TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State Director of Athletics Sherard Clinkscales and Head Basketball Coach Greg Lansing announced today (Oct. 10) that former Sycamore Carl Nicks will have his famed #22 jersey retired on February 16, 2019 prior to the Southern Illinois game. This contest is slated to begin at Noon (ET) and will be televised on the Missouri Valley Conference Television Network.

"I am extremely excited and grateful to have my jersey retired at Indiana State," Nicks said. "Indiana State took a chance on a young man from the Southside of Chicago and even though I left and came back – the coaches and people of Terre Haute stuck with me the whole way. I hope people remember me as someone who played hard and laid it all on the line for Indiana State. Indiana State and the people of Terre Haute opened up many doors for me through the game of basketball. In return, I helped our team helped put Indiana State on the map. I am just very happy to be honored in this way by Indiana State."

Nicks, a 1980 graduate of Indiana State University, was known as Mr. Intensity during his basketball career with the Sycamores. He attended ISU as a freshmen, then transferred to Gulf Coast Community College for his sophomore year before returning to ISU for his final two seasons. He was inducted into the Indiana State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007 as an individual member and in 2000 as a member of the 1978-79 Sycamore Basketball team which advanced to the NCAA Final Four and Championship Game.

"I want to take this opportunity to congratulate ole' No. 22 -- the lefty from the Southside of Chicago -- Carl Nicks," head coach Greg Lansing. "We are all super excited that Carl's jersey is going up in the Hulman Center rafters. People forget that when we had Larry Bird -- No. 22 was a pretty darn good player himself. He is one of the all-time best to ever play here and there is no one more deserving. He was a great player and is an even better man. Congratulations Carl!"

During his junior year, Nicks was the second leading scorer as ISU reached the championship game of the NCAA tournament, averaging 19.3 points per game. He was named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference team, a TSN Honorable Mention All-American and a member of the All-Midwest Regional team in 1979. He also played on the US All-Star college team during the summer of 1979. He was also a First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference selection as a senior in 1980.

"I am really excited we got to honor the incredible career of Carl Nicks in this way," said Indiana State Athletics Director Sherard Clinkscales. "He is the next in a line of past Sycamore greats that we are committed to honoring and I think it is even more fitting that we are doing so on the 40^th anniversary of When March Went Mad. As a young boy I admired the tenacity he displayed on the court; he had no fear. It has been an honor to get to know him over the last two years."
 
As a senior, Nicks scored 723 points, averaging 26.7 points per game in 1979-80. He finished his career with 1,432 points scored which is tied for the ninth-best mark in school history with Duane Klueh who he will be joining in the rafters. His 47 points at West Texas State on January 12, 1980 is still tied for the school record for most points scored in a Sycamore Basketball road game. That performance still ranks as the third-best scoring performance in the history of the program.

Nicks was drafted by Denver in the 1980 NBA draft and played for the Denver, Utah and Cleveland. He also played in the Continental Basketball Association and professionally in Europe before retiring.
 
He joins Larry Bird (#33) and Duane Klueh (#54) as the only three Sycamores to have their jersey retired. The 1978-79 team, which will be honored on January 19, 2019 with a 40^th anniversary reunion celebration, featured Nicks and Bird while Klueh was the radio color commentator during that magical run.
 
Nicks was an assistant to former ISU head coach Bill Hodges at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., before moving back to Indianapolis in 1998. He was a coach in the Pike Township system and ran a program for at-risk teenagers for Methodist Hospital before rejoining former Sycamore teammate Larry Bird with the Indiana Pacers.