Other Crap

The All-Time Best No. 1 Overall NBA Draft Picks

How many of you remember Dick Ricketts? I have no memory of his short-lived NBA career, but I remember him clearly as a minor league pitcher for the Rochester Red Wings in the late 50s or early 60s. (I grew up in Rochester) I suppose he stuck in my mind because his battery mate was his own brother, Dave Ricketts, and because they were African-American guys but they were so fair-skinned that I never knew it when I was a kid! I don't know what happened to Dave, but Dick settled down in Rochester and died there while he was still quite young. He was a bit of a local celeb and hero, having been one of the rare guys to have played in both MLB and the NBA, and he was always obvious in a crowd, being a very athletic six seven and a half.

Dick and Sihugo Green, the NBA's 1955 and 1956 first picks, were college teammates at Duquesne, along with Dave Ricketts. The team won the NIT in 1955, but they had some tough sledding against Dayton, which was anchored by a seven foot center named Bill Uhl. (A seven-footer in 1955 was about like an eight-footer today. Sihugo Green, at 6'3", had to guard Uhl, and the athletic Si blocked one of Uhl's shots in the championship game!) The teams played four times that year and won two each.

Si also passed through Rochester as a player on the Rochester Royals which, unbelievably enough, was an NBA franchise in the fifties.