Richard Midgley (born 7 July 1983 in

Burgess Hill Burgess Hill is a town and civil parish in West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town, Chichester. It ...

, England) is a retired British professional

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 who finished his career at the age of 26. He played Point Guard and played for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. His final club was

Everton Tigers The Mersey Tigers were a professional basketball team based in the city of Liverpool, England. The club was established in 2007 as a start-up franchise of the British Basketball League, the country's elite competition. The Tigers started c ...

of the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howev ...

; he previously played for

Newcastle Eagles The Newcastle Eagles are a professional basketball team based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Playing in the top-tier British Basketball League and holding the franchise for Tyne & Wear, they are the most successful team in the League's histor ...

after graduating from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Fran ...

, and subsequently became a high-school basketball coach.

Early career

The 6'3" Midgley began his career with his local club team, Haywards Heath Eagles, also played for the junior teams of the powerhouse club London Towers, and served as captain of the England Youth National team. In 1999 he moved to Modesto, California, where he played two seasons at Modesto Christian High School. He was ruled ineligible to compete in his senior year on grounds of age.

College career

In 2002 Midgley entered the

, where he starred for the

Cal Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

; he was named to the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

All-Freshman team and set a Cal freshman record by connecting on 44.9 percent of his three-point attempts (44–98) as he started the Bears' final 22 games of the season. His best moment of the season came in the first-round game of the NCAA tournament against

North Carolina State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

, when he sank a game-winning three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left in the overtime to give the eight-seeded Cal Bears a dramatic 76–74 win. In the 2004–05 season, after a slow start he averaged 12.9 points in 26 games during the Pac-10 season, with a field-goal percentage of 38.6%. Midgley played his senior year at Cal averaging 8.6 points in 30 games, in a season where the Bears advanced to the championship game of the 2006 Pac-10 Conference tournament, only to fall 72–51 to the eventual national runner-up

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. Midgley played alongside Leon Powe, tournament MVP and draftee to NBA franchise

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 ...

Professional career

In 2006 Midgley was recruited out of Cal to Spanish LEB1 side

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the Archipelago, archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitant ...

, but suffered from tendinitis of the knee, which hampered his progress at the club. He was released before playing a game. After a season of rehab he joined the

squad in July 2007. The following month, upon the recommendation of teammate

Andrew Sullivan Andrew Michael Sullivan (born 10 August 1963) is a British-American author, editor, and blogger. Sullivan is a political commentator, a former editor of ''The New Republic'', and the author or editor of six books. He started a political blog ...

, Midgley signed for

. He was officially released from his contract on 13 December 2007, and signed for league rivals

a couple of days later. He led the team to the BBL Trophy but retired after the 2008–09 season and returned to the United States.

Coaching

In 2010 Midgley became an assistant coach at Modesto Christian; in 2014 he became head basketball coach. He left in 2016 to become a scout for the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Midgley, Richard 1983 births Living people Newcastle Eagles players British men's basketball players California Golden Bears men's basketball players English men's basketball players People from Burgess Hill Mersey Tigers players Point guards Modesto Christian School alumni