Caitlin Clark’s parents are her biggest supporters. All about Brent and Anne Nizzi-Clark
Caitlin Clark is taking the basketball world by storm!
As the first overall pick at the WNBA Draft, Clark was drafted to the Indiana Fever to continue her professional basketball career after an iconic collegiate run.
In February, she became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women’s basketball history and then in March became the all-time leading scorer, male or female, in the NCAA, shattering the record that was previously held by LSU legend “Pistol Pete” Maravich.
With such an amazing feat, fans have been wanting to know more about Clark and her humble beginnings, which start in 2002, when she was born to her parents, Brent and Anne Nizzi-Clark.
By the time she was 5, Clark was already displaying some amazing basketball skills on the court.
“She was five years old. She could dribble a basketball,” Clark’s grandfather Bob Nizzi told HawkFanatic. “She had great anticipation and seeing the floor, which is one of her greatest attributes today.”
“It’s just a marvelous thing to remember that she’s wired special. Sometimes, there are special athletes that God has created, and God coaches and Caitlin Clark is one of those,” he added.
Read on to learn all about Caitlin Clark’s parents, Brent and Anne Nizzi-Clark.
Caitlin Clark family (@caitlinclark22 via Instagram)
Caitlin Clark’s father played sports growing up
Clark’s father, Brent, graduated from Simpson College in Iowa in 1988. During his time there, he played for the school’s basketball and baseball teams and became a four-year letterwinner for both sports.
In fact, Brent was such a good player that he earned First Team All-Conference honors for the baseball team and Second Team All-Conference honors for basketball.
When Brent and Anne’s kids were growing up, the couple kept their kiddos immersed in sports.
“We were always involved in sports and at home we were always around sports,” Clarke’s older brother, Blake, said in a December 2021 interview with The Gazette. “We watched sports at night whether we would go to Drake and watch basketball games, or watch cousins play their basketball games, or tournaments, when you’re just around something that much, it’s what you do, too.”
Caitlin Clark’s father was her first-ever basketball coach
In an interview with ESPN, Clark recalled what it was like to play basketball in her younger years, and she said her father was her first basketball coach.
She said she got better at having good form on the court by working with him.
“I give a lot of credit to my dad. He was my first-ever basketball coach, but he was the guy that would never let me shoot threes when I was a young kid because he knew my form would be awful,” Clark explained.
Clark said her dad helped her by pushing her to practice “form shooting,” even though she wasn’t a fan of it back then.
“I probably didn’t like it at the time and I was mad at him about it, but looking back, like shooting form fundamentals are the best thing,” she said.
Caitlin Clark’s parents are her biggest supporters
In a March 2023 interview with WHO 13, Brent said he knew his daughter was destined for greatness since she was around 5 or 6 years old when she was doing recreational basketball league and recreational league “type stuff.”
“She literally, I would say, would score quite a few goals in soccer and the same way with basketball,” he said. “She would pull up on the free throw line on a 6 or 7-foot hoop and would make it pretty consistently.”
Brent also said he knew his daughter was going places during a 2022 game they lost against Michigan, in which he said she ended up scoring around 25 points in the 4th quarter.
Caitlin Clark (caitlinclark22 via Instagram)
“I think that just really elevated her status maybe in the game and people who hadn’t probably followed her did just because of the impact of social media and what that can do,” he said.
As for Clark’s mom, Anne, she raved about her daughter’s personality in an interview with The Gazette.
“She just has that fun, spunky attitude,” Anne said, adding that Clark always tells others that it’s “OK to laugh.”
“You really see that at home,” she said.
At the WNBA Draft on April 15, Clark spoke to TODAY.com about the best advice she’s received from her parents, noting that they’ve always encouraged her to have faith in herself.
“‘Be confident,’ but also the biggest thing over the course of the last couple of months, ‘Soak in every single second,’” she said of their advice. “‘It goes fast. This is once in a lifetime, so enjoy every single part of it.’”
Caitlin Clark’s mother also comes from a sports family
Clark’s mother, Anne, is the daughter of Bob Nizzi, who has quite a notable name in sports.
Bob served as football coach at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, which is the same school that Clark and her siblings went to.
When Clark was named the National Player of the Year by Sports News in 2023, her mom raved about Clark’s performance in an interview with WHO 13 and said she feels “lucky” to be Clark’s mom.
“Honestly, it’s been a fabulous journey so far,” Anne said of Clark’s career.
