Duke legend Dick Groat dead at 92

Two-sport superstar, 1960 National League MVP and Duke sporting legend Dick Groat died Thursday at the age of 92.

He played professional baseball and basketball after thriving in both sports for the Blue Devils. As an MLB shortstop, Groat was an eight-time All-Star. On the hardwood, he was an All-American basketball player.

“The world lost an absolute treasure with the passing of Dick Groat, a historically significant athlete and even better person,” former Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement. “As much as our family appreciated his marvelous basketball and baseball career, we admired how he carried himself after it ended even more. A true multi-sports icon, Dick represented Duke University and the city of Pittsburgh with the utmost of class and dignity, which resulted in universal admiration. The Krzyzewski family offers its deepest sympathy to his family, friends, and everyone he touched in such a meaningful and positive way throughout his amazing life.”

Groat was born in Pennsylvania and, while he went to college at Duke, would be associated with the Pittsburgh region for all of his life.

As a baseball player at Duke, he hit .375 and led the team to its first College World Series apperance. On the hardwood, he was a two-time All-American who is second all-time in career scoring average at 23.0 points per game.

Groat also won the Helms Foundation National Player of the Year award and twice won the Southern Conference McKelvin Award as the conference’s best male athlete. His No. 10 jersey is retired in basketball.

He was inducted into both the National Collegiate Baseball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

“The sports world lost a legend and the country lost a true American hero today,” Duke baseball coach Chris Pollard said in a statement. “Dick Groat was a special talent in both basketball and baseball, but an even better human being. All of us who have followed in his footsteps at Duke, are better for the path he paved.”

After leaving Duke in 1952, he started his baseball career with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Fort Wayne Pistons. He went off to serve in the war the next two tears. But when he came back, the Pirates forced him to give up basketball. Groat played another 13 years in the majors, including winning two World Series titles in 1960 and 1964.

His only NBA season — when he averaged 11.3 points and 2.7 assists per game as a 5-foot-11 points guard — wasn’t the end of his basketball life. He served as the radio color commentator for Pitt for about 40 years.

Groat is one of 13 athletes to play both in the NBA and MLBA. The others are Danny Ainge, Frank Baumholtz, Hank Biasatti, Gene Conley, Chuck Connors, Dave DeBusschere, Steve Hamilton, Mark Hendrickson, Cotton Nash, Ron Reed, Dick Ricketts and Howie Schultz.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of such a beloved member of the Pirates family and Pittsburgh community,” Pirates chairman Bob Nutting said in a statement. “The National League MVP and World Series Champion in 1960, Dick remained a very active and cherished member of our Alumni Association. We were honored to have just recently informed Dick and his family that he had been selected to the Pirates Hall of Fame. He was a great player and an even better person. Our thoughts go out to his three daughters, eleven grandchildren and the entire Groat family. His was a life well lived. He will be missed.”