Dick Barnett, a two-time NBA champion with the legendary New York Knicks teams of the 1970s and, later, a passionate educator who earned a doctorate from Fordham, died on April 27 in Largo, Florida. He was 88.
Barnett was born in Gary, Indiana, and attended Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State University (now Tennessee State), where he led the school’s basketball team to three consecutive National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championships, from 1957 to 1959. He was drafted by the Syracuse Nationals in 1959 and went on to play 14 seasons in the NBA—the last nine of which were with the Knicks.
Two Knicks Titles and a Passion for Education
Known for his unorthodox jump shot, Barnett was named an All-Star in 1968 and was part of the Knicks teams that won championships in 1970 and 1973. Those teams—which also featured Earl Monroe, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Bill Bradley, Willis Reed, and Dave DeBusschere—were known for their balanced rosters and tough defense. Adaptability was a key to their success, Barnett told Fordham Magazine in 2018. “You make whatever adjustments that are necessary to function in a multicultural society. All of that is related to what we accomplished playing basketball with the New York Knicks. And one of the very fortunate things is that those kind of relationships that were established on the court have lasted a lifetime.”
The Knicks retired his number, 12, in 1990, and he was voted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.
Although he didn’t graduate from college before turning pro, Barnett placed a great amount of importance on education during his playing days and beyond. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Cal Poly while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and got a master’s degree in public administration from New York University while he was a Knick. He earned a Ph.D. in education from Fordham in 1991.
“I wanted to get my doctorate and go to the highest point that I possibly could,” he said. “Very few professional athletes have really gone down that road. I thought it would open doors that perhaps were not open before.”
Barnett taught sports management at St. John’s University from 2003 to 2007, and he spent much of his later life speaking to youth and writing about sports, race, and culture, including through the publishing imprint he founded, Fall Back Baby Productions. His Dr. Richard Barnett Foundation offered scholarships to high school students from underserved communities across New York City and sponsored career exploration events.
Cementing the Legacy of a Historic College Program
Barnett also dedicated himself to getting his Tennessee A&I teams wider recognition. The teams featured all Black players—the first team from a historically Black college or university to win any national championship, and the first college team to win three back-to-back championships. They were collectively inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019, and last year, the surviving members were invited to the White House, where they met with Vice President Kamala Harris. His efforts to gain attention for those teams were featured in a documentary, The Dream Whisperer, broadcast on PBS in 2022.
The title came from Barnett seeing himself as a “dream whisperer,” as he hoped to inspire young people to follow their own goals.
“Martin Luther King Jr. said a long time ago that to live one’s dream, you’ve got to reach down into the inner chambers of your own soul … and sign your own Emancipation Proclamation,” he told Fordham Magazine in 2018. “And that has been always a guiding light in my life and the message that I’ve taken forward to young people.”
Barnett is survived by his wife, Erma; his daughter, Tona; his son, Jeren; a sister, Jean Tibbs; and grandchildren.
