Richard A. Hickox (February 15, 1938 – August 18, 2006) was an American

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, best known for his college career at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

(UM), where he was the school's first basketball All-American. Hickox later coached at the college and high school levels.

High school and college

Hickox was a three-year starting

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

at North Side High School in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

. Because of his size, he received little recruiting attention – gaining scholarship offers from only

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pen ...

and

Montana State Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 fiel ...

. He opted instead for

Allan Hancock College Allan Hancock College is a public community college in Santa Maria, California. History In 1920 Allan Hancock College was started by the Santa Maria High School District. Originally called Santa Maria Junior College, classes were held until ...

, a junior college in California. It was while at Allan Hancock that Hickox was discovered by Miami head coach

Bruce Hale William Bruce Hale (August 30, 1918 – December 30, 1980) was an American professional basketball player and coach. A 6'1" guard/forward from Medford, Oregon, Hale played college basketball at Santa Clara University, then played professional ...

, who convinced him to transfer to UM. The Hurricanes reached new success with Hickox, as the diminutive guard made All-America teams all three seasons. He was a third-team pick by the

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in 1960 after leading the team to a 23–4 record and the program's first NCAA Tournament bid. In his sophomore and senior seasons, Hickox was an honorable mention pick and in all three of his seasons at UM he was named to the

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"Little All-America" team – which showcased players under 5 feet, 10 inches in height. For his three-year Miami career, Hickox scored 1,529 points, averaging 19.4 points per game. He is a member of the University of Miami Athletic Hall of Fame and the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

Coaching career

After the close of his college career, Hickox was drafted by the

Kansas City Steers The Kansas City Steers were an American basketball team based in Kansas City, Missouri from 1961 to 1963. They were a member of the American Basketball League History The American Basketball League played one full season, 1961–1962, an ...

of the American Basketball League. However, he never played for the team as he was drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

prior to the start of the 1961–62 season. After his military stint, he returned to the University of Miami as the freshman basketball coach, then spent some time as a physical education teacher in his native Fort Wayne. When his former UM teammate Ron Godfrey was named head coach in 1967, Hickox was brought in as the team's assistant coach until the school abolished its basketball program in 1971. Hickox spent many years coaching four different high school teams in the

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

area. Hickox died on August 18, 2006 following esophageal and colon cancer.

References

External links

University of Miami Athletic HOF profileIndiana Basketball HOF profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hickox, Dick 1938 births 2006 deaths All-American college men's basketball players Allan Hancock Bulldogs men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball players from Fort Wayne, Indiana Guards (basketball) High school basketball coaches in the United States Miami Hurricanes men's basketball coaches Miami Hurricanes men's basketball players Sportspeople from Fort Wayne, Indiana