Rick Mount

Richard Carl Mount (born January 5, 1947) is an American former professional basketball player who played for Purdue University from 1966 to 1970 as well as the American Basketball Association (ABA). Mount played basketball at Lebanon Senior High School in Lebanon, Indiana, during which time he became the first high school boy representing a team sport to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Richard Carl Mount (born January 5, 1947) is an American former professional basketball player who played for Purdue University from 1966 to 1970 as well as the American Basketball Association (ABA). Mount played basketball at Lebanon Senior High School in Lebanon, Indiana, during which time he became the first high school boy representing a team sport to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Early life

Rick Mount's father, Pete, was an avid basketball player who intended Rick to learn the game as well. He cut out the bottom of a peanut can so Rick could shoot tennis balls through it. Rick's first time playing with an official basketball goal was during the fourth grade at which time he was known to beat 8th and 9th graders. However, when it was time to try out for the school basketball team, he wasn't able to make a standard left-hand lay up, which was a requirement for making the roster. That night he practiced for hours until he had it down, and on the next day of tryouts, he made the team.

High school career

Rick "the Rocket" Mount attended Lebanon High School in Lebanon, Indiana. There, he led his team in scoring, including 33.1 points per game (ppg) throughout his junior and senior seasons. It was at this time that he started to attract national attention. In 1965, Lebanon played Crawfordsville High School at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. With 10,000 people in attendance, the team made enough money to buy a bus. He scored 57 points in that game. On February 14, 1966, Mount appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which featured him standing in front of a barn located in Boone County, Indiana. A frequent misconception is that Rick was the first high school athlete (or male high school athlete) to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1966, though there had been several prior to this time; he was, in fact, the first high school boy representing a team sport to appear on the cover. At the end of his senior year, he won the Indiana "Mr. Basketball" award and was named "USA Basketball Yearbook Player of the Year," given to the nation's best high school player. He finished his Lebanon career with 2,595 points, at the time it was the second-highest total in Indiana high school history; as of December 2021, he is seventh.

College career

1966–67 season

Mount was considering committing to University of Miami (Florida). Instead, he stayed home and attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, just northwest of his hometown where he played basketball under head coach George King. As a freshman, Mount was unable to play on the varsity team due to NCAA regulations then in effect. Rick scored 33 points in a scrimmage against the varsity team in front of 9,500 in attendance at Lambert Fieldhouse. He averaged 35 points a game while shooting 54.5 percent on the freshman squad, tallying 490 points.

1967–68 season

In his first varsity game, Mount scored a game-high 28 points in a last-second, two-point loss to a top-ranked UCLA team and Lew Alcindor. It was also the first game played in Mackey Arena. Averaging 28.4 points a game and leading Purdue to a 15–9 record, he was named a Second Team All-American and First Team All-Big Ten his sophomore season. Following the U.S. Olympic Trials in April, he was selected as an Alternate to the U.S. National Team.

1968–69 season

In his junior season at Purdue, along with seniors Billy Keller and Herm Gilliam, he led the Boilermakers to a Big Ten Conference title and the school's first NCAA tournament appearance, where he led the Boilers to the NCAA Championship game where they lost to a Lew Alcindor-led UCLA. In a win against Marquette to bring the Boilers to the Final Four, Mount is remembered for his "leaping lofter" game-winning shot with two seconds left in overtime. He led all scorers in the tournament with a 40.6 point average in Purdue's three games. Purdue led the nation with 94.8 points a game during the 1968–69 season fronted by Mount's 33.3 points a game. A regular season highlight was playing against the Indiana Hoosiers. In that year, Purdue defeated Indiana 120–76 in the final game of the regular season, where Mount established a school record for most points in a game. Mount had an unusual knack for telling if a goal wasn't balanced. He twice had officials adjust the same goal prior to the NCAA Finals game at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. He went through the same situation earlier in the season before a game at Iowa. He led Purdue to a 23–5 record on the season. He shot 51.5 percent on the season, whereas well-known scorers such as Pete Maravich and Calvin Murphy shot no better than 46 percent. He was selected as a First Team All-American and the Big Ten Player Of The Year.

1969–70 season

In his senior year, Mount had two 53-point games, plus a 61-point game against conference champion Iowa.Thirty-two of his 61 points were scored in the first half. Later research found that if the three-point line had existed in college basketball in 1970, he would have scored 74 points in that game, and been credited with 13 three-point field goals. The official school record is ten, held by Carsen Edwards. Leading Purdue to an 18–6 season, he averaged 35.4 points a game and took his second straight First Team All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year honors. Mount left Purdue as the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,323 points throughout only three varsity seasons. At the time, it was also the Big Ten scoring record, surpassing the total of Indiana's Don Schlundt. It is currently held by Indiana's Calbert Cheaney's 2,613, though Cheaney's career collegiate scoring average of 19.8 falls well short of Mount's 32.3. Mount scored in double figures for 72 consecutive games while scoring 30-plus points in 46 of those games: both remain school records. He broke numerous Purdue scoring records that were held by Dave Schellhase and Terry Dischinger. During his overall career, he led the Boilers to a 56–20 record. Mount never received a national player of the year award. He finished behind UCLA's Lew Alcindor and LSU's Pete Maravich.

Professional career

Indiana Pacers

Kentucky Colonels

Utah Stars

Memphis Sounds

Career notes

Mount was among the top of the league in three-point shooting during the time he spent in the ABA, while averaging 11.8 points a game and a career total of 3,330 points. Known mainly for his scoring abilities in high school and college, Mount contributed in a greater variety of ways during his pro career. As one of the finest passers in the league, he averaged 2.4 assists, tallying a total of 676. He was also a fine free throw shooter with 82 percent accuracy. Rick shot 31.7 percent beyond the arc and held a 43.3 field goal percentage in his five seasons in the ABA.

After retirement

Today, Mount lives in his hometown of Lebanon, Indiana, with his wife, Donna. His son, Rich, played on the Purdue basketball team for two seasons (1989–1991) before transferring to Virginia Commonwealth (VCU). Rich, who also played at Lebanon, left high school with the ninth most points in Indiana high school history. He currently works as a police officer in Lebanon. Currently, Mount runs "shoot camps" for high school players throughout the Midwest, where each player will take 2,500 supervised shots. The instructional school is based solely on shooting and there is no scrimmaging involved. An avid quail hunter, he opened Rick Mount's Sports Shop, a hunting and fishing shop. Purdue is among Mount's customers for the "Shoot-A-Way" retrieval system, a device which returns a basketball down a track to a player after a shot. Rick left college 10 credits shy of his degree; that decision later affected his opportunity to be a head coach at an Indiana high school. In 1992, Mount and his father were both inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, located in New Castle, Indiana. In 2014, his son, Rich, was named to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame's Silver Anniversary Team. In 2016, Mount gave an interview to The Indianapolis Star where he discussed his career and his public perception.

See also

List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 60 or more points in a game

References

General Jeff Washburn, Tales from Indiana High School Basketball (Sports Publishing 2004). Mike Bresnahan, Covered in Glory (Los Angeles Times, January 3, 2003) The Lafayette Journal and Courier, Most Memorable Moments In Purdue Basketball History (Sports Publishing 1998) Specific

External links

Rick Mount Purdue University Biography Rick Mount Shooting Clinic Website

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1368641853 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.