Devenzio dead at 51

Dick Devenzio - one of the best point guards in WPIAL basketball history who went on to play at Duke University and later became a tireless advocate for college athletes - died Friday morning at his home near Charlotte, N.C.

Devenzio, 51, died of colon cancer that had spread to his liver, his father, Chuck Devenzio, said Monday.

'He only found out he had it in the middle of March, and it was too late to do anything about it,' his father said.

Dick, who grew up in Springdale, played for his father at Ambridge High School in 1967 on a state championship team which is considered one of the best in Pennsylvania history. His teammates included Dennis Wuycik, who went on to star at North Carolina, and Frank Kauffman, who played for Purdue. In the state title game, Ambridge defeated a previously undefeated Chester team, 93-61.

'I'm real prejudiced,' Chuck said, 'but Dick was probably one of the best point guards ever from this area.

'He could really shoot, because he could really practice. He would shoot over 1,000 shots a day. He'd stay in one spot until he hit 15 in a row and then move to another spot. No one I ever saw practiced more than he did. He practiced continually.'

As good as he was as a shooter, he equally was adept at passing and was perfectly content to do either. At Duke, where he played from 1969-71 and was an academic all-American, he set the individual career record for assists with 388. As a sophomore, he averaged 4.8 assists a game and was named to the ACC all-tournament team.

'He could break down anybody off the dribble,' said Bucky Waters, who recruited Devenzio when he was at West Virginia and later became his coach at Duke. 'He could tear the heart out of a defense. He waited until you made a mistake. He didn't make mistakes.'

At 5-foot-10, 155 pounds, Devenzio was not an imposing physical presence, nor was he a great leaper. But his tenacity and quickness made him successful. 'His real gift was making everybody else play better,' Waters said. 'He had a passion for excellence.'

After leaving Duke, Devenzio gained a national reputation as an articulate advocate for college athletes. He attacked the issue of pay for players with the same ferocity that he approached basketball.

He was the author of six books, most of which he published himself. Among them were 'Stuff! Good Players Should Know,' an instructional work; and 'Rip-Off U.,' which exposed the hypocrisy of big-time college athletics.

'We believe, as a nation, that people should benefit from the fruits of their labors,' Devenzio wrote. 'There is nothing so dramatically different about college sports or college athletes that should cause this basic national belief to be suspended.'

He also wrote a book about his father and his unusual coaching techniques. 'He didn't pull any punches on me,' Chuck said. 'That was Dick.'

Six years ago, Devenzio founded Point Guard Basketball College, a successful summer camp for point guards, which attracts athletes from all over the country.

At the time of his death, there are many signs the issue of pay for college athletes finally is being treated seriously by the NCAA.

'Someday, it will come to be,' Chuck said. 'When it does, some lawyer from New York will get all the credit. But it was Dick who did all the work and spent all that money. He was like a voice in the night.'