Richard Raivio is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player.

Career

In high school, Raivio played basketball and football for Benson in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. In basketball, he was a member of three PIL (Portland Interscholastic League) championship teams and won two state championships. He was inducted into the Portland Interscholastic League Sports Hall of Fame. In his four-year college career at the

University of Portland , mottoeng = The truth will set you free , established = 1901 , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Catholic (Congregation of Holy Cross) , endowment = $218 million , president = Robert D. Kelly , students = 3,731 (fall 20 ...

, Raivio scored 1668 points, which put him second on the all-time scoring list. He grabbed an all-time leading 910 rebounds and also ranked first in field goal percentage (.575) and free throws made (454). He was a three time All-

West Coast Athletic Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

selection, the 1979 University of Portland Athlete of the Year and a Scholastic All-American in 1980. He was inducted into the Portland Pilots’ Hall of Fame in 1991. A 6’5’’ forward, Raivio was drafted 163th overall by the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

in the 1979 NBA draft. In the

1980 NBA draft The 1980 NBA draft was the 34th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 10, 1980, at the Sheraton Centre Hotel & Towers, before the 1980–81 season. In this draft, 23 NBA teams took turns selectin ...

, the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

selected him 114th overall. In the summer of 1981, Raivio attended the LA Lakers' rookie camp and played in the Los Angeles Summer League. Raivio spent his professional career in Europe. He played under American coach Gary Lawrence at

Pully Basket Pully Lausanne Foxes is a Swiss professional basketball club that is based in Pully. The team currently plays in the Swiss Basketball League (SBL), the highest basketball tier in Switzerland. Until 2017, the club was known as Pully Basket. Histo ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. On November 3, 1982, playing in the European competition

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...

with Pully, he scored 40 points against

KK Zadar Košarkaški klub Zadar ( en, Zadar Basketball Club), commonly referred to as KK Zadar or simply Zadar, is a men's professional basketball club based in Zadar, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Asso ...

from

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, a team which included

Stojko Vranković Stojan "Stojko" Vranković (born 22 January 1964) is a Croatian professional basketball executive and former player. He served as the president of the Croatian Basketball Federation from 2016 to 2022. A 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) center, he played f ...

who later would play in the NBA. From 1985 to 1987, Raivio played for Racing Mechelen in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, where he was known as an all-around player. He went on to play in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Raivio averaged 30.7 points, 11.5 rebounds as well as 4.9 assists per game for ProB side Montpellier in 1987-88, helping the team move up to the French elite league. In the country’s top division, he continued his high scoring ways, averaging 30.2 points per contest in 1988-89 for Montpellier, to go along with 9.9 rebounds and 3.9 assists a game. From 1989 to 1991, he played for

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fre ...

in the French league, before rounding out his professional career at

Villeurbanne Villeurbanne (; frp, Velorbana) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. It is situated northeast of Lyon, with which it forms the heart of the second-largest metropolitan area in France after tha ...

in 1991-92. Subsequently, Raivio returned to the US, settling in the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

area in the

state of Washington Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, where he became a

real estate agent A real estate agent or real estate broker is a person who represents sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and agen ...

. He is the father of

Derek Raivio Derek Raivio (born November 9, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player who last played for Benfica of the Portuguese Basketball League. College career Raivio played for four seasons at Gonzaga University under coach Mark Few f ...

and Nik Raivio, who both became professional basketball players, and Matt Raivio, who played college basketball.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raivio, Rick Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in Switzerland Los Angeles Lakers draft picks Philadelphia 76ers draft picks American men's basketball players Forwards (basketball) Portland Pilots men's basketball players Montpellier Paillade Basket players AS Monaco Basket players ASVEL Basket players Basketball players from Portland, Oregon