THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994 TAG: 9406110072
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 32 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KERNELS, SUN SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: 940612 LENGTH: WINDSOR
Check that.
{REST} Ricks doesn't just play. When you're a first-team All-Tidewater District selection in football, basketball and baseball as a sophomore, the word play is a little too simplistic. You excel. Star. Dominate.
Take it from Fred Birchett. As coach of New Kent's football and baseball teams, he's seen enough of Ricks for one season.
``He's an athlete,'' said Birchett, whose baseball team won the district and regional titles this year. ``That's just one of those rare things when you have one of those special players.''
How special?
Stan Pope has a good idea. In a 21-year career at athletic juggernaut Sussex Central, he hasseen Terry Kirby (Tabb, '85-89), Dwayne Newby (John F. Yeates, '80-84) and Reggie Givens (Sussex Central, '85-89).
There are countless others, too, like Danny Brinkley (John F. Yeates, '80-83) Antonio Procise ('89-93), Percy Ellsworth (Southampton, '88-92) and Reggie Langhorne (Smithfield, '78-81).
All multisport athletes that flowed from one sport to the next like the passing of the seasons.
Ricks' performances have started him - like it or not - on that path.
Is he in that class of athletes? Pope, currently the Tigers athletic director, says its way too early to make that call.
``Right now, it'd be unfair to compare him,'' Pope said. ``He's a good athlete, but these other people have gone on to prove themselves. He's still got two years to improve himself.''
Sussex football coach Dwight Reagan has seen the coming of Ricks first hand. It was a Ricks 2-point conversion catch that allowed Windsor to take Sussex into double overtime - the first in the Tigers storied history - that ended in a 26-20 Dukes loss.
``He may be one of the best athletes we've seen in years,'' said Reagan, whose 22-year record at Sussex is 153-28-1. ``We don't know how good he's going to be.
``He's got a lot of ability, but I think what impresses me is the poise he plays with,'' he added. ``He's just unbelievable as far as the way he handles himself.''
If Ricks could live on talent alone, he could kick back now and start a Rolodex for college scouts.
But big-time athletics doesn't work that way.
At 161 pounds, he's too small for Division I football. Ditto for big-time basketball, where 6-2 guards are as rare as coaches without shoe contracts.
But there aren't those kinds of limitations in baseball, which, for now, seems to be Ricks' future path.
\ The Ricks story starts with a season that was like a tape on continuous playback.
Check out these statistics:
In football: He caught 31 passes for 455 yards (14.7 per catch) to lead the district in receiving.
In basketball: As a 6-foot-2 guard, his 17.2 points was second in the district.
In baseball: Through 60 at-bats, he batted .426 as a lead-off hitter and shortstop including 17 RBIs, 36 runs and 28 stolen bases. He was 13-of-20 in scoring in the first inning.
``I'd like to take credit for it,'' said Windsor coach Tex Murray ``but he was like that when I got him. He's just got God-given talent.''
But that's only the beginning. What the numbers don't fully do is give justice to what Ricks has done from hash mark to hardwood to home plate.
Picture one-handed catches and spin moves.
See rapid-fire dribbling from fingertips that are inches from the floor and 3-point swishes from NBA range.
Take the sharpest, hardest hit ground ball you can imagine. Then see it snatched on the rise and fired to first before the dust settles.
Ricks makes it look that beautiful.
It was those kinds of breathtaking performances that earned him The Sun Male Athlete of the Year award for this year.
``I've been doing it all my life,'' Ricks said modestly. ``I play all the time. I work at each game very hard.''
\ Joe Jones, Windsor's football coach of five years, knew the moment he saw Ricks coming up through the ranks, he had to have him.
But getting him turned out to be the easy part.
Deciding where to play him was another story. Defensive back? Quarterback? Halfback? Wide receiver? His mind was scheming with the possibilities.
``There's just so many places you could put him because the more the ball's in his hands, there's more chances of big plays happening,'' said Jones, 31, who recently accepted the head football coaching job at Franklin.
Hey coach, that goes without saying to anyone inside the eight-team Group A Tidewater District.
Or the serene, everyone knows everyone town of Windsor, defined by a Dairy Queen, a Mr. Video, a Baptist church, a post office and two stop lights.
Outside of those two, however, Ricks is probably the best-kept secret in Western Tidewater.
Chances are you probably didn't know that he was good last year, too, when as a freshman sans football, Ricks was a first-team selection in baseball and second-team in basketball.
And chances are he won't stay a secret anymore.
So remember the name. You'll probably be hearing from him again.
by CNB