| Dick Ives | |
| Position: | Forward |
| Height Ft: | 6 |
| Height In: | 1 |
| Weight Lb: | 156 |
| Number: | 20 |
| Birth Date: | 22 July 1924 |
| Birth Place: | Diagonal, Iowa |
| Death Place: | Miami, Florida |
| Nationality: | American |
| High School: | Diagonal (Diagonal, Iowa) |
| College: | Iowa (1943–1947) |
| Draft Year: | 1947 |
| Draft Round: | – |
| Draft Pick: | – |
| Draft Team: | Pittsburgh Ironmen |
| Highlights: |
|
Richard C. Ives (April 26, 1926 – May 5, 1997)[1] was an American basketball player for the University of Iowa from 1943–44 to 1946–47. A native of Diagonal, Iowa, Ives passed up the opportunity to play college basketball at Drake University on a full athletic scholarship so that he could play at Iowa under coach "Pops" Harrison.[2] Ives had been a stand-out basketball player at Diagonal High School and led the team to the state championship.[1]
Ives entered the University of Iowa in the fall of 1943 as a 17-year-old freshman.[2] Due to World War II and the lack of able-bodied male student athletes across the nation, the NCAA allowed freshmen to play varsity sports in college, which until that time had been disallowed.[1] With this rare opportunity, Ives went on to have a highly successful four-year letter-winning career as a Hawkeye. He led the team in scoring for his first three seasons, and as a freshman he scored a then-unheard of school- and Big Ten Conference-record 43 points in a single game.[1] [2] It is still the third highest scoring game in Iowa history and it earned him the nickname "Diagonal Dagger."[1] Ives was a three-time All-American, and in 1944–45 he was voted as a consensus Second Team All-American (coincidentally, fellow sophomore teammate Herb Wilkinson was also a consensus All-American).[2] That season, the Hawkeyes also won the Big Ten Conference championship.[2]
After his senior year in 1946–47, Ives was drafted by the Pittsburgh Ironmen of the Basketball Association of America (which would become the National Basketball Association) but never played a game for them.[3] He instead coached basketball and baseball at Parsons College, married Joan Newton and lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where Ives had a hardware business.[1] In 1954 they moved to Miami, Florida, and resided there for the rest of their lives.[1] Ives died on May 5, 1997, in Miami.[1]