He was a 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) guard who led his team to a Big 8 Conference championship while setting the Elgin High School scoring record of 359 points during the 1946–47 season.

In his sophomore year he was the starting point guard of the 1948-49 Fighting Illini team that finished first in the Big Nine with a 21–4 record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

Illinois defeated Yale to earn a berth in the Final Four (only eight teams played in the tournament back then), but lost to eventual national champion Kentucky, 76–47.

A 13 win conference season marked only the second time since 1942 that the Fighting Illini men's basketball team had completed that feat.

Head coach Harry Combes had guided his team to a Big Ten championship, a third-place finish in the 1951 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and a final AP ranking of No.

Along with Sunderlage, the team included and Ted Beach, Rodney Fletcher, Irving Bemoras, Robert Peterson and Mack Follmer.

[5] After the completion of his senior season, Sunderlage was named the Most Valuable Player of the Big Ten Conference and honored with the Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball award.

An additional misfortune for Sunderlage was the fact that he was required to serve a year in the military, pushing his start in the NBA back a season.