not play in the
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
. Instead, he made his career in Europe. His first season as a professional was in the Israeli Ligat HaAl, where he played with
Beitar Tel Aviv
Beitar Tel Aviv Football Club (Hebrew: מועדון כדורגל בית"ר תל אביב) was an Israeli football club based from Tel Aviv. The club merged in 2000 with Shimshon Tel Aviv to create Beitar Shimshon Tel Aviv,A1 National Category with
PAOK Thessaloniki
PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...
Caen
Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...
, and then once again in Israel with Beitar Tel Aviv. In the 1988–89 season, while playing with the Italian club Paini Napoli, he averaged 22.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. His last four seasons as a professional were spent playing in Spain's
ACB League
The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...
.
He first played with Cajabilbao for two seasons, and then later played with
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
for two seasons. With Real Madrid, he averaged 17.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, in the 1991–92 Spanish ACB League season. When he was with Real Madrid, as one of the club's two foreigner players, along with American
Rickey Brown
Rickey Darnell Brown (born August 29, 1958) is an American former professional basketball player. At a height of tall, he played at the power forward and center positions.
High school
Brown attended and played high school basketball at West ...
, he won the championship of the
FIBA European Cup
The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners Cup'', was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against eac ...
PAOK
PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...
.
In the following 1992–93 season, the Lithuanian player
Arvydas Sabonis
Arvydas Romas Sabonis (; born 19 December 1964) is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player and businessman. Sabonis won the Euroscar six times and the Mr. Europa Award twice. He played in a variety of leagues, including the Spanish ...
joined Real Madrid, as their third foreign player on the team, along with Simpson and Brown. Real won the Spanish Double that season, as they won both the 1993 Spanish ACB League championship and the 1993 Spanish King's Cup title. After that season's Spanish ACB League Finals, Simpson decided to retire from his active playing career, due to knee problems. However, prior to his retirement, he failed a drug test, by ingesting an American drug called Elixir DM, "without the consent of the club's medical services". Simpson was trying to treat a bad
cold
Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjectivity, subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute t ...
. If he had not retired, he would have been sanctioned with a two year long ban from playing.elpais.co Simpson da positivo /ref>
RealGM
RealGM.com is a sports website created in 2000. The site was originally a basketball site, but has since expanded its scope to provide information about American football, baseball, ice hockey and soccer. According to Alexa, the site ranked in th ...
Liga ACB
The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...
Lega Basket
The Lega Basket A (officially: ''Lega Società di Pallacanestro Serie A'', English: Basket League) is the organizing body, as delegated by the Italian Basketball Federation, of the top division of Italian professional men's basketball league, ...