Jerry Lucas
Jerry Ray Lucas is an American former basketball player. He was a nationally awarded high school player, national college star at Ohio State University, and 1960 gold medal Olympian and international player before later starring as a professional player in the National Basketball Association.
As a collegian, Lucas led the Ohio State Buckeyes to three straight NCAA finals, winning the national championship in 1960, and finishing as runner-up in 1961 and 1962. He is the only three-time Big Ten Basketball Player of the Year and was named the NCAA Player of the Year in 1961 and 1962 by the United States Basketball Writers Association, the Associated Press, and the Sporting News. He was also named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 1961.
As a professional, Lucas was named All-NBA First Team three times, All-NBA Second Team twice, an NBA All-Star seven times, was the 1964 NBA Rookie of the Year, and was named Most Valuable Player of the 1965 NBA All-Star Game among other honors and awards. He is one of eight players to ever achieve the basketball Triple Crown, and was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980.
Early life
Jerry Ray Lucas was born on March 30, 1940, in Middletown, Ohio, a community of 30,000+ halfway between Dayton and Cincinnati. Middletown then called itself "The Basketball Capital of Ohio", based on the success of the basketball teams from the town's one high school. The Middies had already won five Ohio state high school championships between 1945 and 1955 before Lucas ever played at Middletown High. Local support for the team was remarkably high in the early and mid-1950s. A tall youth, Lucas was encouraged to take up the game and soon dedicated himself to the town's game.In addition to strong local support for Middletown High basketball, the city was also home to a remarkable summer outdoor basketball scene that had developed at Sunset Park. Previous Middletown players who had gone on to play at the college level had successfully recruited other college players to play there in the summer. By the time Lucas was age 15 in 1955, Sunset Park was one of the best summer basketball scenes in the region. By then, Lucas had also grown to 6'7" and had the opportunity to scrimmage against these college players, advancing his game greatly. Lucas was, in fact, outplaying college-level big men before he played his first game for Middletown High.
The budding basketball star had, by then, also started to display a remarkable, if unusual intelligence. A straight-A student with a penchant for memorizing his school work, Lucas had started to develop memory games for himself as early as age nine. One trick he would be known for was his ability to take words apart and reassemble them quickly in alphabetical order. "Basketball" became "aabbekllst". He also applied his intelligence successfully to his coaching in the game.
High school
Lucas started play at Middletown as a sophomore in the 1955–56 season. Even at 15, Lucas was a remarkable athlete who could play above the rim. His coach, Paul Walker, had already won three Ohio state champions at Middletown, and Lucas consistently found himself surrounded by strong teammates. As a sophomore, Lucas focused his game primarily on rebounding and passing, but still became a scoring star. Middletown's schedule often featured strong teams from Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus, but remained undefeated. A February game held at Cincinnati Gardens against rival Hamilton, itself a nearby former state champion, drew over 13,000 at a time when crowd sizes of that kind were uncommon at any level of the game. The two state powers repeated that feat there in 1958.In addition to being an excellent rebounder, Lucas also made 60% of his shots from the floor and 75% of his free throws. Wearing number #13, he was often compared to Wilt Chamberlain during his high school years. The 1955–56 Middletown team went undefeated, winning the state championship, and the 1956–57 team did too. He suffered just one loss as a senior, a 63–62 defeat in a state semi-final game against Columbus North. That loss ended a state-record 76 game win streak. Lucas carried a 34-point scoring average through his high school years, and received national press when he surpassed Chamberlain's high school total in points.
Throughout Lucas' career Middletown continued playing top prep teams from around the state. At Cleveland Arena, 12,000 fans saw Lucas score 53 points as Middletown won 99–78 against the undefeated Cleveland East Tech team in the 1956 state playoffs. In 1957, over 15,000 watched Middletown top Toledo Macomber in another state playoff game at Saint John Arena, then the home floor of the Ohio State Buckeyes. With this high level of exposure, Lucas received college scholarship offers from more than 150 schools, and was one of the most publicized American high school players when he graduated from high school in 1958. Lucas also threw the discus in track and field, finishing third at state in 1957, and fifth at state in 1958. Lucas was also a member of the National Honor Society.
Lucas ended his high school career as Middletown's number one scorer with 2,460 points. In three years on the varsity he led the Middies to a 76–1 record, three state final fours, winning two state championships.
College career
Lucas was the subject of considerable recruiting interest while at Middletown, to such a degree that measures were taken to protect the privacy of Lucas and his family. When he announced for Ohio State, he became the center of a legendary recruiting class in 1958 that included two more future Hall of Famers in player John Havlicek and future coach Bob Knight. Mel Nowell joined the group as well, giving the group three future NBA players with Lucas and Havlicek. Buckeyes freshman coach Fred Taylor helped all four feel comfortable with coming to Ohio State and soon after he was promoted to head varsity coach.Lucas had insisted on an academic scholarship to Ohio State and would continue to be an A-student at the college level. In addition to publicized scrimmages against an 11–11 1958–59 Ohio State varsity, the freshman Lucas was also asked by Woody Hayes to tutor Ohio State football players in their studies. Such was his reputation as a student. Lucas was also a member of the fraternity Beta Theta Pi at Ohio State.
Lucas played at a time when freshmen athletes were ineligible for varsity college sports, so he and his new teammates had to wait until 1959–60 to lead Ohio State. The four new recruits joined future NBA players Larry Siegfried and Joe Roberts on a loaded Buckeyes team for second-year varsity coach Taylor. The high offense Buckeyes scored 90 points per game and were soon known for their shooting accuracy and rebounding. After two early losses to Utah and Kentucky, the team lost only one more the rest of the way en route to the 1960 NCAA national championship. The Buckeyes overwhelmed defending champion California, 75–55, at the Cow Palace in San Francisco to win the 1960 title. Lucas, passing often, still averaged 26 points per game on a then-record 63% shooting. He also averaged 16 rebounds per game and was named Most Outstanding Player of the 1960 NCAA Final Four. Lucas was on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the first time in January 1960.
In 1960–61, #1-ranked Ohio State ran a winning streak of 32 games all the way to the NCAA Final. Lucas and the team received considerable national publicity that year, especially after winning the 1960 Holiday Tournament at Madison Square Garden. In March 1961 against Kentucky, Lucas became the only college player to date to ever record a "30–30" in an NCAA tournament game. But in the finals, they were upset by the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, in overtime, 70–65.
By the time the 1961–62 season had started, the 6' 8" 230-pound Lucas had played basketball nearly non-stop for two years—he played the 1959–60 season, 1960 Olympics, 1960–61 season, and then the 1961 Amateur Athletic Union tour of the Soviet Union. Therefore, health was an issue when he returned from Russia weighing just 200 pounds in the fall of 1961. His sore knees were also an issue throughout his basketball career. But Lucas and the Buckeyes again posted another strong season and made it to the NCAA final, their third straight. Lucas was badly injured against Wake Forest in the semifinal preceding his rematch against the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. But he opted to play in the 1962 final anyway, believing it was his last game ever. During his college career, he had stated repeatedly that he would never turn pro. In his final college game, he moved poorly and Cincinnati again topped Ohio State.
Lucas was All-American First Team all three years at Ohio State. His #11 was later the second number ever retired by the college in any sport. He is still widely considered the greatest player to ever play in the Big Ten today. The team went 78–6 during his years.
Gaining strong national exposure during these years, Lucas was named 1961 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, the first-ever basketball player to win the award. In 1963, he was awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor, which recognizes one student from the graduating class of each Big Ten member school, for demonstrating joint athletic and academic excellence throughout their college career. Lucas is still widely regarded as one of the greatest college players of all time.
1960 Olympics and international play
In the wake of leading the 1960 NCAA champions, Lucas was also named to the 1960 U.S.A. Olympic team for the Rome Games that year. He had a sub-par Olympic Trials, due to fatigue from the NCAA final and the high altitude of the Trials in Denver, but still easily led all Trials players in rebounding. Initially named to the U.S. team as a reserve forward, Lucas begged Olympic head coach Pete Newell to try him at his natural center spot. Despite the fact that two 6'11" centers, Walt Bellamy and Darrall Imhoff, were present, Lucas got time at center and emerged as the regular starter for the U.S. team. The biggest game was played against the Soviet Union in September at the Palazzetto dello Sport in Rome, which the Americans won, 81–65. Lucas then scored 21 points in the gold medal final against Brazil to finish second to teammate Oscar Robertson for the team lead in scoring, with 134 points scored in the Olympics over eight games. Despite the physical play near the basket during those Games, Lucas received just six free throws total, but shot 80% from the floor to be a top scorer.Afterward, Coach Newell, whose California team had just lost to Ohio State and Lucas in the 1960 NCAA final, called Lucas "the greatest player I ever coached, and the most unselfish". The U.S. team also included future pro stars Jerry West, Terry Dischinger, Adrian Smith, and Bob Boozer. Lucas's international play also includes being named to a team of AAU stars that toured the Soviet Union in mid-1961. That team played games in Moscow, Leningrad, and Kyiv with Lucas starring at center, and won all eight games played. The coach of the team was future Basketball Hall of Famer John McLendon. The team had gotten the Soviet invitation when the AAU Cleveland Pipers, owned by a young George Steinbrenner, had won the AAU national championship. At the time, Steinbrenner was considering Lucas as a future pro player, and maneuvered to invite him onto the tour team. In 1964, Lucas was also part of a team of NBA players that played behind the Iron Curtain in Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia. Having toured the Soviet Union in 1961 as that team's big star, Lucas was reportedly requested by these countries for the 1964 NBA tour. That team was coached by basketball Hall of Famer Red Auerbach and included several Boston Celtics, in addition to his Cincinnati pro teammate, Oscar Robertson.