Jerry Lucas

Lucas has gone by the nicknames Luke, Mr. Memory, Dr. Memory, and The Computer.

He is a committed Christian and he has been married three times. His brother is Roy Lucas who was a football coach.

High School and College Career

He attended Middletown High School in Middletown, Ohio. While in high school, he was twice named Mr. Basketball USA. He was also twice named to the First-team Parade All-American.

Lucas committed to play college basketball for the Ohio State University from 1958 to 1962. In 1960, he helped lead his team to win the NCAA Championship. He was also twice named the Consensus National College Player of the Year.

National Career

Before he turned pro, he was named to the US Men’s National Basketball Team and played in the 1960 Summer Olympics. They ended up winning the gold medal for men’s basketball that year.

At 6’9, he was the shortest center on the team. But his remarkable passing made the team click, and he was named ahead of future Hall Of Famer Walt Bellamy as a starter. The team, which also included Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, [Terry Dischinger]] and Coach Pete Newell, sailed to a Gold Medal.

Newell later called Lucas “the greatest player I ever coached and the most unselfish”. Lucas was also impressed in that he had taken the time to memorize paragraphs of Japanese, Italian, and Russian to nicely converse with opponents.

He made such an impression that Lucas was later invited to tour Russia with an AAU team in 1961, and he was later named to a team of touring NBA players for games in Europe in 1964.

Professional Career

In 1962, Lucas was finally eligible to play pro ball. But there was little money in the meager National Basketball Association then, and he balked to continue post-graduate business studies.

Another circuit, the new American Basketball League, had a Cleveland entry owned by future New York Yankees boss George Steinbrenner.

Steinbrenner approached Lucas from a businessman’s standpoint, even offering team stock. Lucas signed with the ABL, sparking a conflict between the two leagues. The NBA wooed Steinbrenner into jumping his Cleveland team to the NBA to regain Lucas, then saddled him with entry fees he could not afford.

The ABL sued also. Steinbrenner soon folded amid mounting debts, and Lucas, by nature of his contract, had to sit out the 1962-63 season. The ABL soon folded also. He had never played a game in the ABL.

The following year, Lucas agreed to join Cincinnati’s NBA team, the Cincinnati Royals.

The local former Middletown star was an immediate sensation, and the team set attendance records during his rookie season. Other NBA teams also benefitted from Lucas at their ticket windows as well.

With Lucas now on board at a new power forward position, the Royals, which also had future Hall Of Famers Oscar Robertson, Jack Twyman and Wayne Embry, soared to the second-best record in the NBA in 1964.

Lucas led the league in shooting accuracy and pulled down 40 rebounds in a single game, among other highlights. He was named 1964 NBA Rookie Of The Year.

Lucas was injured in the 1964 playoffs, and the Royals sank without him, losing to rival Boston. Lucas improved during his second season, finishing a close third in rebounds to Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell despite playing further away from the basket as a forward.

He was again among the leaders in shooting percentage, with his scoring average passing 20 points per game. Also the team’s backup center in addition to starting power forward, Lucas played an amazing 44-46 minutes per game for Cincinnati.

He would stay at this high level throughout his remaining years in Cincinnati, which he left in trade in 1969.

Lucas was three times named First Team All-NBA (1965, 1966, and 1968). He was also named the 1965 All-Star Game’s Most Valuable Player.

From 1965-1968, he averaged 19.4 rebounds and topped Boston’s Bill Russell for a full season in 1968. He remained one of the NBA’s biggest drawing stars of the period as well. With the Royals falling out of contention after 1966, Lucas focused on off-court business and investments, using his fame.

A cutting-edge corporate athlete, Lucas became a millionaire in 1968 thanks to his ‘Jerry Lucas Beef-N-Shake’ chain of fast food restaurants. At the time, the NBA had just two other millionaires. In 1969, his investments plummeted and his popularity did with it. Lucas had to later declare bankruptcy.

New Royals coach Bob Cousy then traded Lucas out of Ohio, a shock then to many.

The 1969-70 season in the then-San Francisco Warriors was a tough, adjusting one for Lucas. Focusing on basketball again, Lucas returned to All-Star form in 1970-71.

He teamed with center Nate Thurmond and guard Jeff Mullins to lead the Warriors back to the playoffs. In 1971, the then-New York Knickerbockers, looking to return to the NBA Finals, traded for Lucas. He joined big men Dave DeBusschere and Willis Reed and all three would play roughly equal roles in bringing the Knicks back to the NBA Finals in 1972 and 1973.

In 1972, with Reed injured, Lucas was named New York’s starting center. He was the team’s leading rebounder and most accurate shooter and was second in scoring and assists only to guard Walt Frazier.

Most impressive of all was the effect Lucas had on opposing defenses. Very accurate as a shooter from 20-25 feet, Lucas lured opposing centers away from the basket to guard him or shot over them again and again. He also passed often to cutting scorers.

Defensively, New York had the NBA’s third-best defense with Lucas playing 44 minutes a game at center. In 1973, Reed returned and the deeper Knicks won the NBA title.

Lucas became the first American basketball player ever to have played on championship teams at every level — high school, college, Olympics, and the pros.

He had been a big factor at each level. One season later, he retired as one of the NBA’s all-time five best rebounders and percentage shooters at that time. One can only wonder how dangerous he might have been with a three-point line. The NBA did not yet have one during his career. The 235-pounder also had never lifted a weight. He battled knee issues throughout his career, from high school on, but never missed a beat.

He also had become a media darling all over again in New York. Lucas appeared often on television, performing an assortment of impressive memory feats and magic tricks. He co-wrote ‘The Memory Book’ with Harry Lorayne, a best seller.

He also became a born-again Christian and wrote ‘Remember The Word’, a guide helping readers to remember and recall Bible passages. Later he dubbed himself Dr. Memory, Lucas has conducted seminars for corporations and the public to promote image-based education.

Lucas has since written 30 books on memory education.

Post-career honors for Lucas include being named to the 50th and 75th NBA Anniversary Teams. Lucas was inducted into the Basketball Hall Of Fame in 1979. Middletown and Ohio State have retired his number in ceremonies.

Career Highlights

• 1973 - NBA champion
• 1964–1969, 1971 - NBA All-Star
• 1965 - NBA All-Star Game MVP
• 1965, 1966, 1968 - All-NBA First Team
• 1964, 1967 - All-NBA Second Team
• 1964 - NBA Rookie of the Year

• 1964 - NBA All-Rookie First Team

• NBA anniversary team (50th, 75th)

• 1960 - NCAA champion

• 1960, 1961 - NCAA Final Four MOP
• 1961, 1962 - Consensus National College Player of the Year
• 1960–1962 - Consensus first-team All-American

• 1961, 1962 - NCAA rebounding leader

• No. 11 retired by Ohio State Buckeyes

• 1957, 1958 - Mr. Basketball USA
• 1957, 1958 - First-team Parade All-American

Career NBA Statistics

• Points - 14,053 (17.0 ppg)
• Rebounds - 12,942 (15.6 rpg)

• Assists - 2,732 (3.3 apg)

• Basketball Hall of Fame as a player, 1980
• College Basketball Hall of Fame, 2006

Medal record, Men’s basketball, Representing the United States

• Gold - 1960 Summer Olympics Rome