Greyhounds Basketball Honors Former Star Rick Rickert

Duluth East retired Rickert's #44 in a pregame ceremony on Saturday.

DULUTH, Minn. – The Duluth East boys basketball team honored former Greyhounds standout Rick Rickert and officially retired his jersey #44 before their game against Blaine on Saturday.

Rickert, who now lives in Idaho with his family, said getting to come back to Duluth East for this moment was a day he’ll never forget.

“You know, a lot of them are family and friends and people that have grown up watching me even younger than high school, when I was 10 years old and they’ve just been my supporters this entire time. I can’t even put into words what I’m feeling right now because it’s just such a cool experience,” Rickert said.

Rickert was a three year varsity captain, scored over 2000 career points, led the Greyhounds to the state finals in 2001 and was named Mr. Basketball that year, and was also a McDonald’s All American.

While Rickert went on to have a successful career at the University of Minnesota and played professionally for 15 years, his high school days are ones he’ll always cherish.

“This is where it all started. This is where, when I was on the JV team in eighth grade, this is where I knew I wanted to play basketball and I want to be really good and I want to play professionally. This is where the dream started and this is where I grew up and this is where I put the work in to get that level of being professional and being successful,” Rickert added.