Thursday, February 24, 2000
Lucas' No. 11 retired by Ohio State
BY RUSTY MILLER
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jerry Lucas has traveled the world as a basketball player, memory expert and educator. On Wednesday night, he was welcomed home.
Lucas, who turns 61 in a week, had his No. 11 retired during halftime of Ohio State's game against Northwestern. Lucas' number is only the second ever retired by the school, joining the 45 worn by two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.
“I've won a lot of awards in my life, and they've been meaningful to me, but this is one of the biggest,” Lucas said.
He grew up in Middletown, Ohio, where the 6-foot-8 post man with the sweet shooting stroke led the Middies to two state championships and a record 76-game winning streak before they lost in the closing seconds of his final high school game. A Lucas team had never lost before — in junior high, as a freshman or in high school — but the pain didn't last long.
“I forgot about it about 2 seconds after the game ended,” Lucas said.
It is said that the entire city of Middletown grieved after the overtime loss to Columbus North in the state championship game.
“I had won over 150 games in a row before I lost that first game,” Lucas said. “It was very difficult for my high school. You could have taken that whole community of Middletown, dug a hole and buried it.”
The recruiting process, as he put it, wasn't much of a process.
A 4.0 student in high school and college, he laid down strict rules for college suitors because he wanted to remain a typical teen-ager. Only one coach tried to break that rule.
One day in Mrs. Schick's English class, there was a knock at the door. It was Kentucky's legendary coach, Adolph Rupp.
Lucas stepped outside the room and addressed The Baron.
“I was polite and respectful,” Lucas said. “I told him, 'I don't know how you got in here, past the principal's office. I know you've had a long trip. But because of your appearance here I will never be going to the University of Kentucky.”
His only recruiting visit was to Ohio State. While in Columbus for the weekend, he was invited by coach Fred Taylor to go fishing at the mammoth horse farm of industrialist John Galbreath.
On his first cast into the Big Darby Creek, Lucas pulled out a 15-pound catfish. Taylor later joked that Galbreath, an avid Ohio State supporter, must have hired a scuba diver to place the big fish on Lucas' hook.
During his three years, the Buckeyes went 78-6, won three conference titles, captured the 1960 national championship and lost in the title game the next two seasons.
The championship team featured three first-year starters and veterans Larry Siegfried and Joe Roberts. Of course, the three rookies were Lucas — selected as one of the five greatest college players of all time by Sports Illustrated — Mel Nowell and Boston Celtics icon John Havlicek.
Taylor, stricken by an aneurysm four years ago, lives in a care facility just a few miles from Ohio State.
“Fred Taylor was not only a phenomenal leader and a great coach, but also a father-figure to so many of us,” Lucas said. “He always has held a warm, warm spot in my heart and always will.”
Lucas is the only three-time choice as the Big Ten player of the year, was a two-time Final Four MVP and was selected as the national player of the year as both a junior and a senior.
Lucas and Havlicek shared a room at Baker Hall as seniors. A female acquaintance of Lucas gave him a pet alligator that he and Havlicek fed earthworms that they dug up outside the dorm each night. At times, they would clog the shower drain and let the alligator swim around.
Lucas once placed the 3-foot long alligator under the couch before he and Havlicek invited three football players over. As the guests sat on the couch, Lucas said to fullback Bob Ferguson, “Hey, I really like those new alligator shoes you got.”
Ferguson said he hadn't bought any new shoes, then looked down just in time to see the alligator crawl over the top of his feet. All three players screamed and raced out of the room while Havlicek and Lucas rolled on the floor laughing.
Lucas led the nation in field-goal percentage three consecutive years and still holds the Ohio State career record at .624. He scored 1,990 points and left as the Buckeyes' career scoring leader.
He also holds the Ohio State career marks for single-season (17.8) and career (17.2) rebounding averages and for career rebounds (1,411).
After graduating, he won a gold medal with the 1960 U.S. Olympic team. He moved on to play with Cincinnati — signing a $30,000 contract as the No. 1 overall NBA draft pick — San Francisco and New York. Selected as one of the NBA's greatest 50 players of all time, he is the only player other than Wilt Chamberlin to average more than 20 points and 20 rebounds in at least two seasons.
He started on a Knicks championship team that featured Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere and current Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley.
After retiring from the NBA in 1974, he was a frequent guest on late-night talk shows where he memorized entire pages of the New York telephone book.
An accomplished author and lecturer, he now lives in Compton, Calif., and works on educational programs.
Sports Stories
Yanks interested in Young
Let the Home Run Derby begin
Big fan turnout bolsters club's optimism
Cameron's speed will best help M's
Rose Jr. reports for first spring workout with Phillies
Reds ballpark will also be built on fast track
Five vie to manage construction
Dillon likes what he sees from Chiefs
Bengals go to scouting combine undecided
Standing water halts Paul Brown crane
UC 96, Southern Miss 69
Johnson serves suspension
Grove's hard work turns into minutes
XU's Williams enjoying offensive renaissance
