UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
At the time of his induction, Mike Prasher ranked fifth on the university’s all-time men’s basketball scoring list with 1,776 points. His total of 130 career games was second only to the record of 131 set by Hall of Famer Tony Carr, the school’s all-time scoring leader. A First Team All-State player and conference Player of the Year at Menasha High School, Prasher became a starter already in his freshman season and started all but four games during his Blugold career. He was a member of Blugold teams that advanced to the 32-team NAIA national tournament in Kansas City four consecutive years and compiled an overall four-year mark of 111-19 while winning two conference championships. A 6-5 swing player, he averaged double figures scoring in each of his four seasons including a high of 16.3 as a senior. In addition, he totaled 531 rebounds, 320 assists, 100 blocked shots and 168 steals for his career. He shot 49 percent from the field and 72 percent from the free throw line. He was a starter on the 1990 Blugold team that lost to Birmingham-Southern in the NAIA championship game during a nationally-televised game on ESPN. A two-year team captain, Prasher earned All-WSUC honors as a senior and was honorable mention in both his sophomore and junior seasons. He also earned NAIA All-America honorable mention in 1991. He played alongside Hall of Famers Tim Blair and Mike Johnson. Prasher was a catalyst in one of the greatest Blugold comeback victories in school history. During his freshman season, the Blugolds faced conference champion UW-Platteville in the NAIA District 14 championship game at Platteville. The Blugolds trailed by 15 with 11:25 to go in the contest but came back to win, 80-77, in overtime. Prasher scored 14 of his 18 points in the last 15 minutes of that game.
At the time of his induction, Prasher lived in Eau Claire and was an educational consultant for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, a position he had held since 2000. Since his graduation, he has held various positions at Central Arizona College (1991-95), the University of Illinois-Chicago (1995-97), Mount Senario College (1997-98) and UW-Barron County (1998-00). He has also coached basketball at several levels including serving as an assistant at Central Arizona, head coach at Winter High School and a variety of youth teams in the Eau Claire area. He also served on the Board of Directors for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Eau Claire Children’s Museum.
