Tag: Jerry Lucas

Jerry Lucas played in his first …

Jerry Lucas played in his first basketball game when he was in the fourth grade. In Middletown, Ohio, his grade school only had a sixth-grade team, so Lucas played up. But he didn’t play much, mostly just practicing with the team. Finally, he got on the floor for the final 15 seconds of the last game of the season. “I loved it,” Lucas told The Athletic. “I was excited about it. And I wanted to be the best player I could be.” So after the season concluded, Lucas developed his method of shooting, based on the acronym D.A.D., which stood for “direction, arc and distance.” He tried to take around 5,000 shots a day. For Lucas, each shot had a purpose, working through the three elements he envisioned. He would practice for hours, getting kicked off public basketball courts in a Middletown park by older people wanting to play.

Lucas also was the first player in …

Lucas also was the first player in American basketball history to win a title at every level — high school, college, an Olympic gold medal and the NBA. “And that’s the thing that means the most to me,” Lucas said. “Because that’s why you play. You want to be the best you can, you want to work together and function, obviously as a team should, and complement each other and do the right things to win. “And only two other players in history (Magic Johnson and Quinn Buckner) have done that. So it’s very unusual. And that’s the thing that means the most to me.”

Ohio State basketball legend Jerry Lucas authors new book about high school playing days

Hear stories from the Ohio high school basketball legend and how he used his mind to help him become one of the all-time greats.

Jerry Lucas is arguably the greatest basketball player ever to wear the scarlet and gray. With all due respect to LeBron James, Lucas may also be the greatest high school basketball player the state of Ohio has ever produced.

Before he was the big man on campus at Ohio State, Lucas was setting all kinds of records on the Middletown high school hardwood. He would lead the Middies to a 78-1 record over his three-year span as a starter and back-to-back state championships. The lone loss of his high school career came in the state semi-finals at the hands of Columbus North by a score of 63-62 in his senior year.

Lucas of course would come to Ohio State and start three years (freshmen weren’t allowed to play varsity in those days) leading the Buckeyes to their only National Championship in 1960. After a fruitful NBA career, he would be elected to the NBA Hall of Fame and named as one of the 50 greatest NBA players ever.

Ohio State basketball legend Jerry Lucas authors new book
Unknown date & location, USA: FILE PHOTO

As good as Jerry Lucas was on the floor, he was also known for his mind and an amazing memory. He was a straight-A student and used his intellect to gain an advantage over opponents as well.

Now Lucas has authored a book sharing basketball stories along with some of his memory techniques called “Middie Magic and Mind Magic.” Just reading the forward and prologue, this looks like a must for Buckeye basketball fans as well as high school basketball fans in general.

Ohio State basketball fans can purchase a copy of the book at the Middie Magic website, with an option to add Lucas’s signature.

If you’re an older fan ready to take a trip down memory lane or a younger fan just yearning to know more about a golden era of Ohio high school basketball, we think this book will be an enjoyable read for you.

Ohio State basketball NCAA Tournament History

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USA TODAY names John Havlicek (not Jerry Lucas) all-time face of Ohio State basketball program

Ohio State is included in USA TODAY’s all-time face of the program piece. You might be surprised by who it picked for the Buckeyes.

We’re without sports folks. I know that’s not a shock to anyone, and the game of life is much more important than anything we could watch on our television set right now. Still, it leaves a big void in this country of ours that has sports so ingrained in its culture.

What we’ve seen in the absence of live sporting events are sites and publications getting very creative with the content they churn out (we’re no different). And in the case of our mothership USA TODAY, they rolled out a piece that identifies the non-coaching face of every blue-blood basketball program.

First things first, Ohio State is included. I’ve been saying it for years that OSU is more than just a football school. There’s a slew of schools that would love to have the number of conference titles (second in the Big Ten) and Final Four (fifth all-time) appearances the Buckeye program has.

So, yeah — Ohio State is one of the twenty schools USA TODAY profiled. And who do they peg as the program’s face of all-time? In a bit of a surprise, it wasn’t Jerry Lucas, but John Havlicek instead.

It’s not that Havlicek doesn’t have some impressive numbers, and an NBA career that was a wee-bit better than Lucas’, it’s just that Lucas was one of the most dominant players to ever play the college game.

Havlicek himself averaged 14.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game during his career in Columbus and was a part of the 1960 national championship team.

“Hondo” was more known for what he did as a Boston Celtic however. In 1,270 games with the Celtics, Havlicek averaged 20.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game. He was a thirteen-time all-star, won eight NBA titles with the team, and was the 1973-74 NBA Finals MVP. He was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 1984.

But if we’re truly looking at what player is more popular and did the most damage in college, there’s no way there can be anyone else besides Jerry Lucas that is the face of Ohio State basketball.

Lucas was the LeBron of his time. His legend proceeded him in high school before he ever played a game in the venerable St. John Arena. Once in a Buckeye uniform, the 6-foot, 8-inch power forward averaged 24.3 points and 17.2 rebounds per game. He shot a ridiculous 62.4 percent from the floor.

He led the NCAA in rebounding in both 1961 and 1962, was the national player of the year twice, and led Ohio State to the 1960 national title. To this day, still its only national championship.

Though his NBA career wasn’t quite as decorated as Havlicek, he was still one of the greats of the day. He helped the New York Knicks to the NBA title in 1973, was a seven-time All-Star, and made the NBA’s first-team three times. He too was enshrined in the NBA Hall of Fame (1980).

So I guess it really depends on whether you look at a player’s NBA career versus college. Both Havlicek and Lucas were great, but if you did a poll of those that follow Ohio State closely, there’s no doubt the all-time face of the Ohio State basketball program is Jerry Lucas.

Maybe more perplexing, how did that Ohio State team that had both of them playing together ever lose a game?

Here’s the rest of the twenty schools USA TODAY profiled.

Kentucky: Dan Issel (1967-70).

Duke: Christian Laettner (1988-92).

North Carolina: Michael Jordan (1981-84).

Kansas: Wilt Chamberlain (1956-58)/Danny Manning (1984-88)

Villanova: Kyle Lowry (2004-06)/Jalen Brunson (2015-18)

Florida: Joakim Noah (2004-07).

Gonzaga: Adam Morrison (2003-06).

UCLA: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Known then as Lew Alcindor) (1966-69)

Georgetown: Patrick Ewing (1981-1985).

Indiana: Isiah Thomas (1979-1981)

Syracuse: Carmelo Anthony (2002-2003)/Derrick Coleman (1986-90)

Michigan State: Magic Johnson (1977-79)/Mateen Cleaves (1996-00)

Michigan: Chris Webber (1991-1993)

Arizona: Mike Bibby (1996-1998)

Ohio State: John Havlicek (1959-1962

North Carolina State: David Thompson (1972-1975)

Maryland: Len Bias (1982-1986)

Louisville: Darrell Griffith (1976-1980)

UConn: Kemba Walker (2008-2011)/Rip Hamilton (1996-1999)

Virginia: Ralph Sampson (1979-83)