William Edward "Easy Ed" Ratleff (born March 29, 1950) is an American retired

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. He attended

Columbus East High School Columbus East High School (CEHS) is one of three high schools in Columbus, Indiana, United States. East is a member of the Hoosier Hills Conference in athletics and has a total of 5 IHSAA state championships. It was founded in 1972 due to the ...

where he led his high school basketball team to the Ohio State Championship in 1968 and was joined by Dwight "Bo" Lamar to claim the 1969 Ohio High School title. In college, Ratleff was a two-time first-team All-American at Long Beach State. He was chosen for the 1972 U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball Team and participated in the Munich Games. He was selected with the sixth pick of the NBA Draft and played five NBA seasons.

High school

Ratleff attended Columbus East High School in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

, leading his team to the AAA (big school) state championship in 1967-1968 with a 25-0 record. The ’68-69 Tigers were also undefeated state champions. Overall in three seasons he led the Tigers to three state championship games, two state championships and a 70-1 record.

College career and Olympics

A 6'6" guard/ forward, he played college basketball at California State University, Long Beach under coach

Jerry Tarkanian Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Reb ...

. He still holds the school's career record for scoring average (21.4). He was twice named first-team AP All-American by the AP, in 1971–72 and 1972–73. Ratleff played for the

United States national basketball team The USA Basketball Men's National Team, commonly known as the United States men's national basketball team, is the basketball team representing the United States. They are the most successful team in international competition, winning medals in ...

at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972 ...

, where the United States lost a controversial gold medal game to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. Ratleff and his teammates refused to accept silver medals. Throughout the Olympic tournament, Ratleff averaged 6.4

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by ...

Professional career

Ratleff was chosen with the sixth pick in the

1973 NBA draft The 1973 NBA draft was the 27th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 24 and May 5, 1973, before the 1973–74 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college bask ...

by the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Divisio ...

. He played five season for the Rockets, averaging 8.3 points and 4.0

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

in his NBA career.

Personal life

In 1991 his number 42 was retired by Long Beach State. In 2009, he was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2015, he was part of the class inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame and in 2017 he was inducted into the Ohio High School Athletic Association Ring of Champions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratleff, Ed 1950 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Ohio Houston Rockets draft picks Houston Rockets players Long Beach State Beach men's basketball players Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in basketball People from Bellefontaine, Ohio Shooting guards Small forwards United States men's national basketball team players