MIKE CONLEY SR. - ARKANSAS LEGEND CHOSEN AS 2023 INDUCTEE IN COLLEGIATE ATHLETE HALL OF FAME

OFFICIAL WEBSITE FOR COLLEGIATE HALL OF FAME

This September, we celebrate the career of Michael Alexander Conley Sr., the most successful long jumper and triple jumper in the history of the NCAA. On September 14, 2023 the University of Arkansas track & field legend will be inducted into the Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony is set to take place at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene, Oregon.

Before he assumed the chairman’s post of USA Track & Field, before his successful career as a sports agent, before his illustrious Olympic career, Mike Conley Senior thrilled track & field fans worldwide as the most decorated combination jumper in college sports.

A prolific competitor in college, Conley claimed a total of nine NCAA titles between the long jump and triple jump. Between 1983 and 1985, he earned 17 All-America honors, sweeping the indoor and outdoor titles each year.

CHAIR, USA TRACK & FIELD

Mike Conley Sr. is the Chairman of USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long distance running, and race walking in the United States. Based in Indianapolis, USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the number one high school and junior high school participatory sport, and more than 30 million adult athletes in the United States. More than 130,000 Americans are members of USATF, which includes the NCAA, NAIA, Road Runners Club of America, Running USA, and the National Federation of State High School Associations.

MMG SPORTS MANAGEMENT GROUP

Before his role leading USA Track & Field, Mike Conley was one of the most effective agents in professional sports. Conley is currently the CEO of MMG Sports Management Group, and in 2016 negotiated the signing of the largest individual-player contract in NBA history.

1984-1996 OLYMPIC GLORY

Regarded as the greatest combination long and triple jumper of all time, Conley is a two-time Olympic triple jump medalist. Conley earned a silver medal in 1984 Los Angeles Olympics while still a student at University of Arkansas. In 1992, Conley won Olympic gold in the triple jump in Barcelona.

Conley ranked top 10 in the world an astounding 10 times in the long jump and 14 times in the triple jump. He holds a grand total of 13 USA Championship titles in both long jump and triple jump.

Conley competed in five World Outdoor Championships and a pair of World Indoor Championships, totaling three gold medals among a total of seven medals. He won the 1985 long jump title World Indoor Championships, and then the triple jump after World Indoor titles in 1987, 1989, and 1993.

A former World indoor record holder, Conley remains the American indoor record holder with a mark of 58-3.25 (17.76) from 1987. He earned the world No. 1 ranking six times in the triple jump, with his first No. 1 ranking coming in 1984. Conley’s career best marks include 27-9.25 (8.46) and 58-7.25 (17.86).

1980-1985 UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

A multidimensional talent, Michael Alexander Conley is one of the greatest all-around athletes in the history of the University of Arkansas.

Although known for his jumping record, Mike Conley Sr. was also ranked eighth in the United States in the 200-meter dash in 1985 during his college career. Additionally, he played two years of basketball before giving track & field his sole focus.

Conley competed at the University of Arkansas where he began his historic run. He was 2nd place in long jump and triple jump in 1982 and 1983. He became NCAA long jump and triple jump champion 1984 and 1985. while in college, he was a six-time US Champion in the triple jump and is considered the greatest triple jumper produced by the United States.

1975-1980 - LUTHER HIGH SCHOOL SOUTH

Mike Conley Sr. was a basketball star at Luther High School in Chicago.

The Conley siblings became synonymous with high school sports in Chicago in the lates 70s and early 80s. Mike Conley Sr. and his siblings attended Luther High School South, which was a private Lutheran high school in Chicago, Illinois, near the village of Evergreen Park. Mike’s sister Sabrina was high school record holder in discus throwing in Illinois during the 1970s. His younger brother Donald Steven ‘Steve’ Conley was a standout in football and basketball.

Mike Conley Sr., was a gifted high school athlete, excelling at nearly every sport he tried. Basketball and Track exploited his natural jumping abilities.

The Luther High South High School provided Mike Conley and his siblings with a solid education and a highly competitive athletic program. At the time, Chicago was the third largest metropolitan area of America, and included the best high school athletes in the country.

Mike Conley Sr. attended Luther High School South in Chicago, shown above. The school had a long-standing tradition of integration in Chicago, which has struggled with ethnic tensions since its founding.

THE ROOTS OF MIKE CONLEY SR.

Mike Conley Sr. is known for his devotion to his family, and that dedication is part of legacy of fatherhood that dates back to 1800.

Mike Conley Sr. with his wife, and children. Clockwise from top: John; Mike Jr.; Jordan; wife Regina; Mike Sr.; Sydney.
Left: Mike Senior with wife Regina and oldest son, Mike Jr.

ALEXANDER D. CONLEY III

Michael Alexander Conley Senior was born in 1962 in Chicago Illinois to Alexander Donald Conley III & Ora Whitfield Conley. Alexander was constant presence in Mike Conley’s youth.

Alexander Conley III & Ora Whitfield Conley

Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Alexander III was the senior member of the extended Conley Family in the Chicago area. He connected far flung branches of the family back to foundation build by his grandfather and great-grandparents.

Alexander D. Conley III was an aspiring commercial graphic artist unable to pursue that profession in the 1950s due to legal segregation that prevented ethnic minorities from working at advertising agencies. He practiced his art part-time, submitting his work to agencies in Chicago as a freelancer, while working at the CTA - The City of Chicago transportation Authority.

ALEXANDER D. CONLEY II (1882-1964)

The first Alexander had two sons: Green II (named for Alex’s father) and Alexander II.

Born in 1882, Alexander II was the second son of Alexander I. He was showered with attention, after his promising older brother Green II died in a tragic elevator accident in Huntsville.

Alexander II sold much of his father’s land in Madison County, Alabama, and moved to Tennessee, then Chicago. Alexander II became a popular movie theater owner in South Side Chicago during the Great Migration. Alexander II’s movie theater and his other businesses were successful in an era when motion pictures were growing in popularity. Alexander II benefited from the Conley name in opening his new theater. He leveraged the notoriety of his 1st cousin, once removed, H.C. Conley, a pioneering Chicago movie producer well-known from 1895-1915 before the Great Migration began. This moment in history, and the Conley Family’s place in it, was captured in the book, Envisioning Freedom, which chronicles Black American filmmakers and the roles of early theaters like that owned by Alexander Conley 2nd, in expanding the audience for moviegoing.

The Great Depression would bring Alexander II’s good fortune to a halt. A scrappy entrepreneur, Alexander II scrambled to pull together a variety of business catering to people migrating from the South to Chicago. He had He eventually

ALEXANDER CONLEY I (1845-1924)

The first Alexander Conley was born in 1845. The oldest son of Green & Harriet, the dominant figures of the second generation. Alexander became a major figure. Tall, handsome, athletic, and confident, he had his father’s commanding presence and mother’s natural sense of authority. As the original Conley Brothers and their older sister Harriet faded, and the post-Civil War society took shape, Alexander stepped forward as the leader of the third generation.

Alexander Conley I, Great-Grandfather of Mike Conley Sr., Alexander I was the son of Green & Harriet Conley, leaders of the Conley Family from 1845 to 1875. He was a landowner and sportsman of high profile in Madison County, Alabama.

Harriet Conley was the daughter of James Conley, and his eldest child. Green & Harriet Conley, were parents of Alexander I, and 2x-Great-Grandfather of Mike Conley Sr.

James Conley, father of Harriet, in his youth, circa 1820. Courtesy Conley Family historian Michael Proulx. He was the Stable Master for the Green Bottom Inn and Equestrian Center. He was groom for the horses of U.S. Presidents Jackson, Monroe, and Polk.

GREEN & HARRIET CONLEY - Married 1816

In the ending chapter of his life, Green transferred much of his land holdings that he accumulated since 1850 to his oldest son, Alexander I, who had become the standard bearer of family. Below is the record of Green Conley giving 1,000 acres to Alexander. The land included a large home, hunting grounds, and 100 acres ample farming terrain. Alexander’s younger brothers Milton and Jonas received much smaller estates, each forming a small family compound west of Huntsville, Alabama.

The Conleys were never really urban, city people, preferring pastoral, forested areas. From Maine to Montana, Oregon to Oklahoma, Conleys bought land far from city centers, becoming fixtures in their communities where their mixed ethnicity and ambiguous appearance caused less anxiety. Mike Conley Sr. would exhibit the same preference, establishing a new ‘Conley Mountain’ in Fayetteville, Arkansas much like his ancestor Alexander 1st did some 150 years prior.