Basketball Legend To Join Zombies Front Office This Fall

SPRINGFIELD, MA — The East Coast Basketball League playoffs are in full swing, and the Western Mass Zombies are set to host a semifinal matchup Saturday night against the Fredericksburg Grizzlies. Though the team has its eyes set on the championship of the Mid-Atlantic Conference, it is already looking ahead to even greater things with the hiring of a basketball legend to assist in the front office this fall.

Rick Barry, a 1987 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, has signed on to serve as a special assistant to the owner and general manager. Barry has been coaching the Ball Hogs in the Big3, a 12-team, 3-on-3 league founded by Ice Cube and featuring coaches including Hall of Famers Julius Erving, Nancy Lieberman, Gary Payton, George Gervin and Lisa Leslie.

Barry will join the Zombies in September.

"I am excited and honored to be an advisor for the Zombies," Barry said. "I look forward to assisting the team in any way possible to promote the game of basketball in the city where it originated."

Owner Bill Bullock said, "We are very excited to have Rick come aboard. With his passion and knowledge for the game, he is definitely going to be able to help us and from a marketing standpoint, Rick is an absolute genius."

In 1996, Barry was named one of the 50 greatest players in history by the National Basketball Association (NBA). He ranks among the most prolific scorers in basketball history, and is the only one to lead the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), American Basketball Association (ABA) and NBA in points per game in a season.

The second overall pick in the 1965 draft out of the University of Miami by the San Francisco (now Golden State) Warriors, Barry jumped to the rival ABA in 1967, playing there through 1972. He holds the league record for career points per game with 30.5, and free throw percentage at .880.

Returning to the Warriors, he led the team to a shocking 4-game sweep of the heavily favored Washington Bullets in the 1975 NBA finals, earning Most Valuable Player honors.

Barry retired from playing in 1980, having accumulated 25,279 points for a 24.8 average per game. He played in eight NBA and four ABA All-Star games, and was a 5-time All-NBA and 4-time All-ABA first team selection. His jersey number, 24, has been retired by both the Warriors and the University of Miami.

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