Jeff Nordgaard

Jeff Nordgaard
Personal information
Born	February 23, 1973 (age 51); Dawson, Minnesota, U.S.
Nationality	American / Polish
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
High school	Dawson-Boyd (Dawson, Minnesota)
College	Green Bay (1992–1996)
NBA draft	1996: 2nd round, 53rd overall pick
	Selected by the Milwaukee Bucks
Playing career	1996–2009
Position	Small forward
Number	9
Career history
1996	Dijon
1997	Patronato Bilbao
1997	Milwaukee Bucks
1997–1998	Fort Wayne Fury
1998–1999	Viola Reggio Calabria
1999–2000	Besançon
2000	Indiana Legends
2000–2001	Chalon
2001–2003	Anwil Włocławek
2003–2004	Polonia Warsaw
2004	Roseto
2004–2005	Olympiacos
2005	Polonia Warsaw
2005–2007	Prokom Trefl Sopot
2007–2009	AZS Koszalin
Career highlights and awards
	Horizon League Player of the Year (1996);
	Stats at NBA.com
	Stats at Basketball Reference

Jeff Wallace Nordgaard (born February 23, 1973) is an American-born naturalized Polish former professional basketball player.

Early life

Nordgaard's father, John Nordgaard, was a biology teacher and guidance counselor at Dawson-Boyd High School and at one time its head basketball coach. When playing basketball at Dawson-Boyd High School in 1990, as a junior, Jeff scored 41 points in an 86–78 win over Canby, to set a new team record. In 1991 he became the first player in Minnesota state history to achieve a quadruple double.^[1]

Basketball career

He played college basketball for the Green Bay Phoenix at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. He finished his college hoops career in March 1996 and in May was named "Basketball Man of the Year" in Wisconsin. Nordgaard was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the 1996 NBA draft. He began his professional career in Europe, spending the 1996–97 season with two clubs, Dijon (France) and Patronato Bilbao (Spain 2nd). The following season he briefly played for the Bucks before finishing the season with the CBA's Fort Wayne Fury.

Nordgaard then returned to Europe, first going to Viola Reggio Calabria in Italy for the 1998–99 season, where he was a teammate of future NBA star Manu Ginóbili. The next season he returned to France with Besançon BCD. Nordgaard briefly returned to America in 2000 with the Indiana Legends in the ABA before signing a contract that brought him back to France with Chalon.

In 2001 Nordgaard went to Poland, joining Anwil Włocławek. He then moved to Polonia Warsaw in 2003. Nordgaard was especially well-traveled in the 2004–05 season, first returning to Italy to play for Roseto, transferring to Greek power Olympiacos, and ending the season back at Polonia. The following year he signed with another Polish club, Prokom Trefl Sopot, and stayed there through the 2006–07 season. Nordgaard moved to AZS Koszalin for the 2007–08 season and decided to stay for the 2008–09 season.

Personal life

During his time in Poland, Nordgaard took out Polish citizenship, and played for the Polish national team. On February 15, 2003, a son, Dawson John Nordgaard, was born to Jeff and Alexis Nordgaard. In 2005, another son was born, Langdon. His sister Chari also played basketball at University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. Nordgaard nephew Kon Knueppel currently plays basketball at Duke University.

References

^ Minnesota State High School League http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/records.asp?actnum=402 Archived August 13, 2014, at the Wayback Machine

External links

Career statistics
(in Polish) Koszalin profile

[1] Minnesota State High School League http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/records.asp?actnum=402 Archived August 13, 2014, at the Wayback Machine

[1]