Former NBA star Mitch Richmond - 36 years later - finally gets his day at Boyd Anderson
Mitch Richmond finally got his jersey retired at his alma mater, Boyd Anderson High School.
They named the court after him, too, and they gave him a Hall of Fame jacket prior to the “Mitch Richmond Classic” game between Boyd Anderson and Miami Northwestern.
It all happened on Friday – 36 years after he became an NBA first-round pick, 28 years after he won an Olympic gold medal, and 10 years after he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
“This is long overdue,” Boyd Anderson boys’ basketball coach Admore White said. “It should’ve been done years ago.”
So, what took so long to honor the only Broward County Basketball Hall of Famer?
“There have been a lot of changes at Boyd Anderson – people coming in and out,” Richmond said with no hint of bitterness. “I guess you lose track of history.
“But better late than never!”
Richmond, 59, may be the most underpublicized former athlete in all of South Florida.
White said many of his players weren’t aware of Richmond until recently.
“When you hear ‘Hall of Fame’, I think they have an idea,” White said.
“I’ve told our players that Mitch was one of the best guards -- along with Michael Jordan – of his day, but I still don’t know if they understand the magnitude of it all.”
Richmond was the Golden State Warriors’ first-round pick – fifth overall -- in 1988.
He was named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 1989, and he went on to become a six-time All-Star.
In fact, he was the MVP of the 1995 All-Star Game. Richmond, who scored 23 points in that game, beat out stars such as Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Alonzo Mourning, Patrick Ewing, Reggie Miller, Scottie Pippen, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and more.
Richmond also won a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, and he won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. The 1988 Games served as the last time Team USA used amateurs on its basketball team.
But even with all of Richmond’s amazing accomplishments, it almost never happened.
Richmond told the Miami Herald that, during his middle-school years, when his mother was forced to move several times in order to make ends meet, he “rebelled and did crazy stuff that set me back.”
It was only after his mother moved back to Lauderhill when her son was in the 10th grade that Richmond could finally settle in at Boyd Anderson.
But even then, he missed the first half of his sophomore season due to academic issues. In fact, he had to take summer school and night classes just to get eligible.
As a junior, Richmond finally blossomed, averaging 22 points and 15 rebounds.
Richmond, who credits head coach Jim Polk and assistant Roosevelt Gray for his development at Boyd Anderson, was named the Broward Player of the Year as a senior.
However, in his last regular-season game, Richmond suffered a sprained ankle, and he missed the playoffs.
After high school, Richmond had numerous college scholarship offers, with Syracuse and Arkansas at the top of his list.
But because of his rebellious earlier years, Richmond’s grade-point average fell just short of acceptance to a four-year university.
Instead, he landed at Moberly Area Community College in Moberly, Missouri.
“Yea, it was tough,” Richmond said of his transition to Moberly. “Come on! I went from warm weather and beautiful beaches to the snow and not much to do in Moberly.
“But it was a blessing in disguise. I needed that time in junior college.”
A great leaper at 6-foot-5, Richmond was a center at Boyd Anderson. When he got to Moberly, Richmond was switched to the position that corresponded to his height – shooting guard. That meant Moberly coach Dana Altman – now the head man at Oregon – had to teach Richmond guard skills.
In addition, Altman changed Richmond’s shot. At that time, Richmond released the ball from his right ear. Altman gave Richmond the proper form, releasing the ball from his forehead.
“I slept in (Altman’s) basement that first summer,” Richmond said. “I didn’t go home. I just kept working on my shot. Even in my bed at night, with a tennis ball or without a ball, just practicing my form. I knew my old form was going to be too easy to block at the higher levels.”
When his junior-college days ended, Richmond signed with Kansas State and coach Lon Kruger. Altman came along, too, as an assistant coach.
Two years after that, Richmond was an Olympian for the first time and a first-round pick of the Warriors, where he joined fellow stars Tim Hardaway and Chris Mullin to form the famed “Run TMC” trio.
“The Olympics were a turning point,” Richmond said. “I had to pinch myself when I made that team because I couldn’t believe it was real just two years after playing at a junior college.”
After three years with the Warriors, Richmond was traded to the Sacramento Kings, where he became an even bigger star.
In Richmond’s final season, in 2001-2002, he averaged just 4.1 points, but he won his only NBA title as a reserve with the Los Angeles Lakers. In fact, he made his final NBA basket in the waning seconds as the Lakers – led by O’Neal and Kobe Bryant – easily swept the New Jersey Nets.
Richmond, who now lives in the Los Angeles area, took a brief try at coaching, serving as Mullin’s assistant at St. John’s (2015-2019).
On Friday, everything came full circle for Richmond as the court was dedicated in his honor, his high school jersey – No. 33 – was retired, and he was gifted a Boyd Anderson-colored (orange) Hall of Fame jacket.
“Our current basketball team – they are standing on the shoulder of a giant,” Boyd Anderson principal James F. Griffin II said in reference to Richmond. “We’ve had kids here who didn’t know the legacy of Mitch Richmond.”
Now they’ll know.