Richard J. Snyder Jr. (born February 1, 1944) 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. He played in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, 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 i ...

(NBA) for the St. Louis Hawks,

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

, and

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 Central ...

. Snyder graduated from

Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan� ...

and was drafted by the Hawks in the second round of the 1966 NBA draft. A solid

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

, Snyder achieved his greatest basketball successes with the SuperSonics franchise. During the early 1970s, Snyder was often among the league leaders in field goal percentage. Perhaps his best season statistically was the 1970–71 season when he averaged 19.4 points per game and was fifth in the league in both field goal and

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

percentage. Traded to Cleveland after the 1974 season, Snyder returned to the SuperSonics in his final season in 1978–79 where he earned an NBA championship ring. Snyder was a star football, baseball, and basketball player in high school and also pitched and played outfield for Davidson's baseball team. In 2011, he was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Career statisticsDick Snyder: Still the Standard in North CantonDick Snyder's Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Speech
1944 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players Basketball players from Ohio Cleveland Cavaliers players Davidson Wildcats men's basketball players People from North Canton, Ohio Phoenix Suns expansion draft picks Phoenix Suns players Seattle SuperSonics players Shooting guards Small forwards St. Louis Hawks draft picks St. Louis Hawks players American men's basketball players {{1940s-US-basketball-bio-stub