Basketball Career
Rick Barry is one of the most celebrated players in NBA history — not only for his game, but also for the competitiveness he brought to the court. In 1965, following a stellar collegiate campaign at the University of Miami (FL), Barry was drafted third in the first round of the NBA Draft by the San Francisco Warriors. He quickly established himself as an elite player, garnered NBA Rookie of the Year honors, and was a member of the NBA All-Pro First Team. The next season, Rick proved he was for real by leading the league in scoring (35.6 ppg), and being named MVP of the All-Star Game. Once again, he was part of the NBA All-Pro First Team.
During his 14-year professional career, four in the ABA (Oakland, Washington and the New York Nets) and ten in the NBA (San Francisco, Golden State and Houston), Barry was a 12-time All-Star. His deadeye jump shot was one of basketball’s most feared weapons and enabled him to become the only player in history to lead the NCAA, ABA and NBA in scoring. In 1975, Barry earned the NBA Championship Series MVP, leading the underdog Warriors to a four-game sweep of the Washington Bullets to win the title. In a combined ABA/NBA career, Barry tallied 25,279 points and received nine All-NBA/ABA First Team honors. In 1987, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inducted Rick as a player, and in 1988; the Golden State Warriors retired his #24 jersey. Barry is one of the 50 Greatest NBA Players. His unorthodox underhanded free throw style enabled him to finish his career with the second best accuracy in the history of the NBA, 90%.
Broadcasting Career
Rick began his broadcasting career after his rookie season. He was the morning drive-time sports reporter on KNBR radio in San Francisco. His articulate style and insightful perceptions provided a refreshing and honest view of sports. After moving to the Oakland Oaks of the ABA, Rick began doing television work as a color analyst for college basketball games telecast on KTVU in Oakland, as well as providing sports commentary on a local radio station.
Rick’s next broadcasting experience came in New York City, when he played for the NY Nets. During the off-seasons, he worked as the weekend sports reporter for the local ABC-TV station. During the week, he also filled in for the six and eleven PM sports reporters, Frank Gifford and Jim Bouton. Rick even branched out into non-sporting event broadcasting, hosting NBC’s Monitor Radio program on several occasions.
Rick eventually returned to play for the Warriors and in his off-seasons, he provided color analyst for the nationally broadcasted NBA games on ABC-TV. Later he did both play-by-play and analyst work for the NBA games broadcasted by CBS-TV. Rick also covered a variety of sports, including track and field, swimming, diving, rodeo and even weightlifting and bodybuilding.
When TBS and then TNT began broadcasting NBA games, Rick became part of their broadcast team and did both play-by-play and color analyst work. He also covered other sports as part of Turner’s Goodwill Games in Moscow and Seattle.
While living in the Seattle area, Rick served as the color analyst for the SuperSonics NBA games. He then moved to Los Angeles and did local sports at night for one of the independent TV stations. Finally, for two years he served as both the NBA studio analyst and game analyst for CTV in Canada as part of their NBA game of the week, which ended when the Vancouver Grizzlies moved to Memphis.
Rick recently finished a five-year stint as host of the Rick Barry Show on KNBR radio in San Francisco and for one season, co-hosted “In the Paint” for the NBA, on Sirius Satellite Radio. He also was a co-host of some shows on the Outdoor Channel.
Business Career
Along with his broadcasting work, Rick is also heavily involved in various other business ventures, including:
- Working with Folium Biosciences, one of the leading producers of full-spectrum, high-quality CBD products.
- Partner in Vijuvia Life Centers, the leader of combining vitality and rejuvenation for elevating the quality of life and safe reduction of pain.
- Spokesman for MediciLeaf, a Hugh quality CBD company that is the official CBD of the Professional Pickleball Association.
- Spokesman for BioGenesis, an all-natural anti-inflammatory supplement.
- Spokesman for B:Rare whose products & solutions help customers enhance their physical, sexual, and cognitive health under the supervision of a doctor.
- Spokeperson for Go Sleeves, maker of knee, calf and other sleeves can use that have kenesiotape built into the products
- Partner and VP of the Legacy Lodge Collection, which will be the premiere private resort concept that will change how people have second homes.
- Grid Power Direct, creating a new income stream for large commercial real estate companies at no cost to them. .
- Resourcive, a consulting company offering a no cost analysis of a company’s telecommunications, showing them how they can save the company from 20 to in excess of 50% in monthly savings. The company has a 95% retention rate and has some very high profile clients.
- Co-Owner of RBC24 Brands specializing in CBD and other health products, with a focus on the military, first responders and government employees.
- Sales rep for Smart Plastics Technology.
- Minority owner of Zero Gravity Solutions, maker of BAM-FX, a revolutionary agricultural product fir industrial and home use.
- Consultant for MedSign, a TeleHealth and TeleEd company with their proprietary Qortex system for home televisions.
Personal
Rick lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado and Lakewood Ranch, FL with his wife, Lynn, who was an All-America basketball player at The College of William & Mary, where she became the first female athlete, and still is the only basketball player, to have her jersey retired. For twelve years, she was the Assistant Executive Director of USA Basketball, in charge of all women’s programs. For five years, Lynn was the special advisor to the WNBA and was a valuable asset in helping the new league get started.
All four of Rick’s grown sons have played profession basketball. At one time, Jon, Brent and Drew were in the NBA, becoming the first family to have a father and three sons play in the league. His oldest son, Scooter, a member of the 1988 NCAA Champion Kansas Jayhawks, was the last cut by the Boston Celtics and went on to play in Europe for over 15 years. He is now working with Rick in a few of Rick’s business ventures and is a salesman for Judge, a company that assist companies with finding qualified personnel. Jon is currently a game analyst for NBA games broadcast on ABC-TV and ESPN TV and radio. Brent enjoyed two NBA Championships with the San Antonio Spurs and is currently VP of Basketball Operations for the Spurs. Drew, played for three seasons in the NBA and now is working for R. R. Donnelly, one of the world’s largest printing companies.
Meanwhile, Rick’s youngest son, Canyon, after a stellar collegiate basketball career, and a season playing professionally overseas, played his third season with this Des Moines Wolves, the G-League team for The Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA. In June of 2019 he was a member of the USA Basketball 3×3 World Cup team, winning the Gold Medal in Amsterdam. The team went 7-0 and Canyon was the leading scorer in four of the seven games. He was also selected to be on the USA Basketball National 3×3 qualifying team to earn a spot in the next Summer Olympics.
Rick is an excellent motivational speaker and basketball clinician. He enjoys, fishing, hunting, road and mountain biking, is a low handicap golfer and an outstanding tennis and pickleball player. In 2007, Rick became the ReMax World Long Driving Champion in the Grand Champions Division. His winning drive was just shy of 350 yards. He repeated as champion in 2008. In 2009, they dropped his division, but he won again in 2010 in what was then the Legends Division. Rick’s winning drive in the Finals was 351 yards. Unfortunately, he was unable to compete in the 2011 event and in 2012 he lost in the Semi-Finals, disappointing himself for not winning. In 2013 he won the title in the Masters Division and came in second in the Legends division, losing by two yards. As a result of a biking accident, Rick was unable to compete in 2014 and in 2015 there weren’t enough competitors in his division to have a competition and they eliminated his division from future competitions.