Jon Collins is a former American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 basketball player who is best known for his collegiate career at Eastern Illinois University

Eastern Illinois University

Eastern Illinois University is a state university located in Charleston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a comprehensive university with a...

 between 1982–83 and 1985–86. At the time of his graduation, Collins scored a then-school record 1,702 points, was one of five players to have been an All-Mid Continent Conference First Team honoree three times, and was twice named the Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year

The Summit League Men's Basketball Player of the Year

The Summit League Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an annual college basketball award given to the most outstanding men's basketball player in The Summit League . The award was first given following the 1982–83 season. Only one player—Caleb Green of Oral Roberts—has won the award three times...

 (later named The Summit League).

In each of Collins' final three seasons he averaged over 18 points per game and scored over 500 total points. During that span, he reached double figures in 87 of 90 games, including a school-record 53 straight. As a junior

Junior (education)

"Junior" is a term used in the United States to describe a student in their 3rd year of study . A Junior is considered an upperclassman...

 in 1984–85, he led the team to a 20–10 overall record and their first Mid-Continent Conference championship. Both the Associated Press

Associated Press

The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 and Sporting News named him an honorable mention All-American that year. As a senior

Senior (education)

Senior is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the 4th year of study .-High school:...

, Collins garnered another honorable mention nod by the Sporting News as he earned his second consecutive conference player of the year award, becoming the first player in conference history to do so.

The Denver Nuggets

Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...

 selected Collins in the fifth round of the 1986 NBA Draft

1986 NBA Draft

-Drug and health issues involving drafted players:There were various drug-related problems that plagued players in the 1986 NBA draft. Most notable was the death of highly-touted Len Bias. Bias died less than two days after being selected second overall by the defending champion Boston Celtics. His...

 but he never played in the league. After a professional basketball career he worked for Allstate

Allstate

The Allstate Corporation is the second-largest personal lines insurer in the United States and the largest that is publicly held. The company also has personal lines insurance operations in Canada. Allstate was founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., and was spun off in 1993...

insurance. Eastern Illinois inducted him into their athletics hall of fame in 1993.