Jerry Lucas

• Born: March 30, 1940
• Place of Birth: Middletown, Ohio

SPORT: Basketball

Early Life

Jerry Ray Lucas was born on March 30, 1940, in Middletown, Ohio, a steel and paper mill city located in the southwestern corner of the state. His parents worked in the local factories. Many considered Middletown the basketball capital of Ohio. The city’s parks contained many basketball courts, and its high school won state basketball championships regularly.

The Road to Excellence

Lucas began playing competitive basketball in the fourth grade. He was recruited by colleges when he was only in the eighth grade. Playing with a star of Lucas’s caliber was difficult for his teammates. In his sophomore year of high school, other team members refused to pass the ball to Lucas and set him up for shots. They were resentful that a first-year player could dominate an entire game. The team’s coach was also sensitive to this, and in one game, benched Lucas so that he would not break a scoring record as a sophomore.

Instead of complaining, Lucas waited to rebound and tap in shots. He also developed the passing skills that became a trademark throughout his career. In his senior year, he was elected team captain. During his three years as a high school player, Lucas scored 2,460 points and surpassed the record held by Wilt Chamberlain. Recruiters from more than 150 colleges scouted his games.

Lucas had to cope with recruiters at all hours of the day. He was approached with illegal offers that included homes, jobs for his parents, unlimited spending money, and cars. He was, however, aware of the recruiting regulations of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). He also sensed that any school he attended would be closely investigated, and thus declined all such offers.

Lucas, who was never a hero worshiper, was not awed by the famous coaches and other personalities who contacted him. Adolph Rupp, the renowned coach from the University of Kentucky, was given ten seconds with Lucas between classes. Lucas’s family turned down an invitation to a luncheon at the governor’s mansion because they knew it would make no difference to Lucas when he made his choice.

Lucas chose to attend Ohio State University (OSU) amid controversy over its appointment of a new coach. The field of candidates included Lucas’s coach from Middletown. Lucas, a high school honors student, stated that his studies came first and accepted a full academic scholarship.

The Emerging Champion

At the time, NCAA regulations did not permit freshmen to play on varsity teams. In two scrimmage games with the varsity squad, Lucas scored an unbelievable 92 points. The coach developed an offense around "Big Luke," his star of the future.

Always poised and showing little emotion on or off the court, Lucas admitted that he was scared before his first game. Although the team won, he did little in the first half and had a mediocre performance in the second half. Observers wondered if the former high school center had what it took to make it in college basketball. Lucas was convinced he "was going to be the biggest disappointment in the history of college basketball."

In his second game, however, Lucas scored 34 points and proved that he could meet expectations. OSU went on to win the NCAA Championship and lead the nation in scoring. Lucas had a phenomenal .637 shooting percentage. Using the ball-handling skills he had developed in high school, he often passed off to a teammate rather than take a shot. No one was surprised when he was named an All-American in basketball.

Lucas married after his sophomore year and continued to maintain high scholastic standards. He was a consistently strong player with a large repertoire of shots. His sense of timing when rebounding, his genius for getting the ball on defense, and his passing skills assured him of a spot on the US national team for the 1960 Olympic Games, where he won a gold medal. In his junior year, Lucas averaged 25 points and 17 rebounds per game. The team won 17 straight games and was called the greatest college team in history.

Lucas had always maintained that he did not want to play professional basketball. He had aspirations to go to graduate school or into business. In his senior year, he earned a Phi Beta Kappa key for his academic performance and was drafted by both Cleveland in the American Basketball League (ABL) and Cincinnati in the National Basketball Association (NBA). When Cleveland offered him a contract that accommodated some of his concerns about season length, contract length, and investments, he signed. Lucas believed that he could have more influence as a role model if he continued in basketball and performed in the limelight. The ABL folded in the middle of the 1962–63 season, however, and Lucas began his pro career with the NBA’s Cincinnati Royals in 1963.

Continuing the Story

Considered one of the all-time great college players, Lucas helped raised the profile of the NBA. Named Rookie of The Year in 1964, he would go on to earn seven All-Star nominations, three All-NBA First Team appearances, and the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for the 1965 All-Star Game. He played in Cincinnati for six years, averaging 20 points a game in his new position as forward. He also developed a chain of restaurants and established himself in business.

In 1969, Lucas asked to be traded to San Francisco. He received a rousing welcome and played with the Warriors until he was traded to the New York Knicks in 1971. In New York, he was moved back to his position as center. Because of his lack of height for the position, Lucas lost his starting job but became the league’s best backup center. He was a success in his new role, and he helped the Knicks to the 1973 NBA title. This made him the first American player to win a championship in high school, college, the Olympics, and professionally. He retired from basketball in 1974, finishing with the fourth-best rebounding average of all time, the fifth-most career rebounds, and among the top ten in all-time minutes played.

Lucas had always possessed a remarkable memory. He made a memorable appearance on national television demonstrating his memorization of five hundred pages of the Manhattan phone book. After his retirement, he began to use his extraordinary talent of memorizing and manipulating letters, words, and numbers as the basis of a new career. He gave lectures at colleges and to businesses. He also co-wrote The Memory Book (1974), which sold more than two million copies. He developed his hobby of performing magic and used his basketball fame to break into entertainment. Performing as "Luke the Magician," Lucas created and hosted the television special The Jerry Lucas Super Kids Day Magic Jamboree. The production featured educational word games, number puzzles, and magic tricks. Later, a religious conversion led him to write Remember the Word (1975) and to form Memory Ministries, Inc., to help others memorize the Bible.

During the late 1980s, Lucas established Lucas Learning, an educational company that published learning and memory materials for children. The company later became Lucas Educational Systems. Lucas authored dozens of books in the field of memory training and learning systems. His ideas for fun and easy memory retention resulted in the "The Lucas Learning System" and earned him the title of "Doctor Memory." Later ventures included web-based educational content, mainly aimed at young audiences. He also established a shelter for dogs suffering from abuse.

Lucas’s induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980—his first year of eligibility—was his crowning athletic honor. He was also named one of the fifty greatest NBA players of all time during the 1996–97 season. In 1999, he was chosen by Sports Illustrated as one of the five most outstanding college basketball players of the twentieth century. In addition to his memory businesses, Lucas would forever be associated with Ohio basketball and the 1972–73 NBA champion, the New York Knicks. In 2021, during the 75th Anniversary season of the NBA, The New York Times listed Lucas as one of the top 75 NBA players of all time. Even as Lucas accepted this honor, he remarked that his true life's calling had been in education.

Summary

Jerry Lucas grew up as one of the most sought-after basketball players of his time. A talented athlete as well as a scholar, he was idolized by children and took his position as a role model seriously. As a player, he avoided the theatrics of many of his colleagues. Ironically, he became a showman once he left basketball, focusing on using his memory skills to advance education. Despite his many off-the-court successes, Lucas remains primarily known for his illustrious basketball career.

Bibliography

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