Rick Mount
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 5, 1947 Lebanon, Indiana |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Listed weight | 180 lb (82 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Lebanon (Lebanon, Indiana) |
| College | Purdue (1967–1970) |
| NBA draft | 1970 / Round: 8 / Pick: 132nd overall |
| Selected by the Los Angeles Lakers | |
| Playing career | 1970–1975 |
| Position | Guard |
| Number | 10, 30, 11, 2 |
| Career history | |
| 1970–1972 | Indiana Pacers |
| 1972–1974 | Kentucky Colonels |
| 1974 | Utah Stars |
| 1974–1975 | Memphis Sounds |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
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College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2017 |
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Richard Carl Mount (born January 5, 1947) is a former American basketball player in the American Basketball Association (ABA). He was the first high school athlete to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Rick Mount's father, Pete, was an avid basketball player who intended Rick to learn the game as well. He cut out the bottom of a peanut can so Rick could shoot tennis balls through it. Rick's first time playing with an official basketball goal was during the fourth grade. He was known to beat 8th and 9th graders. However, when it was time to try out for the school basketball team, he wasn't able to make a standard left-hand lay up, which was a requirement for making the roster. That very night he practiced for hours until he had it down, and on the next day of tryouts, he made the team.
During the summers, Rick worked as a lifeguard. Learning by repetition, he would shoot for hours at a time between shifts at the local Memorial Park. He gave kids ice cream money to help retrieve loose balls. After the likes of Ken Sailors, Glen Roberts and Paul Arizin, Rick later helped establish the idealistic jump shot form before it was ever textbook, influencing a number of future shooters at all levels in the sport.
Rick "the Rocket" Mount attended Lebanon High School in Lebanon, Indiana. There, he led his team in scoring, including 33.1 ppg throughout his junior and senior seasons. His game started to attract national attention. In 1965, Lebanon played Crawfordsville High School at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. With 10,000 people in attendance, the team made enough money to buy a bus. He scored 57 points in the game. On February 14, 1966, Mount became the first high school athlete to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which featured him standing in front of a barn located in his Boone County homeland. At the end of his Senior year, he won the Indiana "Mr. Basketball" award and was named "USA Basketball Yearbook Player of the Year," given to the nation's best high school player. He finished his Lebanon career with 2,595 points, currently the fourth highest total in Indiana high school history.
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