Dick Barnett
(1936-2025)
Hall of Fame Induction: 2024
Card Shown: 2007-08 Upper
Deck Chronology Legend
Position: SG
Height: 6’4″
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Dick Barnett was a three-time All-American basketball player at Tennessee A&I College who went on to a distinguished fourteen-year career in the NBA. Dick helped the New York Knicks to win two NBA championships in the early 1970s. Barnett campaigned vigorously for his Tennessee A&I team to be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and he was ultimately successful. Barnett’s quest on behalf of his Tennessee A&I team is portrayed in the 2023 documentary film “The Dream Whisperer.” Later, in 2024, Dick was recognized for his individual accomplishments as a part of that team as well as during his NBA career and was himself inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame.
Awards and Honors
- At Tennessee A&I College (today known as Tennessee State University) Barnett led the basketball team to three consecutive NAIA championships from 1957-1959. He earned championship Most Valuable Player honors in 1958 and 1959. This entire Tennessee A&I team was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. They were the first team from an HBCU (historically black colleges and universities) to win a national postseason tournament in college basketball history.
- Dick was selected by the Syracuse Nationals with the sixth overall pick in the first round of the 1959 NBA Draft. The first overall pick that year, chosen by the Philadelphia Warriors, was Wilt Chamberlain.
- Barnett helped lead the Knicks to two NBA championships in 1970 and 1973. These teams featured a number of Hall of Famers including Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley, Earl Monroe, and Jerry Lucas. Monroe and Lucas were only on the 1973 championship team.
- Dick’s number 12 jersey was retired in 1990 and hangs in the rafters of Madison Square Garden next to the other franchise greats.
- Barnett’s basketball career has been widely recognized by his inclusion in a number of Halls of Fame. Those include the NAIA Hall of Fame (1986), the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame (1993), the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame (2005), the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (2007), the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame (2016), and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (2024).
Points of Interest
- In 1955 Barnett’s Theodore Roosevelt High School played Oscar Robertson‘s Crispus Attucks High School in the Indiana State Championship game. It was the first Indiana State Championship game between two all-Black high schools. Robertson and Crispus Attucks won the game 97-74.
- Dick was known for his unique “question mark” jumpshot where he kicked his legs back when he shot. He would sometimes say, “Too late. Fall back baby,” when he took his jumpshot. The “too late” was directed at his defender while the “fall back baby” let his teammates know that the ball was going in and they should get back on defense.
- Barnett was coached at Tennessee A&I by the legendary John McClendon, himself a member of the Hall of Fame.
- After two years in the NBA, Dick spent one year (1961-62) in the American Basketball League (ABL) with the Cleveland Pipers before returning to the NBA for good. The Pipers were coached by McLendon and they won the ABL championship that year.
- During his fourteen-year NBA career, spent with the Syracuse Nationals (2 years), Los Angeles Lakers (3 years), and New York Knicks (9 years), Barnett averaged 15.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game.
Statistics
Dick Barnett Statistics
provided by Basketball-Reference.com