Womens Hoops

Ex-WNBA player Linnae Harper giving back to Chicago through fundraising, consulting

Ex-WNBA player Linnae Harper giving back to Chicago through fundraising, consulting

Linnae Harper has accomplished quite a bit in the world of basketball.

The 27-year old is known around Chicago as one of the cityโ€™s most successful local athletes in recent years, having racked up an impressive list of honors and championships in high school while also representing the United States internationally as early as 2011. Harper played Division I basketball at the collegiate level and even made it to the WNBA, staying local and signing with the Chicago Sky in 2018.

For all of her on-court accomplishments, though, Harper has perhaps made an even bigger impact in the community. Sheโ€™s founded her own non-profit organization, sustained its operation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and continued to invent new ways of helping Chicagoโ€™s youth, both through basketball and other community-led efforts. Swish Appeal caught up with Harper to discuss these efforts and spread the word of her growing foundation.

The rise of That Harper Kid

Harperโ€™s story begins innocently enough. Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, Harper attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, starring as one of the most instantly recognizable players in Illinois high school basketball. Harper earned WBCA and McDonaldโ€™s All-American honors, competed for Team USA in FIBA U16, U17 and U18 competitions and was ranked by ESPNโ€™s HoopGurlz as the nationโ€™s No. 5 overall recruit in 2013.

Itโ€™s a time that Harper remembers fondly, though in hindsight, she thinks something was missing.

โ€œWhen I was younger, I didnโ€™t have many opportunities for camps, clinics and mentorships,โ€ Harper recalls. โ€œAnd if I did, it was with all boys.โ€

Harperโ€™s philanthropic work focuses mainly on working with children in the Chicago area.
Tyris Photography

As Harperโ€™s basketball career, which included playing collegiate basketball at the University of Kentucky and Ohio State University, advanced, she began to get a broader idea of what it takes to be a full-time athlete โ€” and, in turn, which resources young, aspiring athletes may be lacking. She always wanted to give back to the Chicago community in some capacity, and during her first WNBA season, she made the big decision to start her own non-profit foundation.

โ€œThat Harper Kid,โ€ commonly abbreviated as THK, was named after a phrase one-time Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel unknowingly coined…

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