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Ricky Ray Grace (born August 20, 1966) is an American-Australian 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 who spent the majority of his career in the Australian National Basketball League with the
Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at RAC Arena, known colloquially as "The Jungle". Afte ...
.


Playing career

Ricky "Amazing" Grace first played college basketball at
Midland College Midland College (MC) is a public community college in Midland, Texas. It was established as an independent junior college in 1972 and held its first classes on campus in 1975. Since that time, the campus has expanded to a main campus on in Mi ...
, transferring after two years to the
University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...
alongside future NBA player
Mookie Blaylock Daron Oshay "Mookie" Blaylock (born March 20, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player. He spent 13 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the New Jersey Nets, Atlanta Hawks, and the Golden State Warriors. Col ...
. In 1988, his last year at Oklahoma, Grace helped the
Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...
reach the championship game of the
NCAA men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...
, where they were defeated by the
Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools in the state of Kansas that participate in NCAA Division I. The Jayhawks are also a mem ...
. Selected in the 1988 NBA Draft by the
Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...
in the third round (67th overall), he failed to make the active roster of an NBA team. Soon after, Grace was invited by then
Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at RAC Arena, known colloquially as "The Jungle". Afte ...
general manager (and 1990 head coach)
Cal Bruton Calvin Thomas Bruton, (born 29 September 1954) is an American-born Australian former professional basketball player and coach. He has been an integral part of the National Basketball League (NBL) since its inception. Bruton won an NBL champio ...
to play for the Australian club, where he played his entire professional career, and captained the club from 2002/03 until his retirement. During his time with the club Grace played an integral part in six grand finals appearances and four championships, twice being award Grand Final MVP; first in 1990 when the Wildcats defeated the
Brisbane Bullets The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to th ...
to claim their first championship, and again in 1993 when the Wildcats were defeated by the
Melbourne Tigers Melbourne United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. United compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at John Cain Arena. The team made their debut in the NBL in 1984 as ...
. 1991 was filled with more success for Grace, as the Wildcats won back-to-back championships, defeating the
Eastside Spectres Nunawading Spectres is a NBL1 South club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of Melbourne East Basketball Association (MEBA), the major admin ...
, and Grace was selected to the All-NBL First Team. In 1993, Grace had a three-game stint with the
Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Sou ...
, where he was reunited with college teammate Mookie Blaylock. In late 1994, Grace became
naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...
as an Australian citizen and in March 1995 made his international debut when he was selected for the
Australian Boomers The Australian men's national basketball team, known as the Boomers after the slang term for a male kangaroo, represents Australia in international basketball competition. Since the late 1980s, Australia has been placed among the world elite t ...
in their 5-game series against the touring Magic Johnson All-Stars. 1995 also saw the Wildcats win their 3rd NBL crown, defeating the defending champion
North Melbourne Giants The North Melbourne Giants, previously known as the Coburg Giants, were an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of ...
in the Grand Final series. As Champions, the Wildcats were invited to participate in the 1995
McDonald's Championship The McDonald's Championship (sometimes called the McDonald's Open) was an international men's professional basketball club cup competition that featured a representative of the National Basketball Association (representing North America) agains ...
in
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. The Wildcats lost to
NBA 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 St ...
champions the
Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...
before defeating
Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
in their second match. In 1996, Grace signed a 6-year contract with the Wildcats and was considered unlucky not to gain a place in the Boomers squad for the 1996 Olympics in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
. Four years later he did make it to the
Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
when he was a member of the Boomers squad at the
Sydney Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
in
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, helping the home country to 4th place. This capped off another successful year for Grace, who won his fourth championship when the Wildcats defeated the Victoria Titans. In the second half of his career, Grace adjusted his game to become more of an offensive threat, and he was rewarded with another All-NBL First Team selection in 2001, 10 years after the first, and again in 2002 and 2003. Despite playing arguably the best basketball of his career, the Wildcats would only make one more grand final series, in 2002/2003, when they were defeated by the
Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The Kings were formed from a merger between the West Sydney Westars and the ...
, meaning Grace would fail to equal the then record of
Larry Sengstock Larry Sengstock (born 4 March 1960 in Maryborough, Queensland) is an Australian retired basketball player and was the CEO of Basketball Australia and the NBL until April 2012. Career Larry was born in Maryborough Qld. He was a champion swi ...
who won five NBL championships. In 2003 Grace was selected to the NBL's 25th Anniversary Team. He would play for two more seasons, with his last game a loss in an elimination final against the Melbourne Tigers on February 24, 2005. On August 4, 2010, it was announced that Grace is to be inducted into the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame (ABHF) at a ceremony on August 18, 2010. Grace was surprised to be inducted as he felt he wouldn't be considered for the Hall of Fame before former teammate James Crawford was.


Post playing career

Currently Grace is the
director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...
for the Role Models WA organisation. Role Models WA offers sport and development programs for indigenous communities in
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
. Other role models that work alongside Grace include numerous football players from the
Fremantle Dockers The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of Fr ...
and
West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football L ...
including Chris Lewis,
David Wirrpanda David Selwyn Burralung Merringwuy Galarrwuy Wyal Wirrpanda ( ; born 3 August 1979) is a former Australian rules footballer, best known for his career with the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Born in Melbourne, Wirrpand ...
,
Des Headland Desmond Edmond Headland, Jr (born 21 January 1981) is an Australian rules footballer currently playing for Subiaco in the West Australian Football League, and a conservative political candidate. He plays as a half-forward flanker or midfield ...
and
Daniel Kerr Daniel Alan Kerr (born 16 May 1983) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played 220 games for the club between 2001 and 2013, as a hard-running inside midfie ...
. On February 4, 2013, Grace was named to the Perth Wildcats' 30th Anniversary All-Star team.


Oklahoma Sooners Team records

* First in three-point field goal percentage in a season - 1986/87 (.441) * First in assists in a season - 1987/88 (280) * Equal First in steals in an NCAA Tournament game - vs Iowa, March 20, 1987 (7)


Perth Wildcats Team records

* First in games played (482) * First in points (8802) * First in assists (3470) * First in steals (734)


NBL records

* First in assists per game in 2003 (8.0/27 games) * First in assists per game in 2004 (7.3/23 games)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grace, Ricky 1966 births Living people American emigrants to Australia American expatriate basketball people in Australia American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks players Australian men's basketball players Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Dallas Members of the Order of Australia Midland Chaps basketball players Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball players Olympic basketball players of Australia Perth Wildcats players Point guards Topeka Sizzlers players Utah Jazz draft picks United States Basketball League players