In Memory

ophToo Late…Fall Back Baby. So went the battle cry for Dick Barnett whenever he knew his patented, unorthodox fallaway jumper was on target. Barnett, a flashy, left-handed guard with high basketball IQ, played the game at full speed all the time. The results were undeniable: Three national championships at the collegiate level and three more in the pros, including two with the famed New York Knickerbockers.
 
Barnett, 88, passed away on April 27, 2025.
 
“Dick Barnett was a pioneer, from his time in the segregated school system of Indiana, to the role he played in integrating college basketball, to his championship years with the New York Knicks, he was a true Hall of Famer and gift to the game,” said Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame President & CEO John Doleva. “We extend our deepest sympathy to Dr. Barnett’s family, friends, and fans.”
 
Dick Barnett was born on October 2, 1936 in Gary, Indiana. He attended Gary’s Theodore Roosevelt High School in the 1950s when the Indiana public school system was still segregated by race. In 1955, Barnett led his Roosevelt team to the state finals where Oscar Robertson and the Crispus Attucks Tigers outlasted Barnett and his Panthers to become Indiana’s first all-Black school to win a state title in basketball. Barnett would soon leave Indiana to play for John McLendon at Tennessee A&I. This time, Barnett would be the one making history as he and his Tiger teammates captured three consecutive NAIA national championships starting in 1957, thus making Tennessee A&I the first HBCU basketball program to win a national title. Barnett was voted the tournament’s Most Valuable Player in 1958 and 1959.
 
Barnett was drafted by the Syracuse Nationals in the first round of the 1959 NBA Draft. Over his first four seasons in the NBA, Barnett upped his scoring average each year. Then, in 1965, after being traded to the New York Knicks, Barnett torched the league for 23 points per game, setting career highs in both scoring and rebounding. Soon, the Knicks would add pieces like Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley, Dave DeBusschere, and Phil Jackson to a roster led by Barnett and Willis Reed. These were the building blocks of the toast of the town team-oriented Knickerbockers that won world championships in 1970 and 1973.
 
Dick Barnett was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame with the Class of 2019 and 2024.