Fifteen Years Later, Rick Fox Has It All

If it seems like Rick Fox has it all, there is a perfectly logical explanation for that.

It's because he does.

Hollywood handsome, a millionaire a few times over, a set of teeth that would make Mateen Cleeves envious and not to mention, he's married to former Miss America and recording artist/movie star/entertainer Vanessa Williams.

Yeah, that probably would constitute having it all.

It has been nearly 15 years since Rick Fox has called Warsaw his home and much has changed for the Los Angeles Laker veteran.

How many guys can say they played for arguably the most tradition-rich teams at their respective levels? First Warsaw, then North Carolina, drafted by the Boston Celtics and then traded to the Lakers.

"I joke that I have got a good bloodline," Fox says. "Indiana is the basketball state in the United States. And then to go to college at North Carolina and then Boston, those are two great teams. How much more of a perfect existence can I have in terms of the opportunities in the places I have been able to play in and the people I have played with and for and to be coached by. It's been great."

Great is not the word used in terms of the feeling of having to sit out an entire season while your friends and teammates were able.

After two superb seasons (1984-1986) at Warsaw, Fox was projected to have a monster senior season. But all that changed during the late summer when the Bahamas native was ruled ineligible and not allowed to participate in any IHSAA games. Fox was able to turn that downer into a positive.

"I was surprised," Fox says. "I thought the advantages were that I got to focus more on my school. At the same time too, instead of playing those games, I ended up spending more time at Grace College working out with college kids."

They say every dark cloud has a silver lining and if there has to be one in this case it would come from Fox competing against men in lieu of the IHSAA sanctions.

Fox would not only compete against men the next season, but he would compete against the top college talent while at North Carolina, a school he chose because partly of Michael Jordan.

In 1990, Fox made a last-second shot to beat top-ranked Oklahoma in a second-round NCAA tournament game. But 1991 would bring Fox back to Indiana to play his last college game at Indianapolis in the Final Four against Kansas.

Greeted by boos, Fox bowed out as graciously at Carolina as he did in accepting the IHSAA sanctions. But did the boos bother him?

"I got booed a lot in Indiana," Fox says. "For me at that time (playing my last game) was tough. (Being booed) was surprising."

After a tough loss to Kansas in the national semifinal, Fox was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the first round where he spent six seasons there before heading west to the beaches of California where he would be part of two championship teams and also meet the love of his life.

The first title would come at the hands of the Indiana Pacers. And if you were to ask Fox about his preference as to the venue to win it wouldn't be at the Staples Center. He would have rather won it back in Indiana at Conseco.

Why?

Partly because of losing his final college game in Indianapolis, but mostly out of respect for the state of Indiana and its people.

"I was really hoping that we would win it in Indiana," Fox says. "It didn't happen that way. I don't know if I'm just not destined to be successful in Indiana."

With two championship rings to his credit, Fox has settled into a role of a family man and is thinking about his life after basketball. Fox, with two children ages seven and two, met the love of his life five years ago through his manager and her interior decorator.

At that time, Fox had just moved to Los Angeles and Williams was still in New York and recently divorced.

"He (manager) was well aware of my interest in her," Fox says. "Fate kind of set it up. We bumped into each other at a party. The interest was planted and it was a matter of developing."

Basketball only last so long and Fox gives much thought to his life after the game. With a movie career in the offing and a television series to his credit, HBO's "Oz", Fox relishes the final moments of the basketball facet of his life.

"I'm in too good of a situation with the Lakers," Fox says. "Basketball has been great to me on all levels. I'm playing to be on a championship contender. If I weren't, it would be difficult to play to just make a paycheck."

As for the acting career, Fox feels "the same creative release (as basketball) and the same joy of expression."

Fellow "He Got Game" actor and current Milwaukee Bucks guard Ray Allen says of Fox's acting, "I'd like to see him do some non-basketball roles. He has enough range to venture out and do other (roles). He's proven to everybody that he can hold his own. He has that in his character to believe that he can be someone else. That's what acting really is and making other people believe it as well."

Fox deserves all the accolades, on and off the court, for how he has handled adversity, prestige, fame and fortune. If a "three-peat" were to happen, it couldn't happen to a more deserving person and a role model.

With the Lakers near the top of the Western Conference, in order to "three-peat" the Lakers will need the services of Fox and his "good bloodline" as well as his basketball skills.

If you think Fox has got good bloodline, what do you think the children of he and the painfully beautiful Vanessa Williams will have?

Put your money on good.