Spring 2013

Where Are They Now?

Xavier basketball is more popular now than ever, but the program has always attracted a litany of talented and touted players. Some have gone on to the professional ranks; others have simply gone on. As this year’s season gets underway, we tracked down some former players to find out what they’ve been doing in the years since they left campus. Here we check in with Mark Poynter. You can find links to other profiles at the bottom of the page.

MARK POYNTER '93

Occasionally a patient will walk into Mark Poynter’s office, see the name on his lab coat and make the connection—he used to play basketball at Xavier. “I tell them, ‘If you remember my name, you must have been a big-time fan.’ ”

He laughs. The 1993 graduate played on teams that went to three NCAA Tournaments—including the Sweet 16—during his career, although almost all of his four years were spent playing in the shadows of future NBA stars Tyrone Hill, Derek Strong, Brian Grant and Aaron Williams.

Today, the shadows have shifted and Poynter now stands in his own light as a general surgeon in Cincinnati. He’s the youngest member of the 12-doctor Queen City General and Vascular Surgeon Group, handling everything from lumps and bumps on the skin to colon and breast cancer.

“What I like about it,” he says, “is that each day presents a new challenge.”

The life of a surgeon doesn’t leave much time for hoops, and what little time there was got cut even more last February when he became a first-time father. Now, he says, the most dribbling he sees is from his son, Max. But the love of the game is still there and being passed along. “Yeah, we’ve already got Max some gym shorts and a couple of basketball-shaped rattles.”