Richard Fuqua (born November 11, 1950) is an American former college basketball stand-out who is best known for being an All-American in 1972 while playing for

Oral Roberts Granville Oral Roberts (January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009) was an American Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christianity, Christian televangelist, ordained in both the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, Pentecostal Holin ...

. He is a native of

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

and attended Riverside High School prior to college. Between 1969 and 1973, Fuqua scored 3,004 points in a 111-game career. He averaged 31.8 points per game (ppg) as a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

, 35.9 ppg as a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

and 27.1 ppg for his career. In 1971–72, Fuqua's junior season, he finished second in the nation in scoring. Since

Oral Roberts University Oral Roberts University (ORU) is a private evangelical university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Founded in 1963, the university is named after its founder, evangelist Oral Roberts. Sitting on a campus, ORU offers over 70 undergraduate degree programs ...

did not gain

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I status until 1971 and because the school was an Independent (not affiliated with an athletic conference), Fuqua's career points and average totals do not go down in the men's basketball record books as Division I accomplishments. In February 1971, he scored 60 points in a game against the

University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an official seminary of ...

. After his college career ended, Fuqua got drafted by the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA)'s

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

in the 4th round (69th pick overall) of the

1973 NBA Draft The 1973 NBA draft was the 27th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 24 and May 5, 1973, before the 1973–74 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college baske ...

, but never played a game in the NBA.

References

# # # # # # 1950 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Boston Celtics draft picks Basketball players from Tennessee Kentucky Colonels draft picks Oral Roberts Golden Eagles men's basketball players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Chattanooga, Tennessee {{1950s-US-basketball-bio-stub