NBA Hall of Famer Dick McGuire dead at 84
He spent over 50 years with the New York Knicks first as a player, then as a coach, and eventually in the team’s front office. His brother Al was a successful college coach. RIP.
Dick McGuire, a basketball Hall of Famer and longtime member of the New York Knicks organization, died Wednesday of natural causes. He was 84.
The Knicks said McGuire died at Huntington Hospital in Long Island. McGuire still worked for the Knicks as a senior basketball consultant.
McGuire was a part of the Knicks’ organization for 53 of its 64 seasons.
“Dick McGuire was the epitome of what it means to be a Knickerbocker: pride, tradition and class,” Knicks president Donnie Walsh said in a statement. “It was an honor to watch him play for our hometown team and I consider myself very lucky to say I worked alongside a man who shaped the National Basketball Association for parts of all eight decades of its existence.”
A Bronx native, McGuire was a five-time All-Star and led the Knicks to three straight NBA Finals from 1951-53. He went on to serve the team as a coach, assistant coach and scout. His No. 15 was retired in 1992 and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame a year later.
McGuire still ranks third on the Knicks’ career list with 2,950 assists.
“As one of its first superstars, Dick was instrumental to the early success of the NBA,” commissioner David Stern said in a statement. “Whether as player, coach, scout or consultant, Dick loyally served the New York Knicks organization.”
Nicknamed “Tricky Dick,” McGuire was born Jan. 26, 1926, in New York, part of a famed basketball family. His younger brother, Al, also played for the Knicks and later won a national championship as coach of Marquette — before being himself inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992.
Dick McGuire played collegiately at St. John’s and was picked by the Knicks in the first round of the 1949 draft. He played eight seasons for the team before he was traded to the Detroit Pistons on April 3, 1957, for a first-round pick. McGuire spent his final three seasons with the Pistons.
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