Randy Kraayenbrink (1995) - Hall of Fame

Randy Kraayenbrink

Induction:
1995
Class:
1986

While Paullina, Iowa maybe be considered a small Midwestern town, its most famous citizen is one of the University of Northern Iowa's biggest success stories. Randy Kraayenbrink made his mark on the UNI record books during his four years on the men's basketball team.

From the start, Paullina knew it had something special in Randy. He was a three-sport stand-out, excelling in track, football and basketball, while earning first team all-state honors in the latter two his senior year. But basketball is where he really shined bright. He was named co-holder of the Iowa "Mr. Basketball" title in 1981. He helped lead Paullina to its second consecutive 1A basketball title his senior year. He averaged 26 points while shooting 60 percent from the field and was one of 18 high school players asked to participate in an all-star series against Minnesota. He helped bring home four state championships to Paullina - two Class 1A basketball titles, one Class C track title and a Class 1A football title.

The basketball honors kept rolling in during his four years with the Panthers. From 1982-86, he was UNI's leading scorer in 1983, 1984 and 1985, averaging 17.9 points during his career. He earned all-conference honors those same three years. In 1983-84, he was named to numerous honor teams, including the The Sporting News Honorable Mention All-America team, Basketball Times' Overlooked All-America Team, and the College Sports Information Directors of America second team Academic All-America. In 1984-85, while averaging 21 points, he was named honorable mention All-America by the Associated Press, in addition to Basketball Weekly's and The Sporting News Honorable Mention All-Midwest Squads. After graduation in 1986 with a degree in industrial education, Kraayenbrink went on to play professional basketball in Yugoslavia.