Art Hicks, 68; Point-Shaving Basketball Star From 1950s
Bill Schenley
ART HICKS | 1939-2008
FROM: The Chicago Sun-Times ~
By Taylor Bell
In the 1950s, when Chicago high school basketball
was making a statement in Illinois and talented
African-American players were emerging from city
playgrounds, nobody made a bigger impact than
Art Hicks and St. Elizabeth.
More than Sweet Charlie Brown, Paxton Lumpkin
and Du Sable. More than Art Day, George Wilson
and Marshall. More than Tommy Hawkins, Abe
Booker, Frank Burks, Mel Davis, Jim Robinson,
Bernie Mills and Pete Cunningham.
''Art Hicks was the best high school player in the
history of Chicago basketball,'' longtime friend Shelly
Stark said. ''He had a great inside game with big hands
and great strength. He had an outside shot, too. And
he always made his teammates better.''
Stark, who coached Hicks in summer leagues in the late
1960s, reminded that Hicks was 6-4 and weighed 220
pounds, a physical version of Charles Barkley in his era.
''But he was a showman, too,'' Stark said. ''He was the
first guy I ever saw who could palm a basketball off the
dribble, like Connie Hawkins or Michael Jordan.''
Hicks died Thursday after a long illness. He was 68. He
always regretted that he never fulfilled the enormous
potential and promise he demonstrated while leading
St. Elizabeth, the city's only all-black high school at the
time, to an unprecedented 48-3 record in 1956-57.
In that magical season, Hicks scored 1,151 points, an
average of 22.6 per game. He led St. Elizabeth to two
successive Chicago Catholic League championships
and a pair of victories over Public League champions
Dunbar (64-61) and Crane (63-57) in the all-city
championship at Chicago Stadium.
''He was as good as I saw,'' said Larry Hawkins,
who coached Cunningham and another Chicago
legend, Cazzie Russell. ''He was a big guy who was
in control. When he played 100 percent, he was
awesome.''
After leading St. Elizabeth to two Catholic League and
two city championships and the National Negro
Tournament, Hicks wanted to attend Notre Dame. But
the school wouldn't accept Hicks or teammate Prentiss
Thompson. So Hicks opted for Seton Hall in New
Jersey, where Walter Dukes had played.
However, Hicks met a gambler [1] while playing
summer-league basketball in New York City, became
involved in the infamous point-shaving scandal and was
banned from basketball forever.
In the book Sweet Charlie, Dike, Cazzie, and Bobby Joe:
High School Basketball In Illinois, Hicks summed up his
turbulent life: ''My first girlfriend was basketball, my first
love affair. When you do something to break up that
relationship, you never forget it. You never forget the first
time you made a bad play on purpose. I will always
remember it. I feel I would have been a sure NBA player.
But I lost my love for the game. I turned it out of my life.
I never thought I'd do that.''
No services were held.
---
[1] Jack Molinas was the gambler. He was found guilty of
bribing players to fix games from 1957 to 1961, and he
served five years in Attica where he was the inspiration for
the Burt Reynolds film, "The Longest Yard." After he was
released from prison, he moved to Hollywood to traffic
in pornography. Jack Molinas was murdered in 1975, in
LA.