Richard Garner (born in

Mount Vernon, New York Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of t ...

) is an American former basketball player who is best known for his

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

career at

Manhattan College Manhattan College is a private, Catholic, liberal arts university in the Bronx, New York City. Originally established in 1853 by the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Christian Brothers) as an academy for day students, it was la ...

. Garner played for the Jaspers between 1969–70 and 1971–72. During his four-year career, he scored over 1,000 points, has a career shooting percentage of better than .500, and set a since-broken single season school record 121 assists in 1970–71. Garner was the first player from Manhattan College to win the

Haggerty Award __NOTOC__ The Lt. Frank J. Haggerty Award is given to the All-New York Metropolitan NCAA Division I men's college basketball player of the year, presented by the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and the Met Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) ...

, an annual award presented to the best male collegiate basketball player in the greater

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

area since 1935–36. He earned it as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

and was the co-recipient with Fordham's Tom Sullivan. After graduating, 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 ...

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

chose him as the 152nd overall pick in that year's draft. The

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

also selected him, although he never played in either league. Garner instead served as an assistant coach at his ''alma mater'' for six years before eventually returning to Mount Vernon. He then taught and served as an administrator at

Mount Vernon High School Mount Vernon High School could refer to: *Mount Vernon High School (Arkansas) — Mount Vernon, Arkansas * Mount Vernon High School (Illinois) — Mount Vernon, Illinois *Mount Vernon High School (Fortville, Indiana) * Mount Vernon High Sch ...

while also acting as assistant coach to the boys' basketball team. Today he serves as the

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

of the Redeemed Church of Jesus Christ in Mount Vernon.

References

# # # # Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American men's basketball players High school basketball coaches in the United States Indiana Pacers draft picks Manhattan Jaspers men's basketball coaches Manhattan Jaspers men's basketball players New York Knicks draft picks Sportspeople from Mount Vernon, New York Basketball players from Westchester County, New York Shooting guards Mount Vernon High School (New York) alumni {{US-basketball-bio-stub