Hall of Fame

Mike Prior

  • Class
    1985
  • Induction
    2020
  • Sport(s)
    Baseball, Football
Prior was a four-year letterwinner in football and lettered three years in baseball at Illinois State from 1981-85. His football number (15) is just one of three retired by ISU.

A three-time Division I-AA (now FCS) All-American defensive back and a three-time first-team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference defensive back, Prior holds the ISU career record for interceptions (23) and is tied for second with three interceptions in a game.  He also ranks second in the ISU record books with three career punt return touchdowns.

Prior finished his collegiate career as the all-time leader in punt return yards (906 yards) and punt return yards in a season (436), and he still ranks first in career punt return yards and second in a season.  He also is first in the ISU record books with eight punt returns in a single game against Drake on Sept. 29, 1984.  Prior recorded eight interceptions in two separate seasons while earning the team MVP honor in both 1982 and 1984. 

He is just the third player in ISU history to be drafted by two professional sport leagues (baseball and football) as he was selected in the seventh round of the NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and selected in the fourth round of the MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Prior had a long 13-year NFL career (Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, Green Bay), which is decorated with 35 interceptions, 691 tackles, 7 forced fumbles and a Super Bowl ring.  He participated in two Super Bowls with the Green Bay Packers, winning a Super Bowl in 1997.

In baseball, Prior is Illinois State’s all-time leading hitter at .388 and holds the career record for slugging percentage.  He was named MVP of the 1984 baseball season.
Prior was Inducted into the Illinois State Athletics Percy Family Hall of Fame in 1991 and was inducted into the Chicagoland Hall of Fame in 2008.  He received the Contribution to Amateur Football Award presented by the National Football Foundation in 2014.

He currently works for the Indianapolis Colts as the Youth Football Commissioner in the Marketing/Community Relations department.