Tennessee State Basketball legend Dick “Skull” Barnett has been selected as one of 14 finalists for induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
🚨 𝙃𝙊𝙁 𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩 🚨
Congrats to TSU men’s basketball and @nyknicks legend Dick “Skull” Barnett for being selected as a 2024 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Finalist @Hoophall #RoarCity x #D2W pic.twitter.com/MwfmT9vVmd
— Tennessee State Men's Basketball (@TSUTigersMBB) February 20, 2024
Barnett played at Tennessee State, then Tennessee A&I, from 1955-59, under legendary head coach John McLendon and helped lead the Tigers to three consecutive NAIA championships in 1957, 1958, and 1959. The Tigers were the first HBCU to win an integrated national title as well as the first collegiate program at any level to three-peat as national champions.
Barnett averaged 23.6 points per game during his time as a Tigers and remains the school’s all-time leading scorer with 3,209 points.
He was taken with the 5th overall pick in the 1959 NBA Draft by the Syracuse Nationals (now Philadelphia 76ers) and averaged 15 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per contest over two seasons.
In 1962, Barnett played for the George Steinbrenner-owned Cleveland Pipers of the American Basketball League, leading them to the ABL Championship. He returned to the NBA for the 1962-63 season with the Lakers, appearing in 80 games and averaging 18 points, 3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per contest.
Barnett played for the Lakers for two more seasons before being traded to the New York Knicks. It was during his eight seasons in New York that Barnett would enjoy the highest scoring average of his career when he put up 23.1 ppg in the 1965-66 season.
In Barnet’s time in the Big Apple, he made the All-Star team in 1968 and helped the Knicks lift two championship trophies in 1970 and 1973.
Barnett retired in 1974 and ended his career with averages of 15.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists. His number 12 was retired by the Knicks in 1990.
His number 35 was retired by Tennessee State, making him the first athlete in the school’s history to have his jersey lifted to the rafters.
Barnett was also inducted into the Tennessee State University Hall of Fame (1983), Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame (1993), Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame (2005), National Collegiate Hall of Fame (2007), and the NAIA Hall of Fame (2016).
