Michael Meeks (born February 23, 1972) is a Canadian 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. He is a former member of the

Canadian men's national basketball team The Canada men's national basketball team () represents Canada in international basketball competitions since 1923. They are overseen by Canada Basketball, the governing body for basketball in Canada. In 10 Olympic appearances, Canada has won o ...

and is currently working for

Canada Basketball Canada Basketball is the governing body for basketball in Canada. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the federation is a full member of FIBA and governs Canadian basketball at the international, professional, and amateur levels, including: the ...

College career

A 6'9", 235 lb.

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

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 ...

, Meeks led

Canisius College Canisius University is a private Jesuit university in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 ma ...

in his senior year in 1996 to the school's only NCAA Tournament appearance since the mid-1950s. They lost badly in the first round, however, to the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans in the Unite ...

. He finished his four-year career as the school's second all-time scorer and rebounder and was inducted in the Hall of Fame in January 2007.

National team career

Meeks played for Canada in the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

and was central to the team winning their preliminary round group leading the team in scoring. (They lost in the quarter-finals however and finished 7th.) He also competed in two world championships,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Personal

Meeks is a dual citizen, having acquired German citizenship whilst playing there. He is a native of

Brampton, Ontario Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

, having settled there as a youth after immigrating to Canada from Jamaica. After returning to Canada, he was named manager of youth player development at

in 2015.

References