‘A REAL MAGICIAN’
Dick Braucher, a Parade All-American in boys basketball at Kutztown High in 1965 who died Tuesday at the age of 74, leaves a lasting legacy
Dave Madeira remembers sneaking away from a college party to check on former Kutztown High teammate Dick Braucher, whose North Carolina State basketball team was up against nationally ranked Duke in the 1968 ACC Tournament.
No one believed Madeira when he returned to tell everyone the Wolfpack had pulled off the upset and won the lowestscoring game in ACC Tournament history 12-10.
“They thought I had too much to drink,” Madeira recalled.
Braucher made the biggest plays of the game, with a late steal and the go-ahead basket in a contest that went down in N.C. State lore and served as an impetus toward the NCAA adopting a shot clock.
It was no surprise to see the former Cougars star rise to the occasion. He was that rare talent who excelled in any sport he tried.
“He was just a natural-born athlete,” Madeira said of his teammate and lifelong friend, who died Tuesday at age 74.
Braucher, a big, do-it-all guard, led Kutztown to four straight Berks Conference basketball championships and earned a spot on the Parade All-America team alongside Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Pete Maravich. He is recognized as one of the greatest players in Berks history.
“He was a fierce competitor and could’ve dominated every game on offense,” Madeira recalled, “but he was willing to share the ball. He was a good teammate.”
His coach, the late John Silan, considered him the best player he ever coached.
“Braucher had more talent than anyone
I ever had,” Silan said. “He was a real magician.”
He finished his high school career with 1,668 points, third-most in Berks at the time of his graduation in 1965.
He went on to play at N.C. State, where he was a three-year starter and captain.
Braucher was such a tremendous athlete that he was drafted by the New York Knicks and caught the eye of Dallas Cowboys general manager Gil Brandt, who invited him to a tryout — even though he had never played a down of football. Kutztown didn’t have a team at the time.
Braucher excelled in every season. He was an All-Berks pick in baseball and soccer and later became a scratch golfer. Former teammate John Grim recalled him striking out 17 batters once against Brandywine Heights and said he was considered the top soccer player in the county.
Braucher was selected for the Reading Eagle’s All-Century basketball team in 1999 and received the fourth-most votes, behind only Reading High’s Stu Jackson, West Reading’s Ron Krick and Reading High’s Donyell Marshall.
He was a three-time All-Berks pick, a two-time first-team All-State pick and Pennsylvania’s Mr. Basketball as a senior in 1965.
His friends thought he was headed to Villanova to play basketball, but N.C. State coach Press Maravich — a friend of Silan’s — made a late pitch and enticed Braucher with the fact that he’d be able to play in the same backcourt with his son.
“Pistol” Pete Maravich didn’t meet Atlantic Coast Conference academic standards and ended up playing for his father at Louisiana State University. Braucher ended up forming a strong backcourt duo with Eddie Biedenbach.
Braucher was a rare big man with guard skills.
“Back then if you had a 6-5 guy, he was your big man,” Kutztown teammate Don Sechler told the Reading Eagle in 1999. “But that wasn’t the case with him. You’re talking a big guard.
“Nobody could guard him. You put a big man on him, and he’d drive right around him. You put a little guy on him, he’d shoot right over him. He was a great shooter, and the way he could see the floor and pass was amazing. He just had that basketball sense.”
“He could see over the top of the smaller guards,” Silan said. “I think a lot of the passes his teammates missed were because they honestly didn’t know they were coming.”
The Cougars went 91-14 over Braucher’s four seasons, with Berks titles in 1962, ‘63, ‘64 and ‘65. They won the District 3 Class B championship his sophomore season.
He played for Norm Sloan at N.C. State and averaged 11.3 points per game as a sophomore and 12.6 points per game as a junior, second on the team both seasons.
He caught the eye of Boston Celtics coach and general manager Red Auerbach during his junior season.
An eye injury and a bout with the Hong Kong flu affected his play as a senior, according to a 2018 story on the N.C. State sports blog “One Brick Back,” and that hurt his pro chances.
After college, he played with the Exeter Black Knights of the Mid-Atlantic Basketball League and helped them to a national championship in 1970.
As good as he was on the court, he was even better off it, Madeira recalled.
“He was a great teammate and a greater friend,” he said.