Richard Fuqua (born November 11, 1950) is an American former college basketball stand-out who is best known for being an All-American in 1972 while playing for Oral Roberts. He is a native of

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, it also extends into Marion County, Tennessee, Marion County on its west ...

and attended Riverside High School prior to college. Between 1969 and 1973, Fuqua scored 3,004 points in a 111-game career. He averaged 31.8 points per game (ppg) as a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of Post-secondary school, post-secondary educati ...

, 35.9 ppg as a junior and 27.1 ppg for his career. In 1971–72, Fuqua's junior season, he finished second in the nation in scoring. Since Oral Roberts University did not gain

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

Division I status until 1971 and because the school was an Independent (not affiliated with an athletic conference), Fuqua's career points and average totals do not go down in the men's basketball record books as Division I accomplishments. In February 1971, he scored 60 points in a game against the

University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an official seminary of ...

. After his college career ended, Fuqua got drafted by the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA)'s

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of ...

in the 4th round (69th pick overall) of the 1973 NBA Draft, but never played a game in the NBA.

References

# # # # # # 1950 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Boston Celtics draft picks Basketball players from Tennessee Kentucky Colonels draft picks Oral Roberts Golden Eagles men's basketball players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Chattanooga, Tennessee {{1950s-US-basketball-bio-stub