Dirk DeWayne Minniefield (born January 17, 1961) is an American retired professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. While at Lafayette High School in Lexington, he was named the 1979 Kentucky "Mr. Basketball", an honor given to the top high school player in the state of Kentucky. In addition to "Mr. Basketball", he was also named a

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and Parade High School All-American. Minniefield played his college ball at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

(UK), where he became a member of the 1,000 point club. In 1983, he was drafted in the second round (33rd overall) by the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. The , 180 lb (82 kg)

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played three seasons in NBA, making stops in

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Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, Golden State, and

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Early life

Minniefield began regularly using marijuana at age 14. Minniefield, who has been sober since the early 1990s, told a group of top high school prospects in 2007 that "My younger kids have never seen me take a drink. They don't know the daddy the older kids know. They know a totally different guy." (Minniefield was a father of three children by the time he graduated from high school, and has two children from his current marriage).

Drug Issues

His drug problem continued into college. He admitted to having carried a vial of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...

with him regularly during his senior year at UK, and frequently took hits of the drug before games. Most notably, he admitted in 2007 that he and several teammates had gone to a park in

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the night before Kentucky's showdown with

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

in the 1983 NCAA Mideast Regional final and smoked marijuana. He also said that he smoked more marijuana after returning to his hotel room. As fate would have it, he had the ball late in the game, with UK clinging to a narrow lead. He went into the lane and threw up a tentative shot that UofL center Charles Jones blocked. The Cardinals went on to force overtime and then dominated the extra period, winning 80–68. He would later say about the incident, Minniefield's drug use eventually contributed to the early end of his NBA career. He returned to Lexington, but wound up serving a year in jail after writing bad checks and violating probation on those charges. His first wife divorced him and he left Lexington "penniless". He found his way to the John Lucas Drug Abuse Center in

; Minniefield would say of Lucas, "I finally found that person who talked my language. He could see past the outside facade I learned to put up." For his part, Lucas said, "I call him one of my children. He's delightful. He's helped me as much as I helped him." After treatment, Minniefield worked as transportation manager—according to him, "A better word is van driver"—for the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

while Lucas was coach. He would go on to be a head coach/general manager in the

United States Basketball League The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

(USBL) for the Miami Tropics (a team that Lucas owned) and serve as the Spurs' strength and conditioning coach. When Lucas left for the Philadelphia 76ers, Minniefield took a job as a drug counselor with the NBA to enable him to stay in Houston.

Notes

External links

Stats at basketballreference.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minniefield, Dirk 1961 births Living people Albany Patroons players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Lexington, Kentucky Boston Celtics players Cleveland Cavaliers players Dallas Mavericks draft picks Houston Rockets players Golden State Warriors players Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players Louisville Catbirds players McDonald's High School All-Americans National Basketball Association executives Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Point guards Shooting guards Basketball players from Houston