AUSTIN – The late Richard Quick will be posthumously inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in April as one of seven inductees across four sports.
Along with Quick, the other inductees will be: the late basketball star Zelmo Beaty, former Dallas Cowboys VP of Player Personnel Gil Brandt, BYU Heisman Trophy quarterback Ty Detmer, Dallas Cowboys All Pro safety Cliff Harris, former University of Arkansas basketball coach Nolan Richardson, Dallas Cowboys All Pro DB Everson Walls and Olympic 400m champion runner Jeremy Wariner.
Though many might immediately link Quick’s connection to Texas through his highly successful years as head swimming coach at the University of Texas, his history with the Lone Star State goes much further back. Quick was born in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and was a standout swimmer not only at Highland Park High School, but at Southern Methodist University. After starting his coaching career at Houston’s Memorial High School from 1965 to 1971, he returned to SMU and coached the men’s team until 1976, when he helped start the women’s team there.
After a five-year stint as head coach at Auburn University from 1978-1982, he returned to Texas, and established himself as a living coaching legend. He guided the women’s team at the University of Texas to five consecutive team titles (1984-1988) before taking his talents to Stanford University in the fall of 1988. He would become the first swimming coach to win an NCAA team title at two different schools in consecutive years when he led the Cardinal to the championship in 1989.
Six more team titles at Stanford would follow, as would six consecutive appointments to the USA Olympic coaching staff. He was picked as women’s head coach for Team USA in 1988, 1996 and 2000.
Quick was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in 2008. He passed away on June 10, 2009.
Tickets for the induction ceremony are available here. For more information on the Texas Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet, contact Jared Mosley or Jay Black.