Jerry Lucas’ No. 11 jersey already hangs in the rafters at Value City Arena. Now, his likeness will be forever enshrined outside the home of the Ohio State men’s basketball program.
On Nov. 14 at 4 p.m., Ohio State will unveil a statue commemorating Lucas, one of the program’s all-time greats and a member of the 1960 national championship team. The native of Middletown, Ohio, will be the first men’s basketball player immortalized with an on-campus statue in Ohio State history.
“I am so very, very, humbled and honored for that happening,” Lucas said. “It might be the highlight of my entire career. It’s so unique. You look at the history of the university, the history of sports at the university, and the very small number of people who have had that honor, it’s incredible.
“When I first heard about it, I was so humbled. Jesse Owens. Woody Hayes. Archie Griffin. There’s so few that have had that privilege and that honor. It’s very, very touching.”
In an era when freshmen were prohibited from playing with the varsity team, Lucas finished his career as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,990 points in only three seasons. He now sits tied for third with William Buford on Ohio State’s scoring list and second all-time in scoring average (24.3).
The statue will depict Lucas shooting his go-to hook shot.
“That was my specialty,” he said. “The real hook. It’s like the dinosaurs. It’s disappeared (today).”
Lucas is Ohio State’s all-time leading rebounder, nabbing 1,411 boards for a career average of 17.2 per game. He holds the three best individual rebounding seasons in program history, going from 442 in 1959-60 to 470 the next season to 499 as a senior. Of the 46 times a Buckeye has pulled down at least 20 rebounds, Lucas has 20 of them.
His 78 double-doubles are a program record. He has the two longest double-double streaks in Ohio State history, playing 38 straight games with a double-double and then another 24 consecutive games. No other player has a stretch longer than 12.
In his three years, Ohio State went 78-6, won the lone national title in program history and finished as runner-up in both the 1961 and 1962 title games. The Buckeyes also won three Big Ten titles during those years.
He was a three-time all-American, the only three-time Big Ten player of the year in history, a two-time MVP of the Final Four and the national player of the year as both a junior and senior. His jersey was the first retired by the Ohio State men’s basketball program.
After his Ohio State career, Lucas was taken sixth overall in the 1962 NBA Draft, three spots ahead of teammate John Havlicek, whose jersey also hangs inside Ohio State’s arena. In 11 seasons with Cincinnati, San Francisco and New York, Lucas averaged 17.0 points and 15.6 rebounds, the latter good for the fourth-best career average in NBA history. He was part of the 1973 Knicks team that won the NBA Finals.
Lucas won at every level of basketball. He helped Middletown to a state titles in 1956 and 1957 and was part of the 1960 U.S. Olympic basketball team that earned a gold medal in Rome.
The statue will be unveiled one day before the football team hosts UCLA and two days before the men’s basketball team hosts Notre Dame. In 2023, athletic director Gene Smith said that fans wanting to see Lucas dot the ‘i’ in Script Ohio as the marching band performs would need to reach out to the band director.
“I am so grateful,” Lucas said. “I don’t know what the feeling might be when it’s done, but I know it’s going to be something that I’ve never felt before, I guarantee you that.”
Ohio State men’s basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State to unveil Jerry Lucas statue outside Value City Arena this fall
Reporting by Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
