Background and career
Richard Carl Mount (born January 5, 1947) is an American former professional basketball player who played for Purdue University from 1966 to 1970 as well as the American Basketball Association (ABA). Mount played basketball at Lebanon Senior High School in Lebanon, Indiana, during which time he became the first high school boy representing a team sport to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Rick Mount's father, Pete, was an avid basketball player who intended Rick to learn the game as well. He cut out the bottom of a peanut can so Rick could shoot tennis balls through it. Rick's first time playing with an official basketball goal was during the fourth grade at which time he was known to beat 8th and 9th graders. However, when it was time to try out for the school basketball team, he wasn't able to make a standard left-hand lay up, which was a requirement for making the roster. That night he practiced for hours until he had it down, and on the next day of tryouts, he made the team.
Rick "the Rocket" Mount attended Lebanon High School in Lebanon, Indiana. There, he led his team in scoring, including 33.1 points per game (ppg) throughout his junior and senior seasons. It was at this time that he started to attract national attention. In 1965, Lebanon played Crawfordsville High School at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. With 10,000 people in attendance, the team made enough money to buy a bus. He scored 57 points in that game. On February 14, 1966, Mount appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which featured him standing in front of a barn located in Boone County, Indiana. A frequent misconception is that Rick was the first high school athlete (or male high school athlete) to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1966, though there had been several prior to this time; he was, in fact, the first high school boy representing a team sport to appear on the cover. At the end of his senior year, he won the Indiana "Mr. Basketball" award and was named "USA Basketball Yearbook Player of the Year," given to the nation's best high school player. He finished his Lebanon career with 2,595 points, at the time it was the second-highest total in Indiana high school history; as of December 2021, he is seventh.
Mount was considering committing to University of Miami (Florida). Instead, he stayed home and attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, just 35 miles (56 km) northwest of his hometown where he played basketball under head coach George King. As a freshman, Mount was unable to play on the varsity team due to NCAA regulations then in effect. Rick scored 33 points in a scrimmage against the varsity team in front of 9,500 in attendance at Lambert Fieldhouse. He averaged 35 points a game while shooting 54.5 percent on the freshman squad, tallying 490 points.
In his first varsity game, Mount scored a game-high 28 points in a last-second, two-point loss to a top-ranked UCLA team and Lew Alcindor. It was also the first game played in Mackey Arena. Averaging 28.4 points a game and leading Purdue to a 15–9 record, he was named a Second Team All-American and First Team All-Big Ten his sophomore season. Following the U.S. Olympic Trials in April, he was selected as an Alternate to the U.S. National Team.
In his junior season at Purdue, along with seniors Billy Keller and Herm Gilliam, he led the Boilermakers to a Big Ten Conference title and the school's first NCAA tournament appearance, where he led the Boilers to the NCAA Championship game where they lost to a Lew Alcindor-led UCLA. In a win against Marquette to bring the Boilers to the Final Four, Mount is remembered for his "leaping lofter" game-winning shot with two seconds left in overtime. He led all scorers in the tournament with a 40.6 point average in Purdue's three games. Purdue led the nation with 94.8 points a game during the 1968–69 season fronted by Mount's 33.3 points a game. A regular season highlight was playing against the Indiana Hoosiers. In that year, Purdue defeated Indiana 120–76 in the final game of the regular season, where Mount established a school record for most points in a game. Mount had an unusual knack for telling if a goal wasn't balanced. He twice had officials adjust the same goal prior to the NCAA Finals game at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. He went through the same situation earlier in the season before a game at Iowa. He led Purdue to a 23–5 record on the season. He shot 51.5 percent on the season, whereas well-known scorers such as Pete Maravich and Calvin Murphy shot no better than 46 percent. He was selected as a First Team All-American and the Big Ten Player Of The Year.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
