Dick Garmaker
# Dick Garmaker

Richard Eugene Garmaker (October 29, 1932 – June 13, 2020) was an American basketball player who played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1955 to 1961.

## College career

Garmaker was a 6'3" guard/forward from the University of Minnesota. He was a 1955 consensus All-American for the Golden Gophers, along with Sihugo Green (Duquesne), Tom Gola (LaSalle), Bill Russell (San Francisco) and Dick Ricketts (Duquesne).

## Professional career

He was drafted by the NBA's Minneapolis Lakers twice (in 1954 and again in 1955) and joined the team for the 1955–56 NBA season. In his four-and-a-half seasons with the Lakers, Garmaker appeared as an NBA All-Star four times. He had his finest season in 1956–57, in which he ranked tenth in the league in points per game (16.3) and earned a spot on the All-NBA second team. In 1960, he was traded to the New York Knicks for Ray Felix and a draft pick, and he retired with the Knicks in 1961, having scored 5,597 career points.

## Death

Dick Garmaker died at age 87 on June 13, 2020.

## NBA career statistics

### Regular season

| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1955–56 | Minneapolis | 68 | 12.8 | .370 | .806 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 5.7 |
| 1956–57 | Minneapolis | 72 | 33.4 | .400 | .839 | 4.7 | 2.6 | 16.3 |
| 1957–58 | Minneapolis | 68 | 32.6 | .395 | .764 | 5.4 | 2.7 | 16.1 |
| 1958–59 | Minneapolis | 72 | 34.6 | .395 | .772 | 4.5 | 2.9 | 13.7 |
| 1959–60 | Minneapolis | 44 | 27.0 | .377 | .718 | 4.3 | 3.0 | 11.7 |
| 1959–60 | New York | 26 | 28.7 | .431 | .860 | 4.8 | 2.8 | 12.9 |
| 1960–61 | New York | 71 | 31.5 | .440 | .768 | 3.9 | 3.1 | 15.6 |
| Career | Career | 421 | 28.9 | .403 | .787 | 4.2 | 2.6 | 13.3 |
| All-Star | All-Star | 4 | 18.3 | .361 | .833 | 4.8 | 1.5 | 7.8 |

### Playoffs

| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1956 | Minneapolis | 3 | 14.0 | .368 | .941 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 10.0 |
| 1957 | Minneapolis | 5 | 37.4 | .275 | .844 | 7.0 | 3.4 | 13.0 |
| 1959 | Minneapolis | 13 | 33.8 | .424 | .778 | 4.2 | 3.0 | 14.5 |
| Career | Career | 21 | 31.8 | .379 | .821 | 4.7 | 3.2 | 13.5 |
