Linnae Harper has accomplished quite a bit in the world of basketball.
The 27-year old is known around Chicago as one of the cityโs 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. Sheโs founded her own non-profit organization, sustained its operation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and continued to invent new ways of helping Chicagoโs 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
Harperโs 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 McDonaldโs All-American honors, competed for Team USA in FIBA U16, U17 and U18 competitions and was ranked by ESPNโs HoopGurlz as the nationโs No. 5 overall recruit in 2013.
Itโs a time that Harper remembers fondly, though in hindsight, she thinks something was missing.
โWhen I was younger, I didnโt have many opportunities for camps, clinics and mentorships,โ Harper recalls. โAnd if I did, it was with all boys.โ
As Harperโs 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.
โThat Harper Kid,โ commonly abbreviated as THK, was named after a phrase one-time Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel unknowingly coined…
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