Rick Mount
From Hoopedia
| Rick Mount | |
|---|---|
| no image | |
| Personal information | |
| Born | January 5, 1947 Lebanon, Indiana |
| Nationality |  American
|
| Listed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.90 m) |
| Listed weight | 175 lbs (79 kg) |
| Career details | |
| Position | Guard |
| Jersey No.(s) | 10, 30, 11, 2 |
| Career information | |
| High school | Lebanon (Lebanon, Indiana) |
| College | Purdue |
| NBA Draft | 1970 / Round: 8 / Pick: 132nd by the Los Angeles Lakers |
| Pro career | 1970-1975 |
| Career history | |
| Year(s) | Team |
| 1970-1972 | Indiana Pacers |
| 1972-1973 | Kentucky Colonels |
| 1974 | Utah Stars |
| 1974-1975 | Memphis Sounds |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Richard Carl (Rick) Mount (born January 5, 1947 in Lebanon, Indiana) is a American former professional basketball player. His nickname is "The Rocket."
Contents |
Early Years
Rick Mount's father was an avid basketball player, who intended for Rick to learn the game as well. He cut the bottom of a coffee can out and Rick would shoot tennis balls through it. His first time playing with an official basketball goal was during the fourth grade, when he began his basketball playing. He was known to beat 8th and 9th graders. When it was time to try out for the school basketball team, he wasn't able to do a standard lay up, so that very night he practiced for hours until he had it down. The next day of tryouts, he made the team. During the summers, he worked as a lifeguard. Every other hour he would practice his basketball skills, even paying kids ice cream money to rebound for him.
Rick "the Rocket" Mount attended Lebanon High School in Lebanon, Indiana. There, he led his team in scoring, including 33.1 ppg throughout his junior and senior seasons. His game started to attract national attention. Mount appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1966.
College Years
After a great high school basketball career at Lebanon, Rick attended Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana. Mount, as a freshman, was unable to play on the varsity basketball team, due to NCAA regulations then in effect not allowing freshmen to play on the varsity level. Throughout his career at Purdue (1966-1970), Rick led the Boilermakers, averaging more than 30 ppg,(he was playing when the 3 point line had not been introduced to basketball yet) and was a three-time All-American. In 1969, he led Purdue to the national championship game, losing to UCLA. In 1970, his senior year, Rick had two 53-point games, and one 61-point game, which still stands as the NCAA Division I men's single-game record. Later research found that if the three-point line had existed in 1970, he would have scored 74 points in that game.
Professional Career
Mount was considered an excellent professional prospect, but because the general managers of the NBA knew that Mount was already signed by the ABA, he was not drafted until the middle of the 8th round of the 1970 NBA Draft. Mount was, however, drafted in the ABA by the Indiana Pacers as an early pick in 1970. As a result, his legendary status in Indiana made it a foregone conclusion that he would sign with the Indiana Pacers of the rival ABA. At the time, the ABA was the only professional league that featured a three-point line, which worked to Mount's advantage, as he was an outside shooter. He led the league in three-point shooting during most of the five seasons he played and averaged 11.8 ppg. His career was ended by injuries. Other teams he played for were the Utah Stars, Memphis Sounds and the Kentucky Colonels.
According to Utah teammate Charley Rosen, Mount displayed the most astounding exhibition of pure, one-on-none shooting he has ever saw. Rosen was invited by the Utah Star's coach, Joe Mullany, to participate in an intra-squad scrimmage. After Mullany officially terminated the session, several players lingered to play HORSE. Because of Mount, the Stars' rules for this popular shot-matching game were unique. Shots had to be perfectly clean, every make counted if and only if the ball didn't hit the rim. Despite this wrinkle (or perhaps because of it), Mount won every game. Finally, only Mount and Rosen were left on the court, and Mount was able to adjust the trajectory of every jumper so that the ball hit the inner part of the backside-rim in such a way that the ball would nudge the iron, split the net, and then bounce back to him. He could do this about 90 percent of the time.
Today, Rick Mount lives in his hometown of Lebanon, Indiana, just northwest of Indianapolis, where he runs a basketball shooting instructional school.
Quotes: Mount once told a group of high school coaches, "If I can see the basket, I can make it every time; if I can't, well, 50% of the time."
