Perry Ellis grew on and off the court at Kansas

After Perry Ellis' magical KU career ended in the Elite Eight against Villanova on March 26, 2016, I wrote this tribute article for Phog.net reflecting on his great accomplishments ---on and off the court and how much he meant to the program and how much he grew off the hardwood. An extremely shy person when he first arrived at KU, Ellis became more comfortable in his own skin as his career progressed and this paid dividends on the court as well. He was a true Jayhawk ambassador and did so much community service. While he had a rough night in his senior swan song against Villanova, there haven't been many more finer players and people to wear the KU uniform. I felt proud to cover his career, from one of the first moments when he arrived at KU in the summer before his freshman season to his senior season and last home game, when I asked him how he'd like to be remembered.

“As a player that tried to do the best he could day in and day out and tried to be a great role model,” Ellis softly told me.

Indeed, he did.

...

Perry Ellis first arrived at Kansas in the summer of 2012 after a decorated career at Wichita Heights, where he was a four-time Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year and talked about in the same breath as other City League legends and former KU standouts as Ricky Ross and Darnell Valentine.

I asked the shy freshman then about how he felt about those comparisons and what kind of mark he wanted to accomplish at Mount Oread.

The 6-8 forward called “it an honor” to be mentioned with Ross and Valentine.

“I’m just trying to follow in their footsteps,” Ellis said. “They were great players in Wichita and did big things and I’m just trying to follow behind them.”

Four years later after his career ended in a heartbreaking 64-59 loss to Villanova Saturday night in the Elite Eight at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, it’s safe to say that Ellis certainly followed behind them in amazing fashion and will go down like Valentine as one of KU’s all-time greats.

Ellis, who started 109 of 145 games, finished his storied career ranked No. 8 all time at Kansas in scoring (1,798 points) and No. 12 in rebounding (835 boards). Ellis, who was just 15 rebounds shy of cracking the top-10 list in all-time rebounds, is one of just five players to rank in the top 12 in both the career scoring and rebounding charts with superstars Danny Manning, Raef LaFrentz, Nick Collison and Clyde Lovellette.

He saved his best season for last, averaging a career-high 16.9 points and 5.8 rebounds in 30.3 minutes per game, while shooting 53.1 percent from the field, 43.8 percent from beyond the arc, and 78.5 percent at the free throw line. Ellis elevated his play during the Big 12 schedule, averaging 17.8 points and scored at least 20 points in seven of eight games entering the Elite Eight. 

He averaged 23 points per game during three NCAA Tournament games, including a season-high 27 points against Maryland in the Sweet 16, before struggling mightily in his swan song against Villanova with just four points.

Ellis went scoreless in the first half and ended the game with just four points on 1-of-5 shooting and 2-of-3 at the charity stripe, while committing four turnovers. He was the sharp focus of Villanova’s defensive game plan, and Ellis could never break free.

“I feel like they did a great job of just trying to swarm me at times and just somebody was always there,” Ellis said. “I could have demanded the ball more at times, you know, but...”

KU coach Bill Self talked about Ellis’ rough night.

“Perry really never engaged himself in the game the first half,” Self said. “They took away the pick and pop with him when they played man, because the way they rotated, so he didn't catch the ball naked at the top like we've been scoring quite a bit during the tournament.

“And they made him make the extra pass, and we missed some shots when we were wide open making the extra pass. But I think you should give Villanova credit. But I don't think that Perry was as aggressive demanding the ball as what he has been at certain times.

“You get two fouls quick, and things like that, and I think that kind of messed with his head a little bit also.”

Despite Ellis’ off night, he should be greatly commended for all he accomplished on and off the court at Kansas. A two-time Academic All-Big First Team selection, a NABC Good Works Team nominee, and a Senior Class Award Finalist (1 of 10), Ellis also became an All-American his senior season and was a two-time All-Big 12 selection on the hardwood.

Ellis, who will walk down Campanile Hill in May with a degree in sports management and a minor in business, was active in the community, a mentor and leader to kids, a great Jayhawk ambassador, and the kind of young man you’d want your son to be. 

Never one for much words, Ellis even became more talkative as his KU career progressed. An extremely shy person when he arrived at Kansas, Ellis used to be petrified giving a speech in class to 15 students. 

But there he was on Senior Night after KU’s victory over Iowa State giving his speech while smiling and cracking jokes to 16,300 fans and feeling so comfortable in his own skin.

Self marveled over how far he’s come.

“It just shows you how much he’s matured,” Self said on Senior Night. “(To have) total command (during his speech), it’s pretty amazing to watch.”

Indeed, it is.

“I feel like I’ve grown so much as a person where I know how to be successful later in life no matter playing basketball or whatever I’m doing,” Ellis said. “It’s (KU) really taught me to not take any days for granted.”

Self, who was at Ellis’ first high school game his freshman year, never took anything for granted when pursuing this high school star, who won four-straight state championships, helped set a Heights’ state-record 62-game winning streak, and finished his career as the conference’s all-time leading scorer (2,231 points), broken by former KU teammate Conner Frankamp a year later.

Self spoke about the recruitment process a day before the Elite Eight.

“We probably spent as much time on Perry, recruiting him, as anybody just because we were so aware of him at an early age and a young age,” Self said. “And Danny Manning (former KU assistant) was our point man in his recruitment for the most part.

“But he was an easy guy to recruit because he wasn't seeking attention. Just like he is now, he's not seeking attention. So he was a fun guy to recruit because it wasn't like you had to talk to him every day, to be honest with you, in order to let him know that you love him a lot, which you have to do with a lot of recruits. If you told him that maybe on Monday, then by Friday he would still believe that there was probably still some love involved, which is a little different for some recruits.

“He was an easy recruit, great family and certainly coaching him, it's been a real treat because -- and it has been for all our guys, because just watching how he's matured off the court so much, in my opinion, which has really spearheaded his development on the court.

“And just see how he's kind of grown not only into a great player, but really an outstanding young man as well.”

Self said nothing about the Elite Eight game will take away from Ellis’ exceptional legacy at Kansas and how much he meant to the program.

“No, no, no. He's a stud,” Self said. “He got a couple of easy looks early and missed them both and kind of probably shied away from being quite as aggressive after that.

“We've ridden Perry pretty hard over the last three years, and he's almost always delivered for us. And so it doesn't take anything away at all. It would have been really nice to see our seniors get to a Final Four because we haven't with this group. But certainly, in my mind, he's been a stud and one of the all-time greats regardless of this outcome of this game.”

After the Villanova loss, Ellis reflected briefly about his career while relaying what ‘Nova coach Jay Wright said to him after the contest.

“He just told me I’m a great player and just keep my head up,” Ellis said. “Just knowing it's over now, how much I've grown, I've grown so much. I'm just so thankful for everybody. Teammates, coaches and everybody. That’s helped me become who I am today.

“Just miss family being able to come to games, the fans, my teammates, just missing -- never going to be practicing again with these guys. My last time,” Ellis added. “I just thank God for being able to be in this position. ... My last time taking off this jersey. Never going to put it on again. Just honored to be able to even play.”

Exactly three weeks earlier on March 5, after he played his final home game in Allen Fieldhouse and scored 22 points with seven rebounds, I asked Ellis how he’d like to be remembered.

“As a player that tried to do the best he could day in and day out and tried to be a great role model,” Ellis softly replied.

There have been few better players or role models to ever wear a Jayhawk uniform.

Perry Ellis left his mark as one of KU's all-time greats

Perry Ellis left his mark as one of KU’s all-time greats. He concluded his memorable career ranked No. 8 all time at Kansas in scoring (1,798 points) and No. 12 in rebounding (835 boards). The smooth 6-8 forward was a consensus second-team All-American his senior year, and an All-Big Eight first-team selection his junior and senior years.

Ellis averaged 12.5 points and 5.8 rebounds in 144 games, leading the Jayhawks to a 115–29 record and four Big 12 titles. 

This all came after a decorated career at Wichita Heights, where Ellis was a four-time Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year and led his team to four straight Class 6A state titles. A McDonald’s All-American, Ellis was Kansas’ first-ever four-time all-state selection. He finished his career as the school’s and conference’s all-time leading scorer (2,231 points) and played a key role in Heights’ state-record 62-game winning streak, the nation’s longest active winningest steak during the 2001-12 season.

A complete person on and off the court, Ellis was valedictorian of his senior class with a 4.0 GPA. He verbally committed to KU on Sept. 21, 2011 over offers from Kentucky, K-State and Wichita State.

And the rest is history.

Ellis received a huge honor on May 25 when he was inducted into the KSHSAA Hall of Fame at the state track and field championships at Cessna Stadium in Wichita.

The former KU standout was overwhelmed with the honor.

"It feels great, I love this city,” Ellis told KSN.com. "I'm born and raised like I said, a smaller city like compared to the bigger cities I played in overseas, like Istanbul. I just love it and you know everybody and just a great feeling.”

After going undrafted in 2016, Ellias has since played for the NBA D-League Greensboro Swarm and also overseas in Italy, Germany and Turkey.

In this two-part series on Ellis, I first include a feature I wrote on him in the December 2015 issue of Kansas City Sports & Fitness. Next, I will include the story I wrote on him on Phog.net, just a few days after his career ended in heartbreaking fashion with KU’s loss to Villanova in the Elite Eight on March 26, 2016.

...

Perry Ellis feels like it was about yesterday when he arrived at Kansas in 2012 after winning four-straight state championships at Wichita Heights and becoming a four-time Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year and City League’s all-time leading scorer.

“It went by so fast, so fast,” the 6-8 KU senior forward said. “I’m excited about it (last year). I’ve been getting better each season and having more fun.”

For Ellis, his KU experience has been quite special and a life-changing one. He’s grown as a player. He’s grown as a man. And he’s grown as a leader. Then there’s the three-straight Big 12 championships, one Big 12 Tournament title, a Sweet 16 berth, the bonding with teammates on road trips, and winning the gold medal for Team USA at the World University Games last summer in South Korea.

But Ellis wants more. Much more.

“I want to play in a Final Four,” Ellis said, “and I’m going to do everything I can to try to get there.”

An All-American candidate, Ellis believes this is KU’s best chance to break through and even win a national title after getting knocked out of the NCAA Round of 32 the last two seasons.

“We’ve been playing with each other a lot,” he said. “We have a lot of pieces returning and we’ve been through tough times. We’ve been through adversity with each other, been in a lot of tough games and know what to do.”

After leading Kansas with 13.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game last season while earning first-team All-Big 12 honors and becoming the only player in the Big 12 to rank in the top seven in scoring (7th), field goal percentage (7th at 45.7) and rebounding (4th), Ellis pondered leaving for the NBA. But he knew he could still elevate his game under KU coach Bill Self.

“Also my degree, I got a chance to get that now,” Ellis said. “It’s just going to be great.” 

Self is certainly glad Ellis returned. He has high expectations for the senior.

“I expect him to be as good as or better than any player in the league,” Self said. “I expect him to play at an all-American-type level. I think he's capable of doing that. I thought last year before he got hurt (knee injury), there was about a six-game stretch where I think he was playing to an All-

American level.

“He seems to be in the best shape of his life. He's stronger. I don't mean from a weight standpoint, but you can just tell the way he carries himself. I expect him to have a big year.”

Indeed, Ellis is more explosive, leaner, and has improved his ballhandling and perimeter skills. While he’s very modest and doesn’t particularly like talking about himself, he believes this could be a breakout season.

“Definitely,” Ellis said. “I’ve been working. My mental (game) is getting stronger and getting more confident in myself as I get older.”

As a senior, he is now chasing greatness. If Ellis averages just over 16.0 points in 2015-16 and hits the glass at his pace of last season, he will likely crack the top-10 on the KU career scoring and rebounding charts. Only three other Jayhawk legends have accomplished that feat in Danny Manning, Raef LaFrentz and Nick Collison, with their jerseys hanging from the hallowed Allen Fieldhouse rafters.

“(Some great) names before me,” Ellis said. “It’s something I don’t want to think about right now. You just want to go and play hard and all the accolades will come later. But it’s definitely an honor to be in position to do that.”

Ellis has already had lot of honors -- both on and off the court -- during his memorable career. He was the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Scholar Athlete of the Year last season, while also named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team. And he received the Honorary Hero Award in Wichita at the Real Men, Real Heroes annual recognition event last July.

“As a kid, my coach, Steve Young, would tell me to try to become a better person and better player every day. That’s something I ran with,” Ellis told the crowd during his acceptance speech. “I got the chance to be a Teen Hero in high school. I got the chance to talk to kids and show them what it takes, what choices they need to make and really how important academics are. That is something that is huge. In college, I also got the opportunity to come home and go with buddies to certain schools and do certain things and that’s been a great opportunity for me. It’s built confidence in myself and even the kids.”

Ellis elaborated over the impact Young has made on his life.

“He helped me out so much growing up,” Ellis said. “It’s not all about basketball. In real life, you got to respect the people around you. He taught me life lessons and basketball lessons.”

Ellis, a former high school valedictorian who has a 3.27 GPA at KU with a major in sports management and minor in business, feels grateful to use those invaluable lessons and give back to the community, whether it’s in his Wichita hometown or helping kids and the needy in Lawrence.

“It’s really important, just the little things you can do,” Ellis said. “The things that can really help somebody and move somebody’s life. I love just being a part of doing that.”

This is Perry Ellis the person at his finest, and why his teammates, Self, fans, and even opposing coaches love and respect him so much.

“Perry's been awesome,” Self said. “He's had a fabulous career and, of course, a better kid than player and has handled everything so well. I don't think we ever dreamed that we would get a better person 

or player when we signed him than what we have.”

Pittsburg State coach Kevin Muff is another huge admirer.

"I love him,” Muff said. “Number one he's a Kansas guy. Being a Kansas native and seeing a guy do that well. Just highly skilled, great hands, and a great feel for the game and understanding. I want nothing but the best for that man, but mainly because of the type of person he is. He does it with class. He does it the right way. Handles himself extremely well on the floor through adversity and he really doesn't change his expression, which I like. He'll be an asset and a weapon for them. I just love the way he plays.”

As Ellis begins his college swan song, he’s prepared to enjoy each victory, each shot, each rebound, each dunk, and all those thunderous cheers from fans in Allen Fieldhouse.

“I’m going to cherish every moment, every game this year, and just have fun,” he said.

It’s December now and Ellis is running and pushing hard. He can’t stop now, not after how far he’s come the last three years at Kansas and all that time in Wichita honing his skills growing up and dreaming of playing in the Final Four and national championship game.

A Final Four would be great, but a national title and having his name mentioned with KU’s 1952 and 2008 NCAA champions would be even more priceless.

“Ah man, it would mean a lot,” Ellis said with a big smile. “Just thinking back on all the work I’ve put in, it would mean the most. That’s definitely what we’re working for, that’s definitely the goal for all of us, but you just got to take it game by game and go from there.”

Ricky Ross: A shooting star who flamed out way too soon

This article was published in Jayhawk Illustrated.

By David Garfield

It was one of the happiest days of my life.  

Flash back to April 1979 when high school phenom Ricky Ross from Wichita South signed with Kansas. He chose the Jayhawks over North Carolina, Arkansas and Wichita State.

Ross, who verbally committed to KU twice before “wavering” and ultimately signing with the Jayhawks, told the Lawrence Journal-World at the time “that there was very big pressure” to choose KU, with his high school coach Bill Himebaugh, his mother, and KU backers in Wichita all favoring Kansas.

But now that his decision was finally made, he was looking forward to starting his collegiate career in Lawrence.

“I’m excited about playing with Darnell (Valentine, KU junior-to-be point guard and All-American candidate),” Ross said. “With all the pro coaches and scouts that will be watching him the next two years, that has to be a plus for me, too.”

Himebaugh was elated his franchise player was going to be a Jayhawk.

“I think he had KU in his mind all along,” Himebaugh said. “He’s the type of player who can turn a program around. And that guard tandem of KU now has to be one of the best around.”

I was 12 years old growing up in Lawrence, and recall going to our preseason baseball meeting at coach Bill Platz’s house that night after learning Ross had signed with Kansas.

As soon as I arrived, my buddy asked me, “Did you see we got Ricky Ross?”

I smiled and said I did.

For someone whose life revolved around KU basketball 365 days a year, the thought of Ross teaming with Valentine in the KU backcourt had me salivating. They would be the best guard tandem in college basketball, I predicted. With Valentine one of the best penetrators in college hoops and Ross a deadly pure shooter, I believed they could revolutionize Kansas basketball.

As I sat happily during our baseball meeting looking forward to my final season with the Merchants, my mind couldn’t help but dance with images of Ross raining jump shots throughout Allen Fieldhouse. The fans would come to their feet and roar. KU would win the Big Eight title. And then the Jayhawks would make a deep run in March and win the national championship. 

I had this all figured out. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

***

With Wichita Heights standout and KU signee Perry Ellis concluding a memorable high school career (he led his team to four consecutive state championships and a 97-3 record while Heights set a state record with 62 straight victories), the 6-8 forward has been compared to some of the greatest players in Wichita City League history.

Including Ricky Ross.

Longtime Wichita Eagle columnist Bob Lutz penned in his February blog that Ross ranks as the greatest player to come out of Wichita that he’s seen since the early-1960s. High praise, indeed, considering Wichita City League hoops has produced the likes of NBA players Valentine, Antoine Carr, and former Jayhawk star Greg Dreiling. 

With Ross in the news, I’ve been thinking of him more often these days, not that he’s ever drifted far from my thoughts since that magical day in 1979 when I read he was going to be a Jayhawk, the next superstar to don the crimson and blue.

He was a ballyhooed McDonald’s All-American and part of arguably the greatest high school senior class of all time, which also included Ralph Sampson, Dominique Wilkins, Isiah Thomas, James Worthy and Jon Paxson. Ross led Wichita South to consecutive state championships and broke Valentine’s City League career scoring record while averaging 32.1 points his senior season.

He once scored 47 points in a game (before the three-point shot), a City League record which stood for 32 years before Jayhawk-to-be and Wichita North standout Conner Frankamp broke it with 52 points in December 2010.

Ross, along with fellow McDonald’s All-Americans Valentine and Tony Guy, was a key reason why KU still had high hopes for the 1979-80 season despite losing starters Paul Mokeski and Wilmore Fowler (he transferred to Georgia after his sophomore season) from the 1978-1979 team, which went 18-11 and won the Big Eight Holiday Tournament.

The Jayhawks, though, stumbled out of the gate, losing five of their first nine games. After next winning three straight, KU finished the season losing nine of its final 17 games to finish just 15-14.

The parts just never fit, and Ross never found his way, despite finishing second on the team with 11.7 points per game. He pouted when he was on the bench and pouted when he didn’t get the ball.

What was supposed to be a dream season and a dream backcourt never materialized. My thoughts of winning the national championship dashed early in the season, although I still looked forward to watching Ross play in the Phog. He had one of the most beautiful shots I had ever seen, picture-perfect form with a feathery touch that he released so effortlessly, the kind of jumper that former superscout Howard Garfinkel might describe as “soft as drifting fog.”

And he had all the confidence in the world. My dad, who was a professor of social welfare at KU for 34 years (his most famous student was KU legend Bud Stallworth), once spoke to Ross on campus. He said Ricky told him that he believed all his shots would hit nothing but net.

He ended up shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 73.3 percent at the free-throw line, while chipping in 1.7 assists, 1.0 steals, and 2.5 rebounds per game. Along with his 11.7 point average, these certainly weren’t All-American stats. And he and Valentine certainly didn’t revolutionize Kansas basketball as I had hoped.

Still, I was hopeful he would blossom at Kansas the next three seasons. But then word came out prior to his sophomore season that Ross had decided to transfer after being caught with two other KU teammates using an assistant coach’s credit card for long-distance phone calls. I was stunned and saddened that Ross would leave. While I didn’t think Ricky seemed too happy at KU, I saw Kansas basketball through rose-colored classes and believed everything would work out.

So I decided to write a petition imploring Ricky to stay at KU. I would get all my friends and classmates to sign it, deliver it to Ricky, and surely he would see how much he was still loved by Jayhawk fans and decide to stay.

That was my plan at age 13, when I still believed in miracles, I still believed in the unlimited possibilities of the mind, and I still believed everything was possible after watching my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates win the World Series a year before after trailing Baltimore three games to one.

My hero Willie Stargell was the Pirates’ savior who rallied his team and hit the game-winning home run in Game 7 to lift Pittsburgh to the sweetest victory of my life. Now, as events and circumstances suggested otherwise, I held on to faint hope that Ricky was still KU’s savior who could find happiness in Lawrence.

One day in Spanish class at South Junior High, I was working on my petition (instead of paying attention to the teacher) when my classmate and sweet dear friend Amy Lienhard, who sat next to me, asked me what I was doing. I told her my mission and asked if she would sign my petition and help keep Ricky in Kansas.

“Oh no,” she said. “We don’t want him.”

Amy, the daughter of Bill Lienhard, a starter on the 1952 KU national championship team, was one of the nicest and most popular people in school. I respected her opinion, and I believed if she wouldn’t sign my petition, who else would? Maybe Amy was right, I thought. Maybe Ricky wasn’t a good fit for KU.

Just like that, I dropped my petition. Later, I heard stories of how assistant coach Lafayette Norwood used to walk Ricky to class, and he’d typically walk out the back door. I also heard whispers he didn’t get along with Valentine.

Guy relayed an anecdote to me several years ago about Ross’ selfishness. The story goes that Ross scored over 20 points one night, but KU lost. Afterwards, all the Jayhawks were feeling down in the locker room, except Ross. He was upbeat since he had a good game and wondered why his teammates were so depressed.

Looking back, it was indeed best that Ricky left KU. Kansas basketball moved on without him, bouncing back from that disastrous 15-14 year and advancing to the Sweet 16 the following season in 1980-81. Guy emerged as a star and the team’s leading scorer after being moved back to his natural position at shooting guard, where Ross had played the previous season. Valentine and Guy became one of the best backcourts in college hoops, and there was great team chemistry, unlike in Ross’ freshman season, where dissension and egos ruled KU hoops.

***

But whatever happened to my hero Ricky Ross? Did he ever live up to the hype? Did he ever find stardom in college and the NBA?

After finishing his lone season at KU, Ross was a lost soul trying to find himself. He made brief stops at Wichita State (left school after failing to qualify academically) and Santa Ana (Calif.) College (he never actually enrolled) before landing at the College of Marin in California, where he averaged a nation-leading 30.5 points while achieving — get this — a 3.0 GPA.

Ross finally realized if he wanted to play hoops, he had to crack the books. In a 1982 interview with Sports Illustrated , Ross credited College of Marin head coach John Johnson for getting his life back on track. 

“Coach Johnson was a big influence in turning me around," Ross told SI. "I needed somebody like that, and fortunately I ran into a great guy."

Ross ran into another “great guy” and strong authority figure in head coach Nolan Richardson, when he next transferred to Tulsa. He found great success there in two seasons (1982-84), averaging 17.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, while becoming the player everybody expected out of high school.

I ran into Richardson in November 2008 after his press conference leading up to his induction into the College Basketball Hall of Fame that night in Kansas City. Richardson smiled when I mentioned Ross’ name. So did Ed Manning, who was nearby and listening to our conversation while attending his son Danny's induction into the Hall of Fame. "Ricky Ross," Ed said with a chuckle. Yes, Ed and all hoop afficionados remember the great Ricky Ross.

“Ricky Ross, my man,” Richardson said. “Let me tell you what, Ricky played for me for two years. That kid could shoot the basketball. He was a player. I always thought he could have been a very, very, very super point guard because he was 6-7, he was rangy. The thing that Ricky didn’t play when he got there, is he wouldn’t play (any) defense because he was such an offensive threat. But in his senior year, he became a very good defensive player in our style.”

I thought surely Ross would make the NBA after his experience at Tulsa and follow the lead of his fellow high school class members of 1979 who excelled in the pros like Sampson, Wilkins and Thomas.

I was puzzled that he didn’t get selected until the third round (53rd pick overall) in the 1984 NBA Draft by the Washington Bullets, and even more confused when I didn’t see Ross on the opening day NBA roster.

And he wasn’t on a roster the next year. Or the next. Or the next.

You see, Ricky Ross — this once can’t miss superstar — never made the NBA, and to my knowledge, never found basketball success outside the NBA like in Europe or the minor leagues. I asked Richardson that November day in Kansas City what happened.

“I’ve had several players (play in the NBA), but Ricky to me should have been one of those guys that spent 10 or 12 years in the NBA,” Richardson said. “I think sometimes he listened to the wrong people, and the wrong people kept (telling) him the wrong things. It’s a combination of many things, but Ricky had so many other people in his life telling him what to do. Sometimes, those people were more concerned about themselves than about Ricky Ross.”

I always had a curiosity and affinity for Richardson’s “man.” That’s what drove me to pick up the phone and call then-KU coach Larry Brown 20 years earlier on his Hawk Talk radio show during the 1987-88 season and ask his thoughts on why Ross never found his way to the NBA.

“Ricky Ross’ problem was with his head more than his ability,” Brown said. “He didn’t like school, he wasn’t the hardest worker, and I think he got himself into a rut. He had a great year at Tulsa his senior year. I just don’t think he gave himself enough chance to be prepared for four years, and that’s why he didn’t make it.”

That fact saddens Brian Martin, the former Jayhawk forward who played against Ross in high school at Wichita Northwest. Martin said Ross was the bomb in high school.

“I just thought he was one of the most pure shooters I ever saw,” Martin told me. “He would dribble across the court, one dribble, look at his high school coach, his high school coach would give him the nod, he’d pull up and shoot. Nothing but net. He did that to us twice in one game in high school. He was amazing. Unfortunately, he had some of the greatest talent I think any guard had, too bad it was a waste. He was a phenomenal shooter.”

Richardson, too, thought Ross was all the rage at Wichita South.

“Out of high school, whew, Ricky was high, high profile,” Richardson gushed. “He was so high we didn’t even try (to recruit him) because we knew he’d probably end up going to Kansas. And then when he went off to junior college and when things changed, we started recruiting him.”

While Martin said he wasn’t around Ross when he traveled on his basketball odyssey after high school, he had his doubts that Ricky possessed the mental makeup to be an NBA player or have success playing in other professional leagues.

“I just don’t think he was disciplined enough to be able to handle the structure and life because in pro ball, it’s tough,” said Martin, who played briefly in the NBA and several years in the minor leagues and overseas. “Your lifestyle outside the game, nobody cares what you do as long as you show up for the games. I saw a lot guys when I was playing that couldn’t hack the responsibilities. Great talents, but couldn’t make it because they were on their own.”

Martin added that Ross was very close to his mom.

“I think he had a hard time being that far away from family,” Martin said.

***

Far away — both literally and figuratively — from the bright lights of the NBA — I watched Ricky Ross play an AAU game in Topeka in the early-to-mid 1990s. When I first heard he’d be in Topeka, despite knowing Ross was past his prime and in his mid-30s, I was overjoyed and thrilled to get another glimpse at the player I once worshipped.

So I sat in Lee Arena on the Washburn campus with about 100 other fans and watched Ross play a virtually meaningless basketball game. Armed with a notebook and pen, I wanted to write down everything I saw, every move Ross made, every shot that swished through the net. I wanted to rediscover the great talent who moved me so much that day I read he had signed with Kansas, the one who had initially inspired me to write a petition asking Ricky to stay at Kansas.

I was soon disappointed in what I saw. I was no longer an impressionable 13-year-old boy, but a young man trying to find my way who was about to turn 30. Maybe that was part of the reason I was not awed by Ricky’s jump shot this night. But with my wiser eyes, the older and aging Ricky didn’t move as well, didn’t shoot as well, didn’t have that same magic that I once remembered.

He didn’t stand out during the game, and he certainly wasn’t the Second Coming headed to the League. Ricky, who had surely given up that dream years ago, was just a former shooting star who had flamed out way too soon, now trying to seemingly feed his hoops fix and maybe hold on to part of his past when he was the baddest baller ever out of Wichita. 

From an outsider’s perspective, he seemed inexpressive, maybe even solemn that day, and I truly wondered if he ever found peace or if life was just filled with memories and yesterday’s hoop dreams.

Memories when he lit up Tulsa basketball for two years, memories of when he was the bringing crowds to their feet in Wichita, memories that were surely brought to life if he read Lutz’s words about him in February when he ranked him the No. 1 all-time City League player in Wichita. (Ross, a mystery man who’s kept out of the public eye all these years and been extremely difficult for media to track down, is reportedly still living and working in Wichita.)

“Go down the list of basketball attributes, and Ross gets an ‘A’ in all,” Lutz wrote in his blog. “He was a prolific scorer, but his mentality was the pass first, shoot second. He didn’t shy away from rebounding, despite a spindly frame on a 6-6 body. And Ross played defense because his coach, Bill Himebaugh, wouldn’t allow him not to.”

For a moment, Ricky Ross was a young, McDonald’s All-American again, back on top where he belonged. But after reading Lutz’s remarks, I soon became saddened.

I just couldn’t help wonder and ask myself: What might have been?