Dick Groat, two-sport star at Duke and two-time World Series champion, dies at age 92

Duke athletics, and the sports world as a whole, lost an all-time great Thursday.

Dick Groat, a two-sport, hall-of-fame athlete at Duke and two-sport professional who won two World Series championships in baseball, died Thursday. He was 92.

Groat’s family said in a statement that he died early Thursday morning at UMPC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh due to complications from a stroke.

“The world lost an absolute treasure with the passing of Dick Groat,a historically significant athlete and even better person,” former Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement. “As much as our family appreciated his marvelous basketball and baseball career, we admired how he carried himself after it ended even more. A true multi-sports icon, Dick represented Duke University and the city of Pittsburgh with the utmost of class and dignity, which resulted in universal admiration.”

The first Duke basketball player to have his number retired, Groat played basketball and baseball for the Blue Devils before embarking on a professional career that saw him briefly play in the NBA before focusing solely on baseball.

He won the 1960 National League Most Valuable Player award while helping the Pittsburgh Pirates win the World Series. He won a second World Series in 1964 with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Groat starred at Duke from 1949-52 in the pre-ACC days, earning induction into the Southern Conference Hall of Fame as well as the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame. He was named the Southern Conference’s top male athlete in 1951 and 1952.

“The sports world lost a legend and the country lost a true American hero today,” Duke baseball coach Chris Pollard said. “Dick Groat was a special talent in both basketball and baseball, but an even better human being. All of us who have followed in his footsteps at Duke, are better for the path he paved.”

A two-time, all-American in both baseball and basketball, he was the 1952 national player of the year in basketball before leading the Blue Devils baseball team to the 1952 College World Series.

Legendary baseball executive Branch Rickey nearly made those accomplishments impossible in 1951. As the Pirates general manager at the time, Rickey invited the 20-year-old Groat, who had just completed his junior year at Duke, to work out for the team during a summer visit home to Pennsylvania. Rickey offered Groat a contract and promised to start him in a game against the Cincinnati Reds the following night.

In an interview published on Duke’s athletics website, GoDuke.com, in 2014, Groat said his loyalty to Duke caused him to delay fulfilling his major league dreams.

“I said, “Mr. Rickey that’s not even fair,’” Groat said. “You know I want to play major league baseball, but I owe my senior year to Duke and I am going back to play basketball and baseball. But I promise you, you make the same offer to me next spring and I will sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates.’”

So Groat returned to Duke for his fabulous senior year, which culminated with his No. 10 basketball jersey being retired. The 48 points he scored in Duke’s 94-64 win over North Carolina in his final home game are still the most points ever scored by a Blue Devils player against the Tar Heels.

“Dick was a legend, both as a Blue Devil and for his myriad of professional accomplishments,” Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer said. “The world has lost a tremendous sports ambassador and a wonderful human. He starred in multiple sports and excelled on the biggest stages, while always representing himself and his organizations in the most dignified way. The sports world is a better place because of Dick Groat.”

Groat averaged 23 points per game during his Duke career, trailing only Art Heyman (25.1 points) on Duke’s all-time list.

On the baseball diamond, Groat finished with a career .375 batting average. He batted .370 as a senior before signing with the Pirates in June 1952 shortly after the Blue Devils were eliminated from the College World Series. Groat made his big-league debut on June 19, 1952.

The following winter, having been a first-round pick by the NBA’s Fort Wayne Pistons, Groat played one season of professional basketball, flying back and forth to games while finishing his degree at Duke.

That experience was limited to 26 games, though, due to Groat being drafted into the Army.

Following his military obligations, Groat gave up his basketball career in 1955 and focused on baseball, where he excelled as a shortstop. He made the National League All-Star team in 1959, the first of five seasons in which he was an all-star.

In 1960, Groat won the National League batting title, hitting .325, and was named league MVP. The Pirates beat the New York Yankees in a seven-game World Series.

Traded to St. Louis in 1962, Groat made All-Star teams in 1963 and 1964, helping the Cardinals beat the Yankees in the 1964 World Series.

After his playing career, Groat returned to the Pittsburgh area where he was a color commentator on University of Pittsburgh basketball radio broadcasts from 1979-2019. When Pitt joined the ACC in 2013, it allowed Groat to return to Cameron Indoor to call games.

“The game of basketball is an amazing game that has changed so much since I played,” Groat told GoDuke.com during a 2014 visit. “But I still love to watch the shooters and remember what it was like to hit those shots. I have been very fortunate to have such a great life.”