Mark Halsel was elected to the Hall of Fame for his accomplishments in the sport of basketball.
At the end of his playing career in 1984, Halsel was arguably Northeastern's greatest basketball player. The 6'6 forward finished his career with the most rebounds in school history (1,115), a mark that still stands. Halsel was also the fourth-best all-time scorer (1,651), thus holding the distinction as the only NU player to top both 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
Halsel's career bridged two great eras in NU basketball. As a freshman in 1981, he played on the first NU team to play in the NCAA Division I championship. Four years later, he was the star, captaining a team that went on to the NCAA's with a slender freshman named Reggie Lewis.
Halsel averaged a double-double as a sophomore en route to All-Conference honors and a second NCAA appearance. The next season, Halsel was among the nation's rebounding leaders, averaging 12.5 caroms a game. Finally as a senior, he eclipsed Chip Rucker as the University's all-time rebounder and earned MVP of the Tournament as NU won a school-record 27 games. He also racked up conference Player of the Year, All-New England for the second straight time, All-East, All-District and Honorable Mention All-America. It came as no surprise, then, when Indiana's Bobby Knight invited Halsel to the 1984 Olympic Trials, where Michael Jordan and Chris Mullin beat out Halsel to fill the big guard slot.
After played pro ball around the world for seven years.
