Richard D. "Dick" Schnittker (born May 27, 1928 in Kelleys Island, Ohio

Kelleys Island, Ohio

Kelleys Island is both a village in Erie County, Ohio, United States, and the island which it fully occupies in Lake Erie. Originally known as Island Number 6 and later Cunningham Island, it was renamed in 1840 for brothers Datus and Irad Kelley, who were largely responsible for cultivatating the...

) is a retired American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 professional basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player.

A 6'5" forward from the Ohio State University

Ohio State University

The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...

, Schnittker played six seasons (1950–1951; 1953–1958) in the National Basketball Association

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

 as a member of the Washington Capitols

Washington Capitols

The Washington Capitols were a charter Basketball Association of America team based in Washington, D.C. The team was coached from 1946 to 1949 by NBA Hall of Famer Red Auerbach....

 and Minneapolis Lakers. He averaged 8.3 points per game

Points per game

Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by number of games. The terminology is often used in...

 and won a championship with the Lakers in 1954.

In college Schnittker also played end on the Ohio State

Ohio State Buckeyes football

The Ohio State Buckeyes football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of The Ohio State University. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the NCAA, playing at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, level. The team nickname is derived from the state...

 football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 team during the 1949 season. After starting end Sonny Gandee

Sonny Gandee

Sherman Kenneth "Sonny" Gandee was a professional American football linebacker and defensive lineman in the National Football League . After playing college football for Ohio State, Gandee was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the 9th round of the 1952 NFL Draft...

 went down with a season-ending neck injury, coach Wes Fesler

Wes Fesler

Wesley Eugene "Wes" Fesler was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach of football and basketball. He was three-sport athlete at Ohio State University and a consensus first-team selection to the College Football All-America Team three straight years...

 recruited Schnittker to take Gandee's place. Schnittker helped the team to a Big Ten

Big Ten Conference

The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...

 championship and Rose Bowl

Rose Bowl Game

The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...

 appearance.

External links