Braves New World: Dick Gibbs

(Budd Bailey and Greg D. Tranter have written a book called "Buffalo Braves From A to Z," published by St. Johann Press. Early in the writing process, they wrote good-sized biographies of all 71 men who played a regular-season game for the Braves during their time in Buffalo from 1970 to 1978. Publishers weren't so enthusiastic about all of that material, so most (59) of the biographies were shortened to about 500 words. However, the authors hated to waste all of that material ... so they are presenting it here. It will appear three times a week. A bibliography is available upon request.)

The Buffalo Braves thought they were acquiring a rugged defensive specialist when they acquired Dick Gibbs from the Washington Bullets in 1975. What they didn’t know was that he was packing enough baggage in the form of addictions to fill a department store. It took almost a quarter of a century after leaving Buffalo for Gibbs to begin the road to sobriety. Happily, he succeeded.

Richard Gibbs was born on December 20, 1948 in Ames, Iowa. Ames is in Story County about 30 miles north of Des Moines, and is the home of Iowa State University. Dick was one of six children - four boys and two girls. His father died when he was two. His mother was an alcoholic who was caring for the family by herself. They moved from place to place in Nevada, Iowa, near Ames. He got interested in sports in third grade and enjoyed playing basketball to forget about his difficult circumstances. Dick began drinking alcohol in high school to escape. “Whenever I got upset, I’d drink,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs had tremendous success playing hoops at Nevada High School. As a sophomore standout he was selected All-Conference, All-County and Honorable Mention All-State. In his junior year he led the team and conference in scoring and was named second team All-State. Dick transferred to Ames High School for his senior season, but was ineligible during the first semester. He made an impression once he became eligible, as he led the Central Iowa Conference in scoring with a 20.4 average. Gibbs’ performance helped lead the Little Cyclones to the 1967 state championship game against Jefferson (Cedar Rapids) – only to lose by a single point. "That's a tough one, still,” he said. “What's even tougher is I had a chance to take a shot, but I had four guys on me, so I passed the ball and we ran out of time in regulation. I'll never forget that." Dick scored 30 in the loss. At the conclusion of the season Gibbs was named to the Iowa Daily Press Association’s All-State first team. It was said by some at the time that he was the best high school player to come out of Iowa in 20 years.

Gibbs attended Burlington Junior College (now called Southeastern Community College) after his high school graduation to gain more basketball experience. Gibbs played two seasons for the Blackhawks. Burlington beat 19-0 Vincennes Junior College, 74-68, to end Vincennes’ 22-game winning streak in Gibb’s freshman year. Dick contributed 11 points in the upset. The Black Hawks finished the season ranked No. 11 in the country among junior colleges. Gibbs was the team’s leading rebounder and third in scoring. During his freshman year he was drinking, smoking and not doing well in school. He played with future NBA champion “Downtown” Freddie Brown, a future member of the Seattle SuperSonics.

Dick got his act together in time for his sophomore season at Burlington and was elected co-captain. Gibbs led the squad with a 19.2 scoring average and he was also the team’s top rebounder at 11.1 per game. Burlington finished the season ranked No. 6 in the country and Gibbs was named an All-Regional and All-Conference pick. He also became a member of the 1,000-point club for the school.

Gibbs, 6-foot-7 and 20 years old, signed a letter of intent to play at the University of Texas at El Paso on May 24, 1969. He considered more than 100 scholarship offers. “Dick is without a doubt the top Miner choice in the past five years. He is definitely pro material and a very fine young man. We are extremely happy to have him,” Miners coach Don Haskins said. He added that Gibbs was one of the most sought-after junior college players in the United States.

Gibbs joined a UTEP squad led by future NBA star Nate “Tiny” Archibald. Haskins crew joined the Western Athletic Conference and competed for the conference title for the first time. The senior Archibald led the way for the Miners with a 21.4 scoring average and Gibbs led the team with 8.5 rebounds per game while contributing 10.5 points. UTEP won the WAC title with a 10-4 conference record. The Miners came from nine points down in the final three minutes to defeat a solid Utah team, 83-82, to clinch the WAC title on February 28, 1970. UTEP received an NCAA tournament bid with an overall 17-7 record. Without Gibbs, who was injured in the final regular season game, the Miners lost their first- round tournament game to No. 18 ranked Utah State, 91-81. “Without him, we had no chance to go very far in the tournament,” Haskins said later. After the season, Gibbs married Jean, a freshman student at UTEP.

“Dick and I were roommates,” Archibald said years later. “He was a white guy from Iowa and I was a black guy from New York. But coach Haskins never said a black guy had to room with a black guy, a white guy with a white guy. Mike Switzer and I had been roommates, but we decided to split up, try to pull the team together. … Dick and I got along great. In fact, we ended up being roommates later in the NBA. I think we really did pull together that year, though. We played well.”

Archibald graduated to the NBA following the 1969-70 season and more was expected from Gibbs. He did not disappoint as he led the Miners in scoring and rebounding, averaging 17.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. UTEP (15-10 overall) finished in second place in the WAC, one game behind Brigham Young. The highlight of Gibbs’ season was a 26-point game against Colorado State climaxed by a game-winning shot at the buzzer in a 69-68 win. After the season, Gibbs was named first-team All-WAC and was an Honorable Mention All-American. His career average of 9.7 rebounds per game is still in the top five in school history. Dick was also named the UTEP Athlete of the Year. He graduated with a degree in secondary education. Gibbs has his uniform number retired in 2012. “Dick Gibbs was a real hard-nosed, a real tough player,” Haskins said. “He was a winner.”

Gibbs surprisingly was drafted in the 16th round by the New York Giants of the NFL, though he had not played football since the ninth grade. Dick was called a tight end. He was drafted for his basketball prowess by the ABA’s New York Nets in the second round and by the Chicago Bulls in the third round of the NBA Draft. “I thought about it (pro football), but basketball’s my thing,” Gibbs said.

Before Dick ever played a game for the Bulls, he was traded to the San Diego Rockets for a 1973 second-round draft pick. Gibbs signed with the Rockets following the trade, on June 12, 1971. Less than two weeks later the franchise was sold, and the new owners moved the team to Houston for the start of the 1971-72 NBA season.

Gibbs joined a team with a solid frontcourt led by All-Stars Elvin Hayes and Rudy Tomjanovich. Playing time was sparse for Dick in his rookie year. He played in 64 games while averaging 11.8 minutes, 3.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. The Rockets finished a disappointing 34-48 and in fourth place in the Pacific Division.

Dick made his NBA debut on October 16, 1971 in the Rockets’ second game of the season, a 128-108 loss to Phoenix. Gibbs played five minutes but did not score after missing three field goal attempts. Gibbs’ best game of his rookie year was when he scored 22 points in a 127-119 loss to Seattle. Following the season Gibbs said, “I’ve had to learn to play a faster-paced game. I’ve had to get used to the physical roughness of it, to learn to shoot when someone is grabbing me.” He was also somewhat overwhelmed by the lifestyle and the temptations of the money, the big cities and the access to women, drugs, drinking, etc. He and Jean had a son Richie, and the marriage collapsed. Dick had become a big user of marijuana to help manage his fear and anxiety. “Pot became part of my routine,” Gibbs said. “I craved escape. I had so much fear of failure.”

On a more positive note, the highlight of his first year was that a group of kids in Philadelphia started the Philadelphia Chapter of the Dick Gibbs Fan Club. It occurred when the Rockets visited Philadelphia for a game against the 76ers. “It really wasn’t all that much,” said Gibbs. “They were just standing there and we started talking. They told me I was the only guy who ever took time to talk to them. They were (to sit) up in the rafters so I went in the locker room and got some player tickets that weren’t going to be used. They’re poor kids from around here. That’s all there was to it.” Each time Gibbs team came into Philly, the kids - who numbered about 30 - would hang up signs supporting Dick.

Gibbs played one game for the Rockets at the start of the 1972-73 season and then he was sold to the Kansas City-Omaha Kings on November 2. When Gibbs returned to Philadelphia with his new team on December 6, the fan club met with Gibbs in the team hotel. They presented him gifts for his upcoming December 20 birthday. “Really it was pretty touching,” Gibbs said. They gave him a brown tie and two pair of sweat socks. “They wanted me to wear the socks in the game.” And he did, to the delight of his fan club. He played 66 games for the Kings during his second season while averaging 11.1 minutes per game and 3.1 points.

Prior to the start of the 1973-74 season, Gibbs was traded to Seattle along with Jim Fox for Pete Cross and Don Kojis. Dick averaged 10.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 21.5 minutes per game, all career highs. He had a career-high 30 points and 14 rebounds in a 107-94 win over Portland. The Bill Russell-coached Sonics finished out of the playoffs with a 36-46 record.

After the season, Gibbs was on the move again. “At one time, I was the most traded active professional athlete,” he said after four deals in three seasons. The trades heightened his insecurity. He dealt with it by using drugs every day.

On August 20, 1974 he was traded along with a third-round 1975 draft pick to the Washington Bullets for Archie Clark. He joined an outstanding Bullets team that included Elvin Hayes, Wes Unseld, Phil Chenier, Mike Riordan and Truck Robinson. His playing time went down to only 7.2 minutes per game. He averaged 3.3 points in 59 games. The Bullets finished with a 60-22 regular-season record, first in the Central Division. It was Dick’s first playoff appearance. Washington defeated the Buffalo Braves, 4-3, in the opening series, with Gibbs playing three minutes in only one game. The Bullets beat the Celtics in the next series and again Gibbs played briefly, appearing in three games with only five minutes played, but he scored his first four playoff points.

The Bullets faced the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. Golden State won the first three games and in Game Four Washington was trying to stave off elimination when Gibbs played a key role. Dick replaced Mike Riordan, who injured his ankle, late in the game. With the Bullets trailing, 94-93, Hayes snared a rebound off a Rick Barry missed shot with 1:08 left. Hayes fired an outlet pass to a wide-open Gibbs, but Gibbs missed the layup. Dick later blamed the miss on the fact that he had eaten marijuana brownies before the game. Washington had one more chance to take the lead, but Unseld lost the ball out of bounds, and the Warriors hung on to win the game, 96-95, and the NBA Championship.

From there, Gibbs was on the move again. Washington traded Dick to the Buffalo Braves on July 30, 1975, in exchange for a first-round draft pick in 1976. “When Washington knocked us out of the playoffs last spring,” Braves head coach Jack Ramsey said, “it was quite apparent that what we lacked was a ‘stopper’ - a guy who could knock out the other team’s most explosive scorer. During the offseason we drew up a list of the players who could help us the most in that respect and Dick’s name kept coming up at the top of our discussions.” Gibbs joined a good Braves squad with a loaded frontcourt that included Bob McAdoo, Jack Marin, Tom McMillen, Jim McMillian and Gar Heard. Despite the desire for him to be ‘the stopper,’ Gibbs struggled getting minutes. He played 12 minutes per game and averaged 4.7 points. His best game with the Braves was a 19-point effort in a 130-105 win over Philadelphia on December 27. He appeared in five playoff games that season and had his career high with six points in a Game Five loss to the Celtics. That would be Dick’s last NBA game. The Braves were eliminated in Game Six.

The Bullets used the first-round pick on North Carolina’s Mitch Kupchak, who spent a decade in the NBA with Washington and the Los Angeles Lakers. It was one of the worst trades in Braves’ history.

The Braves shipped Gibbs and Ken Charles to Atlanta for Tom Van Arsdale in the offseason, but Dick was released by the Hawks prior to the start of the 1976-77 season and his NBA career was over. He finished his career playing for five different teams while appearing in 333 games and averaging 5.2 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.

Gibbs’ drug addiction worsened when he was cut by Atlanta. “I was devastated,” he said. Gibbs started using cocaine and things quickly went downhill from there: “I just left basketball. When I lost basketball, I lost my life.” He had an opportunity to tryout for the Denver Nuggets. “I said, ‘Nah, I’m busy,” Gibbs remembered. “The truth was I had been partying so hard I was out of shape. I was too afraid to go back because I was too afraid to fail. Had I taken that chance, life could’ve been different.”

Gibbs moved to Orange County, California in 1976 and invested in some liquor stores and nightclubs. He also got married to Libby. He entered rehab of what would be the first of 15 times in the next 22 years attempting a recovery. Dick was an assistant coach at his alma mater at UTEP in 1980 while also completing his degree.

He relapsed again in the early 1980’s, with a raging cocaine habit. Libby divorced him and now he had two ex-wives and five children. He would disappear for weeks and months at a time, and then would return and try to spoil the kids. It was a terrible cycle that repeated itself. His family finally moved on from him and that made his drug habit worse. He also struggled with finding and keeping any type of employment. He continued to spiral downhill and by the 1990’s he was free basing cocaine. He hit rock bottom as he continued to sell off his assets, his savings and ultimately his NBA pension. “The pension was when the really bad things started to happen,” Gibbs said. He had a couple of run-ins with police while he bounced from one crack house to another. In 1998, after a violent interaction, the crack house called police to have him arrested. There was also a dealer, who he stiffed, that had a contract out for him.

In November 1998, he left his last crack house and found a blanket under a bridge in Long Beach. At that point he had almost nothing left other than the clothes on his back, his crack pipe and a 40-ounce bottle of Miller Genuine Draft. “That was my moment of clarity,” Gibbs said. “I was so tired of living this way, I couldn’t do it anymore.” He had to lose everything before turning his life around. "When I took that out of my life, I had nothing,” he said. “It didn't matter how much success I had. I had wonderful children, wonderful family. I just had no direction or meaning in my life, and I paid a price for that. The loss of every penny I had and going deeply in debt and finding myself with the clothes on my back, living under a bridge."

The next day he reached out to his son Justin and entered a court-ordered drug treatment facility, part of a 120-day jail term. He successfully went through the program. Gibbs came back to what he loved as a youngster to help him out of his addiction. "That desire I had to play basketball then converted to finding my way out," he said. He battled his way out and then went on to operate his own drug treatment center in Newport Beach, California. He has used his own personal experiences to help others fighting addiction.

He reconnected with his family, finally speaking with this oldest son Richie in 2005. On his 57th birthday on December 20, 2005, he was with all five of his sons for the first time. He has been drug free since 1998.

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