Mercyhurst University Athletics

 Dick Fox enjoyed great success as both an administrator and coach during his near-decade tenure with Mercyhurst. He was the College’s first athletic director, taking the reins of a newly created intercollegiate sports department in 1971 until handing the duties to Mike Cusack in 1977.

Fox guided the Laker programs to prominence in just a few short years as the Men’s Tennis team captured an NAIA National Championship in 1976 while his own Basketball squad advanced to the National Championship in 1978.

To date, he owns the best winning percentage of any men’s basketball coach, winning 70.1 percent of his games. Against just 43 losses, he owns 101 career wins, the third-most victories in program history. He never had a losing season and never had more than 11 losses in a season, saving his best year for last when the 1977-78 squad went 26-3 and lost by one point to Kearney in the NAIA National Championship game, 70-69. That team still holds the record for the longest winning streak, reeling off 12 straight wins midway through the season. And, until this year’s team started the year at 11-0, Fox’s 77-78 squad held the record for the best start to a season at 9-0.

A testament to the strength of Fox’s teams, the Lakers qualified for the NAIA playoffs on three separate occasions, with the first time in 1972-73, only the program’s second year of existence. In just its third year, the Lakers made history again when center Jesse Campbell earned Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention.

Prior to Mercyhurst, Fox played basketball at Clarion State University and went on to attain success at the high school level as a coach at Cathedral Prep, where he guided his squads to two PCIAA Class A State Championships in 1967-68 and 1970-71.

During his own scholastic career at Linesville High School, Fox set a then-school record of 1,020 points that stood for more than 25 years and is currently one of 15 players at Linesville in the 1,000-point club.