Nationality American Role Basketball Player Career end 1989 Name Ricky Berry Career start 1988 | Listed weight 205 lb (93 kg) Weight 93 kg Listed height 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) Height 2.03 m | |
Born October 6, 1964Lansing, Michigan ( 1964-10-06 ) NBA draft 1988 / Round: 1 / Pick: 18th overall Education Oregon State University, San Jose State University | ||
Something Terrible Ended His NBA Career
Ricky Alan Berry (October 6, 1964 – August 14, 1989) was an American professional basketball player in the NBA for the Sacramento Kings.
Ricky Berry was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1964, when his father Bill Berry was a student-athlete at Michigan State University. The Berry family moved to the Sacramento, California area in 1966 when Bill Berry became head coach at a local high school and later Cosumnes River Junior College. Ricky Berry attended Live Oak High School of Morgan Hill, California when his father became head men's basketball coach at San Jose State in 1979.
Berry was 6'8" and played small forward. After graduating from high school, Berry played for Oregon State in the 1983–84 and transferred to San Jose State in 1984 to play under his father Bill Berry. After sitting out one year per transfer rules, Berry played for the San Jose State Spartans from 1985 to 1988. Ricky Berry was selected 18th overall in the 1988 NBA Draft by the Kings and had a solid rookie season, averaging 11.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists while shooting 40.6% from three-point range.
Ricky Berry is one of only three former San Jose State Basketball Players to have his jersey retired, when San Jose State retired his Number 34.
In the 1989 offseason, and just weeks before his 25th birthday, Berry was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Fair Oaks, California on August 14, 1989, following an argument with his wife. He had displayed no signs of depression and had left a suicide note.
