Dick Barnett, whose unorthodox left-handed “Fall Back Baby” jumper thrilled Knicks followers en path to the group’s 1970 NBA championship and who later authored a number of books, earned a doctorate from Fordham College and taught lessons in sports activities administration at St. John’s, has died, the Knicks introduced Sunday. Based on the group, Barnett died in his sleep this weekend in a senior dwelling middle in Largo, Fla. He was 88.
A 3-time All-America at Tennessee State, the place he led his groups to 3 consecutive NAIA nationwide championships, Barnett, enshrined within the Naismith Memorial Basketball Corridor of Fame in 2024, spent 14 seasons within the NBA — eight of these with the Knicks — and one within the previous American Basketball League.
Whereas a limping Willis Reed impressed his group and Walt Frazier performed the sport of his life in Sport 7 of these 1970 Finals, the ignored Barnett scored 21 factors within the decisive recreation and had taken on the duty of guarding Jerry West for many of that sequence. Barnett was additionally a part of the 1973 championship Knicks group. His No. 12 was retired by the group in 1990.
“He’s one of the architects who built the legacy of what the Knicks were about,” as soon as stated Earl Monroe, who changed Barnett within the beginning backcourt after the Knicks acquired him in the course of the 1971-72 season. “No one can ever forget that.”
A 3-time Little All-America at what was then known as Tennessee A&I, Barnett was chosen within the first spherical of the 1959 NBA Draft by the Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76ers). He spent the primary two years of his profession with the Nationals earlier than leaping to the brand new ABL and the Cleveland Pipers, who had been owned by George M. Steinbrenner, who years later would buy the Yankees.
After one profitable season with the Pipers, who gained the ABL championship that yr, Barnett returned to the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers, with whom he spent three seasons. On the age of 29, he was traded to the Knicks, simply earlier than the beginning of the 1965-66 season. He averaged 23.1 factors per recreation in his first season in New York, however it was a torn Achilles tendon suffered the next yr that modified the course of Barnett’s life.
Going through the likelihood he may by no means play basketball once more, Barnett, an detached scholar who left faculty with out his diploma, realized he wanted a backup plan. He had begun taking lessons whereas with the Lakers and, with an unsure future, approached his research with a renewed vigor. He earned a bachelor’s diploma in bodily training from California Polytechnic State College earlier than getting his grasp’s in public administration from NYU and his doctorate in training and communications from Fordham.
“I didn’t understand that athletics and academics could peacefully coexist,” Barnett stated of his class-skipping days as an undergrad. “In my basketball career, the best thing that happened to me was that ruptured Achilles tendon. That was a wake-up call to get prepared for the future.”
Richard Barnett was born Oct. 2, 1936, in Gary, Ind., the place he attended Theodore Roosevelt Excessive Faculty. As a senior, he took its basketball group to the state championship recreation. The opponent within the ultimate was Crispus Attucks Excessive Faculty of Indianapolis, led by future Corridor of Famer Oscar Robertson. Attucks gained the sport, which marked the primary time two predominantly black excessive faculties had met in that state’s title recreation.
At Tennessee State, Barnett performed beneath legendary coach John McClendon and, en path to successful these three consecutive nationwide titles, was twice named the MVP of the NAIA match. The Tigers had been the primary traditionally black faculty to win an built-in nationwide championship in basketball. Barnett, who was inducted into the Faculty Basketball Corridor of Fame, stays the Tigers’ all-time main scorer.
Barnett got here off the bench with each the Nationals and the Lakers, who reached the NBA Finals twice in his 5 seasons in LA. It was there that the group’s legendary play-by-play man Chick Hearn, after studying that Barnett used to inform his faculty teammates to “fall back” [on defense] as quickly as he launched considered one of his jumpers, started bellowing “fall back, baby” every time Barnett went up for a shot.
Nevertheless it was with the Knicks, who by no means gained greater than 43 video games in his first three seasons in New York, that Barnett grew to become a starter. He was named to play within the NBA All-Star Sport in 1968, the season after tearing his Achilles tendon.
It was when he was paired within the backcourt with Frazier, who joined the group in 1967, that the Knicks started to climb within the standings. They might win 54 video games in 1968-69, and 60 in 1969-70 en path to the NBA title.
“Dick was one of the leaders of that team,” stated teammate Phil Jackson. “I really thought he held a big piece of our success in the late ’60s and early ’70s.”
“He’s got one of the best basketball minds of any player I’ve ever known,” stated Eddie Donovan, the Knicks basic supervisor who acquired Barnett from the Lakers. “Everything he does is for a purpose.”
Monroe would be part of the group early within the 1971-72 season and ultimately supplant Barnett within the beginning backcourt. The Knicks would attain the NBA Finals in 1972, shedding to the Lakers, earlier than beating LA for the title in 1973 with Barnett in a supporting position. He performed simply 5 video games in the course of the 1973-74 season earlier than being waived. He spent three seasons as an assistant on Purple Holzman’s employees.
Along with instructing, Barnett authored some 20 books, and established a basis, the Dr. Richard Barnett Heart for Sports activities Training, Enterprise and Expertise, that gives scholarships and assist with internship alternatives for sports activities administration majors.
“Dreams really do come true,” he instructed the MSG Community in 2020. “Life is a continuum. Simply because I achieved this objective doesn’t imply I’m via. There are different objectives.
“So what now, brother? There’s always something else ahead.”
