Dick Hickox, 68; Junior College Champ and University of Miami’s First All-American in Basketball

Dick Hickox, 68, an All-American basketball player at the University of Miami who with Coach Bill Bertka led Hancock College to California’s junior college championship in 1957, died of cancer Friday in Miami.

Hickox, a native of Fort Wayne, Ind., was playing basketball at Hancock College in Santa Maria when Miami Coach Bruce Hale asked him to come to Coral Gables, Fla., where one of Hickox’s friends was on the team.

“He only played one season” at Hancock, said Bertka, now director of scouting for the Lakers. “I wish he had played about 100. He had all the intangible qualities you’d want to find in an athlete. He performed best under pressure. He could always make the big play. His teammates loved to play with him.”

Hickox, a guard, scored 1,529 points during three seasons at Miami and averaged 19.4 points. During the 1959-60 season, he led the Hurricanes to a 23-3 record and a No. 8 national ranking, still the highest in school history.

Hickox, Miami’s first basketball All-American and a member of the school’s athletic Hall of Fame, planned to play basketball after graduating but was drafted into the Army, where he also led a winning team. When he returned to Florida, he coached at Miami and then at Miami-Dade County Public Schools.