Last week the College Basketball Hall of Fame announced its Class of 2017, and 1 of the names who made the list was Purdue legend Rick Mount. Although he only played in West Lafayette for 3 years he remains the all-time leading scorer in Boilermaker history with 2323 PTS in 72 games (career 32.3 PPG). A 2-time 1st-team All-American, he led Purdue all the way to the 1969 NCAA title game and scored 28 PTS in a loss to Lew Alcindor and the UCLA Bruins. He was drafted 1st overall by the Pacers in the 1970 ABA draft, and 2 years later he scored 7 PTS in Game 6 of the 1972 ABA Finals to help Indiana secure a 3-PT win over the New York Nets and clinch the title. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel reached out to Mr. Mount in the past but was politely told that he does not grant interviews, so instead Jon got to chat with longtime Indiana sportswriter Mark Montieth about Mount’s Hall of Fame career.
In February of 1966 Mount became the 1st high school basketball player to ever be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated en route to being named Indiana’s Mr. Basketball: how great a player was he at Lebanon High School, and why did he decide to go to Purdue? There had been high school Olympians on the cover before but Rick was the 1st from a team sport. It was a nice story about a sports hero from a small Midwestern town. He chose Purdue because it was close to his home: he had a hard time feeling comfortable outside of Lebanon. Rick had actually committed to play for Coach Bruce Hale at Miami after being heavily recruited but Purdue’s chief recruiter (Bob King) was from Lebanon and had a relationship with the town’s mayor. There would be caravans of cars heading back and forth from Lebanon to Lafayette to watch him play!
In the 1969 NCAA tourney (the 1st in school history) as a junior at Purdue, he led all tourney scorers with 40.6 PPG and made a “leaping lofter” from the baseline with 2 seconds left to clinch a 2-PT OT win over Marquette: where does that shot rank among the greatest in school history? It has to be way up there because it sent them to the Final 4. He came off a pick and made his classic jumper off the dribble. I would argue that it is the most meaningful shot in school history given the tourney ramifications.
There were multiple occasions during college when he had the refs adjust the basket because it was not aligned correctly: how much of a factor was his eyesight to his success? The story I heard was that in the pregame warm-up before 1 game he told the ref that 1 of the baskets needed fixing. A former Illinois coach told a story of Rick nailing 30-footers right in front of the Illini bench in an attempt to intimidate his opponents! I am told he is a marksman with a rifle and that he loves to hunt so he certainly has a gift for hand-eye coordination.
He was a 3-time All-American/2-time Big 10 POY: what did it mean to him to win such outstanding honors? I think it meant a lot to him although he was a shy kid so he would never pound his chest about it. I imagine it means a lot more to him today because he is proud of what he accomplished as a player.
As a senior he scored a D-1-record 61 PTS (27-47 FG) in a 1-PT loss to Iowa: how on earth did the Boilermakers lose that game?! It is a reminder that basketball is a team game and that you have to play defense. After the Big 10 introduced the 3-PT shot in the mid-1980s I talked to assistant SID Bob Goldring about it. We went back to look at the shot chart from the game and we counted 13 long-range shots…so if he had been playing a couple of decades later he would have scored 74 PTS! The ref actually called a technical foul on the Purdue crowd for throwing something onto the court, which also had an influence on the 1-PT game.
He graduated as the conference’s all-time leading scorer despite only playing 3 varsity seasons: where do you think he ranks among the greatest scorers in NCAA history? He would have to be in the top-10, and if you just look at jump shooters I do not think there has ever been a better 1. He could shoot off of the dribble or off of the wrong foot: it was still the prettiest jump shot that I have ever seen. He was 6’4”, which was tall for a guard back in the 1960s, and he had a quick 1st step. He could even dribble deep into the right corner and shoot it over the backboard. Pressure never got to him: he was a clutch scorer. I think he is underrated as a collegian because he was just average as a pro (11.8 PPG in 5 seasons).
After being selected 1st overall by Indiana in the 1970 ABA draft, he made the 1971 West Division Finals before losing to eventual champion Utah in Game 7: how was he able to make such a smooth transition from college to the pros? The draft back then was a joke because they were just trying to survive. The Pacers had won the title in 1970 and would have been drafting at the end of the 1st round, but they just signed Rick because they could. It was a bad place for him because Coach Slick Leonard did not like Rick’s playing style or personality. Leonard felt that management was forcing Rick onto the team because he would help sell a lot of tickets: he actually signed his contract during a live TV broadcast in Indianapolis but Slick did not attend so it was awkward from the beginning. Rick never felt confident with the Pacers and if he had to do it all over again he probably would have gone to the Lakers (who selected him in the 8th round of the 1970 NBA Draft). He also did not like the pro basketball lifestyle of traveling all over the country because he was just a small-town kid.
In Game 6 of the 1972 Finals he scored 7 PTS for the Pacers in a 3-PT win over the Nets to clinch the title: what did it mean to him to win a title? Very little because he did not feel like part of that team. A story leaked out that he wanted a trade so he had already become emotionally disconnected. There is video of the Pacers celebrating in the locker room with champagne but he was just not as excited as the rest of his teammates.
In the 1973 Finals with Kentucky he lost to Indiana in Game 7, and in the 1974 Finals with Utah he lost to the Nets in 5 games: did it just reach a point where he expected to be playing for a championship every single year? His best year was with Memphis in 1975 before he got hurt. He could still shoot when he was on the Colonels/Stars but he was not the focal point of the offense. Rick had actually tried to go back to the Pacers for training camp but only lasted a few days before walking out. Slick was a good-hearted guy and I think he wanted to mend fences with Rick.
When people look back on his career, how do you think he should be remembered the most? Baby boomers who followed basketball in the 1960s still think of him as 1 of the all-time Indiana greats. There was no ESPN back then so being on the cover of SI was the biggest thing that could possibly happen for an athlete. He was such a unique player and so fun to watch: there is still magic to his name.