Sidney Wicks (born September 19, 1949) 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 in 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 ...

(NBA). A native of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...

, he played

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for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

. Wicks was selected by the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western C ...

in the 1971 NBA draft with the second overall pick. He was named the

NBA Rookie of the Year The National Basketball Association's Rookie of the Year Award is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given to the top rookie(s) of the regular season. Initiated following the 1952–53 NBA season, it confers the Eddie Gott ...

and was a four-time

NBA All-Star The National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game is an annual exhibition basketball game. It is the main event of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Originally, the All-Star Game featured a conference-based format, featuring a team composed of a ...

with the Trail Blazers. He also played professionally for the

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 ...

and

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

, finishing his career after one season in Italy.

Early life

Wicks was born on September 19, 1949 in

Contra Costa County, California ) of the San Francisco Bay , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = California , subdivision_type2 ...

. He attended Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. Because of non-qualifying grades in high school, Wicks attended

Santa Monica College Santa Monica College (SMC) is a public, community college in Santa Monica, California. Founded as a junior college in 1929, SMC enrolls over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. Although initially serving primarily pre-college high sc ...

for a year before he could attend his preferred university, the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

(UCLA). Wicks later received Academic All-America honors at UCLA in 1971. He earned a degree in sociology from the school. A 6'8" power forward/ center, Wicks was a phenom at UCLA, playing on three straight

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship 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 ...

s from 1969 to 1971. He was the Bruins' star player on the latter two championship teams. Wicks was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in 1970, the Helms National Co-Player of the Year (1970), and the USBWA and Sporting News Player of the Year (1971), and was a consensus All-American in 1970 and 1971. On February 1, 1996, his jersey #35 was retired in a halftime ceremony at UCLA's home court, Pauley Pavilion. Wicks was a 1985 inductee into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2010, he was selected to the

College Basketball Hall of Fame The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a hall of fame and museum dedicated to men's college basketball. The museum is an integral portion of the College Basketball Experience created by the Nationa ...

Professional career

The

selected Wicks with the second pick of the 1971 NBA draft after paying the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Centr ...

$250,000 not to select him. The Dallas Chaparrals chose him in the 1971 ABA draft. After averaging 24.5 points and 11.5 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, Wicks was named

. He also played in the

NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is a basketball exhibition game hosted every February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's star players. It is the featured event of NBA All-Star Weekend, a ...

Wicks played for the Trail Blazers from 1971 to 1976, earning a total of four All-Star selections (1972–1975). He held the Blazers' franchise record for rebounds in a game with 27 until being surpassed by

Enes Kanter Freedom Enes Kanter Freedom (; born Enes Kanter; May 20, 1992) is a professional basketball player who last played for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Born in Switzerland to Turkish parents, he was raised in Turkey and m ...

. Wicks averaged 22.3 points and 10.3 rebounds a game in his five years with the team. In October 1976, the rights to Wicks were sold to the Boston Celtics; Portland went on to win an NBA championship the next season. Wicks played for the Celtics from 1976 to 1978. Wicks then went to the

and played there until 1981. Overall, Wicks averaged 16.8 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game over ten seasons and 760 games in the NBA. His scoring average dropped every year after his rookie season. Following his NBA career, Wicks played one season in Italy.

Post-NBA career

Following his playing career, Wicks lived for a year in Italy before returning to the United States. He served as an assistant coach at UCLA during

Walt Hazzard Mahdi Abdul-Rahman (born Walter Raphael Hazzard Jr.; April 15, 1942 – November 18, 2011) was an American professional basketball player and college basketball coach. He played in college for the UCLA Bruins and was a member of their first natio ...

's four years as head coach. Following coaching, he entered the real estate field, living 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 498,71 ...

Florida Florida is a U.S. state, state located in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia (U.S. state), Geo ...

, and Los Angeles.

Personal life

Wicks was married from 1973 to 1979. He has one daughter, Sibahn Epps. At 9 a.m. on May 5, 1989, in Mira Mesa, San Diego,

, Wicks was seriously injured in a car accident. A loaded cement truck failed to stop at a red light and struck the driver's side of Wicks's vehicle. Wicks had his ruptured spleen removed at Scripps Memorial Hospital in

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded ...

. He also had facial lacerations and minor head injuries. A passenger in Wicks' car suffered a mild concussion and facial injuries. The cement truck driver was not injured. As of 2006, Wicks lived in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

and Los Angeles.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, 82 , , , , 39.6 , , .427 , , , , .710 , , 11.5 , , 4.3 , , — , , — , , 24.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 80 , , , , 39.4 , , .452 , , , , .723 , , 10.9 , , 5.5 , , , , , , 23.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 75 , , , , 38.0 , , .459 , , , , .762 , , 9.1 , , 4.3 , , 1.2 , , .8 , , 22.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , , , 38.6 , , .497 , , , , .706 , , 10.7 , , 3.5 , , 1.3 , , 1.0 , , 21.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 79 , , , , 38.5 , , .483 , , , , .674 , , 9.0 , , 3.1 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , 19.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- m ...

, 82 , , , , 32.2 , , .458 , , , , .668 , , 10.0 , , 2.1 , , .8 , , .7 , , 15.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 81 , , , , 29.8 , , .467 , , , , .660 , , 8.3 , , 2.1 , , .8 , , .6 , , 13.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

, 79 , , , , 25.6 , , .462 , , , , .650 , , 5.1 , , 1.6 , , .9 , , .5 , , 9.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 71 , , , , 30.2 , , .423 , , .000 , , .546 , , 5.8 , , 3.0 , , 1.1 , , .7 , , 7.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 49 , , , , 22.1 , , .437 , , .000 , , .507 , , 4.6 , , 2.3 , , .8 , , .8 , , 6.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 760 , , , , 33.9 , , .459 , , .000 , , .685 , , 8.7 , , 3.2 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , 16.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", All-Star , 4 , , 1 , , 20.3 , , .450 , , , , .722 , , 8.3 , , 1.0 , , , , , , 12.3

Playoffs

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1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Re ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 9 , , , , 29.0 , , .519 , , , , .732 , , 9.2 , , 1.8 , , 1.4 , , .3 , , 13.1 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 9 , , , , 29.0 , , .519 , , , , .732 , , 9.2 , , 1.8 , , 1.4 , , .3 , , 13.1

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wicks, Sidney 1949 births Living people African-American basketball players Alexander Hamilton High School (Los Angeles) alumni All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from Los Angeles Boston Celtics players Centers (basketball) Dallas Chaparrals draft picks National Basketball Association All-Stars National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Portland Trail Blazers draft picks Portland Trail Blazers players Power forwards (basketball) Reyer Venezia players San Diego Clippers players Santa Monica Corsairs men's basketball players UCLA Bruins men's basketball coaches UCLA Bruins men's basketball players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople