Morehead State basketball coach Dick Fick reacted to an official’s call during the Eagles’ 97-61 loss to Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Dec. 17, 1993. The flamboyant coach led the Eagles for six rollicking years (1991-97) and compiled a 64-101 record. He was so well-known for his sideline antics that the late Jim Valvano of ESPN handed out the “Dick Fick Award,” which went weekly to the coach who showed the most sideline animation. Once, in a game in Cincinnati, Fick held up a three-point sign to the UC student body every time Morehead made a three-pointer. His most famous moment came in 1992, in a game against Kentucky in Rupp Arena. MSU was victimized by an over-the-back call. In response, Fick collapsed flat on his back, his arms elevated straight up in disgust. But Fick could be every bit as clever as he was ebullient. One summer, he picked up a newspaper and saw that University of Cincinnati center Art Long had been arrested for punching a police horse. He was immediately on the phone to Bearcats Coach Bob Huggins. “Bob, I can help you,” Fick said. “I know there is no way Art Long punched that horse.” Huggins: “How?” Fick: “He’s still in the lane from when we played you last year.” In 1997, Morehead refused to extend Fick’s contract, and in 1999, he publicly admitted that he was an alcoholic after he was in and out of alcohol treatment programs. He wound up back in his hometown, Joliet, Ill., as a part-time assistant coach at University of St. Francis, an NAIA school. On April 28, 2003, Fick, 50, was found dead in the Joliet apartment where he lived by himself. Photo by Frank Anderson | Staff