Kyle O’Quinn ’16
In 2012, Kyle O’Quinn helped lead the NSU Spartan men’s basketball team to two historic wins. After clinching Norfolk State’s first-ever Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title win, the men’s team advanced to the first round of the NCAA Men’s Tournament. The No. 15-seed Norfolk State University pulled off a shocking defeat of the No. 2 seed, Missouri. In that game, O’Quinn delivered a dominant performance with 26 points and 14 rebounds. He propelled Norfolk State to a historic 86–84 victory, marking the most memorable HBCU hoops upset in tournament history. It was just the fifth 15-over-2 seed upset in NCAA Tournament history.
O’Quinn became the first player in MEAC history to win the conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. O’Quinn was also named the nation’s mid-major Player of the Year. He won the Lou Henson Award, which goes to the nation’s top mid-major player, becoming the first player from an HBCU to win the award. He was inducted into the MEAC Hall of Fame in 2019.
After an eight-season NBA career and a professional overseas basketball career, O’Quinn has returned to Norfolk State as the executive director of athletic advancement, where he plans to use his experiences to support the NSU Athletics Department. He has always stayed true to NSU.