WINONA, Minn. - Jonte Flowers - a former Winona State men's basketball standout - has been tabbed for entry into the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Hall of Fame, as announced by the league Monday, June 19.
Flowers played at Winona State between 2004 and 2008 and will be inducted into the NSIC Hall of Fame on Tuesday, July 11, during an induction ceremony held in Sioux Falls, S.D. The NSIC Hall of Fame Banquet will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Washington Room at the Best Western Plus Ramkota Hotel.
Jonte Flowers was one of the best NCAA Division II players on some of the best NCAA Division II basketball teams ever to take the floor. Defensively, Flowers struck fear in the hearts of opposing guards, racking up 414 career steals, which still stands as the NCAA Division II record and is second all-time across all three NCAA levels.
On offense, Flowers was equally effective over his four years at WSU, scoring 1,882 points - fourth all-time - while collecting nine different All-America awards, including a 2008 Daktronics First Team All-America honor.
Flowers earned the NSIC Defensive Player-of-the-Year Award in each of his four Warrior seasons, standing as the only four-time Player-of-Year selection in any NSIC basketball award category. Flowers is a two-time Winona State Hall of Fame inductee after he was admitted in 2018 as a key member of "The Run" which included the Warriors' 2006-08 teams and in 2020 as an individual selection.
Flowers is a part of a 2023 class that includes one team induction and six other individual honorees. Joining Flowers in the 2023 class is the 2011 Augustana Women's Cross Country Team as well as Mary (Slinger) Heiken, Concordia University, St. Paul; Lindsey Dietz, University of Minnesota Duluth; Jennifer (Hensel) Jahnke, Minnesota State University Moorhead; Jake Hamik, Northern State University; Laura (Lundbohm) Hulsebus, Southwest Minnesota State University and Logan Masters, Wayne State College.
Founded in 1986, the Northern Intercollegiate Conference (NIC - the former men's conference) Hall of Fame was established to recognize and honor those who made significant contributions to the conference, to create favorable publicity and public relations for the league and to help preserve the history of the NIC, its member institutions, student-athletes, and other significant individuals affiliated with the league. For the first two inductions (1986 and 1990) each selection hailed from the NIC. In 1992, the Northern Sun Conference (NSC - the former women's conference) and the NIC merged, creating the current Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). After annual inductions since 2000, the NSIC Hall of Fame now boasts over 200 members and two teams.
Each NSIC institution (who has been a league member for at least ten years) is asked to submit one candidate for consideration for induction into the Hall of Fame. Each of the candidates are derived from individuals who have been affiliated with the NSIC, NIC, NSC and their member institutions.
In order to be eligible for the NSIC Hall of Fame, candidates must have made their contributions in one of the following areas: 1) former student-athletes, 2) administrator/coach, 3) official/supervisor/coordinator, 4) contributor/supporter, or 5) team. The conference provides two plaques; one of which will go to the inductee and one to the institution represented. A history of each inductee will be kept in the NSIC Office and each institution will prominently display the plaques of their respective NSIC Hall of Fame inductees.
