Jerry Lucas
The Middletown legend who dominated at every level, from high school to the Olympics.
Jerry Ray Lucas (born March 30, 1940) is an American former basketball player. He was a nationally awarded high school player, national college star at Ohio State University, and 1960 gold medal Olympian and international player before later starring as a professional player in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Quick Facts
- Born
- 30 March 1940
- Birthplace
- Middletown, Ohio, U.S.
- High school
- Middletown (Middletown, Ohio)
- College
- Ohio State (1959–1962)
- Draft pick
- territorial pick
- Drafted by
- Cincinnati Royals
- Career position
- Power forward
- Career number
- 16, 47, 32
Lore & Background
As a collegian, Lucas led the Ohio State Buckeyes to three straight NCAA finals (1960–1962), winning the national championship in 1960, and finishing as runner-up in 1961 and 1962. He is the only three-time Big Ten Basketball Player of the Year and was named the NCAA Player of the Year in 1961 and 1962 by the United States Basketball Writers Association (now Oscar Robertson Award), the Associated Press, and the Sporting News. He was also named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 1961. As a professional, Lucas was named All-NBA First Team three times, All-NBA Second Team twice, an NBA All-Star seven times (including six years in a row), was the 1964 NBA Rookie of the Year, and was named Most Valuable Player of the 1965 NBA All-Star Game among other honors and awards. He is one of eight players to ever achieve the basketball Triple Crown, and was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980.
Reader's Guide
Jerry Lucas was born on March 30, 1940, in Middletown, Ohio. He attended Middletown High School, where he led the Middies to a 76–1 record, two state championships (1956 and 1957), and a state semi-final loss in 1958. He scored 2,460 points in his high school career. He played college basketball at Ohio State University, leading the Buckeyes to three NCAA finals and one national championship. He was a three-time All-American and had his number 11 retired by the university. He played professionally in the NBA, earning multiple All-NBA and All-Star selections, and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980.
Did You Know?
- Jerry Lucas was a member of the National Honor Society in high school.
- He once recorded a 30–30 (33 points, 30 rebounds) in an NCAA tournament game against Kentucky in 1961.
- Lucas was also a discus thrower in track and field, finishing third at state in 1957 and fifth in 1958.
- He created memory-based games starting at age nine and could rearrange the letters of 'basketball' into alphabetical order as 'aabbekllst'.
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