Forester Athletic Hall of Fame
Inducted 2009
Michael R. Ansani '98
Mike Ansani grew up in Mount Prospect, Illinois, and attended St. Viator High School. He was named to the Daily Herald All-Area Team his junior and senior seasons and, as a senior, was named St. Viator’s Most Valuable Player and the East Suburban Catholic Conference Player of the Year. He was later inducted into the St. Viator Hall of Fame.
                                                                                                                 
Ansani entered Lake Forest College in the fall of 1994 and became one of the most accomplished basketball players in the program’s history. He led the team in assists and was among the leaders in several other categories as a freshman as the Foresters improved six games from the previous season. He earned Second Team All-Midwest Conference South Division honors and was named the team’s MVP as a sophomore after leading the squad in rebounding and finishing second in points, assists, and steals. He ranked first on the team in all four categories and was a First Team All-MWC South selection as a junior. He also repeated as the Foresters’ MVP as a junior and senior, making him just the fourth player in the program’s recorded history to earn the award at least three times. Ansani led the 1997-98 team with 18.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game as Lake Forest made its first appearance in the MWC Tournament since joining the league in 1974. In addition to earning First Team All-MWC South honors again, he was selected as the division’s Player of the Year – the first such award in team history. He finished his career as the program’s career leader in field goal percentage (58.9%) and ranked eighth in school history with 1,292 points. He was also among the leaders in assists and steals.
                                                                                                      
While at Lake Forest Ansani was also a member of the Brotherhood fraternity. In addition to his exploits on the basketball court, he was awarded membership into the Phi Beta Kappa Honorary Society and Beta Beta Beta Biology Honorary Society and was a three-time Academic All-MWC selection. He majored in biology and chemistry and graduated summa cum laude in 1998.

Ansani later graduated from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine and began a career as a hospitalist physician.


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