Wayne Radford, a reserve wing on Indiana’s 1976 national championship team, has died at the age of 64 according to the IU basketball program.
An Indianapolis native, Radford appeared in 30 games and averaged 4.7 points in 13 minutes per game as a sophomore for the last undefeated national champion in college basketball. He finally earned a starting position as a senior in the 1977-78 season and led the Hoosiers with 15.6 points per game. He finished his Indiana career with 922 points, an average of 8.2 per game, and shot 55.3 percent from the field.
He earned Academic All-American and Academic All-Big Ten honors during his career with the Hoosiers. He was named team MVP in 1978.
Radford was taken in the second round of the 1978 NBA draft by the Indiana Pacers and played with them for one season, averaging 3.9 points per game off the bench as a shooting guard. Before arriving at Indiana, he led Indianapolis Arlington High School to its first city and sectional championships and its only regional championship, scoring 1,307 total points.
A 1974 Indiana All-Star, he was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009 and was a member of the 1999 Silver Anniversary team.
IU Vice President and Director of Athletics Scott Dolson commented on Radford’s passing in a release.
“The IU Athletics family is heartbroken about the passing of Wayne Radford,” Dolson said. “Wayne was an outstanding student-athlete and a key member of some of our basketball program’s all-time great teams in the 1970s. He was also one of our most involved and passionate alums for more than four decades, an active Varsity Club member who made an enormous contribution to our department as a member of our Varsity Club National Board of Directors.
“Wayne did all of that because he loved IU and IU Athletics, and he was committed to making a difference on behalf of our student-athletes. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Kathy and the entire Radford family.”
Radford was a regular at IU basketball games and a supporter of the program.
“Our entire program is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Wayne Radford,” Indiana coach Archie Miller said on Twitter. “He embodied everything you would want to see in an IU basketball player. He was a champion in life and on the court.”
Services for Radford are pending.
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