To those St. John's alumni and fans of the 1940s and 1950s,
there will always be one player – Dick McGuire. The numbers, of
course, do not tell the story as the stats of today were not a part
of McGuire's game. His playmaking ability, his superb court sense
and his ball handling under fire are more representative of his
career, and it was those qualities which brought him to the
Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
McGuire was a soft-spoken man who bore the nickname "Mumbles"
for his quick and jumbled ways of conversation, and "Tricky Dicky"
for his moves through the defense.
McGuire came to St. John's in 1943-44, a year St. John's won its
second consecutive NIT title. He was awarded the first of two
Haggerty Awards as New York's Outstanding College Player. Returning
to St. John's after the war, he won a second Haggerty in 1949 while
playing alongside his brother, Al. He joined the New York Knicks
for the 1949-50 season and his long career in the NBA included
service with the Detroit Pistons as a player-coach and with the
Knicks as a bench coach. You really can't explain Dick McGuire's
brilliance if you did not see him play, for seeing him under game
pressure was the only thing to make you believe.