Hall of Fame forward Rick Barry is the only player ever to lead the NCAA, NBA, and ABA in scoring. His name appears near the top of every all-time offensive list. He scored more than 25,000 points in his professional career and in four different seasons averaged more than 30 points. He was named to 12 All-Star teams, four All-NBA First Teams, and five All-ABA First Teams and most recently honored by being named to the NBA 75 Anniversary Team.

When he left the game, Barry was sixth on the NBA-ABA all-time scoring list with 25,279 points. And although his defense was sometimes criticized for being less-than-intense, his 1,104 career steals ranked 10th.

Known for his fiery competitiveness and legendary scoring ability, he is famed for his unorthodox, but extraordinarily effective underhand free throw technique, known as “the granny shot.” At the time of his retirement, Barry’s .900 career free-throw percentage was the best in NBA history. In one season, 1978-79, he missed only nine free-throw attempts.

Barry started his pro career with the San Francisco Warriors, who selected him in the first round of the 1965 NBA Draft. He scored 25.7 points per game, made the All-Star Team, was named NBA Rookie of the Year and earned a berth on the All-NBA First Team.

In his second season, 1966-67, Barry hit for a career-high 2,775 points and led the league in scoring with an average of 35.6 points (five points better than runner-up Oscar Robertson). Only Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor had previously averaged more, and only Michael Jordan did better over the next quarter century. On Dec. 6, 1966 against the New York Knicks, Barry set an NBA record for most free throws made in one quarter when he canned 14, a record later matched by others. (That record has since been broken by Vince Carter, who made 16 free throws in a 2005 game.) He made the second appearance of his eight NBA All-Star selections and won the game’s MVP Award in 1967 after pouring in 38 points.

Over a period of 30 years, Rick proved himself to be an accomplished sports broadcaster and covered a wide range of sports on both radio and television.  At one point teaming with Bill Russell to form a highly opinionated announcing duo.

Basketball is a family business for Rick and his wife Lynn who was an All-America basketball player at the College of William & Mary where she became the first female athlete to have her jersey retired. All of Rick’s five grown sons received NCAA Division I basketball scholarships and played professional basketball. They made history when they became the first family to have a father and three sons in the NBA.

In recent years, Rick discovered pickleball and got addicted. In 2021 Rick won two Huntsman World Senior Games Championships in pickleball in men’s doubles 5.0 skill level. In the US Open Pickleball tournament he won a gold medal in men’s doubles 4.5 skill and the mixed doubles, 4.0 skill. Finally, he won gold in the USA Pickleball National Championships in men’s doubles, 4.5 skill, along with a gold in mixed doubles in the 4.5 skill category and 4.5 skill level.

He is also a two-time world champion in the Grand Champions division, a one-time world champion in the Legends Division, and a one-time world champion in the Masters division of the Remax World Long Driving competitions.

Rick has been involved in over a dozen different companies, including those based around real estate, health and wellness products, consulting, sales, agriculture, medicine, and software. Rick enjoys investing in new products and services that combine competitive sports with helping people.

Rick has been a motivational speaker and basketball clinician over the years and enjoys fishing, hunting, road and mountain biking, golfing, and tennis. He is a member of the National Basketball Retired Players Association. 

For more details on Rick’s incredible basketball accomplishments over the years, please visit https://www.nba.com/news/history-nba-legend-rick-barry.