Richard “Dick” Barnett’s memorable legacy began as one of the best basketball players in the state of Indiana, where he played at Theodore Roosevelt High School.  
In his senior year, he led his team to the state basketball championship, where they lost to another future legend, Oscar Robertson, and Crispus Attucks High School.
It was the first time two predominantly African American basketball squads faced off in a high school final. They lost to Attucks, and Barnett received All-State honors.
He decided to attend Tennessee A&I State College (now Tennessee State University), a historically black school where he played for the legendary, John B. McLendon, Jr.
Nicknamed “Dick the Skull,” the 6-4 shooting guard was known for his trademark “question mark” jump shot, with an unusual technique of kicking his legs back as he released the ball with his left hand, taunting the defenders by saying, “Too late; fall back, baby.”
As leader of the talented Tigers, he became a three-time Associated Press Little College All-American, leading the Tigers to a 36-game winning streak and three consecutive National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national championships.
He received back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards in the 1958 and 1959 NAIA tournaments. 
Tennessee A&I became the first historically Black college to win three consecutive integrated men’s basketball titles.
Barnett finished his college career as the school’s all-time scorer with 3,209 points for a 23.6 average in 136 games, while also recording 1,571 career rebounds for an 11.6 average, a career shooting percentage of 44.8, and 80.0 from the free throw line.
He was a first-round (4th overall) pick in the 1959 NBA draft by the Syracuse Nationals and enjoyed an illustrious career with the Nationals (1961–62), Cleveland Pipers (1961–62), Los Angeles Lakers (1962–65), and New York Knicks (1965–73).
He was part of the Knicks’ Black college trio—alongside Hall of Famers Willis Reed and Earl “The Pearl” Monroe—that won NBA championships in 1970 and 1972.
Barnett later earned his bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly Pomona, an MBA from New York University, and a PhD in education from Fordham University.