Bob Lackey, who helped Evanston High School win the 1968 state basketball championship and later starred at Marquette University, died Tuesday. He was 53 and had been battling cancer.
As an Evanston senior, Lackey teamed with Farrell Jones and Walter Perrin to lead coach Jack Burmaster’s Wildkits past Galesburg 70-51 in the 1968 state title game. They finished with a 30-1 record and were regarded as one of the top teams in IHSA history.
After two years at Casper (Wyo.) Junior College, Lackey enrolled at Marquette. As a junior he averaged 12.9 points and 8.8 rebounds for a Warriors team that was 28-0 and was ranked No. 1 in the nation before losing to Ohio State in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
He was Marquette’s captain as a senior, averaging 15.2 points and 8.1 rebounds as the Warriors went 25-4 and finished with a No. 7 national ranking.
He later played professionally with the ABA’s New York Nets, averaging 5.8 points over two seasons.
Former Marquette coach Hank Raymonds, who was an assistant to the late Al McGuire during Lackey’s playing days, recalled him as “The Black Swan.”
“I was never sure where the nickname came from,” Raymonds said. “I guess it was because he was so smooth in everything he did.”
Lackey was 6-feet-6-inches and a well-muscled 210 pounds. He had an intimidating manner, but Raymonds remembered him as a gentle soul.
“Al [McGuire] sent me out West to recruit him, and he sat there with his arms folded and didn’t say a word–I’m thinking, `I’d hate to meet up with this guy on the street,'” Raymonds said. “But he was a fine young man. All the time he was at Marquette he was a really good guy. This is too bad.”
A memorial service has tentatively been scheduled for the night of June 14 at the First Church of God Christian Life Center in Evanston. In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund is being established and donations can be sent to The Robert Lackey Memorial Fund c/o Toriya Eady, P.O. Box 1706, Evanston, Ill. 60204-1706.
