Dick Acres

Dick Acres

Biographical details
Born	(1934-05-17)May 17, 1934 Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Died	June 14, 2012(2012-06-14) (aged 78)
Playing career
1954–1956	UC Santa Barbara
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1970–1982	Carson HS
1982	Oral Roberts (assistant)
1982–1985	Oral Roberts
Head coaching record
Overall	81–47 (.633)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
MCC regular season (1984) MCC tournament (1984)
Awards
MCC co-Coach of the Year (1984)

Richard K. Acres (May 17, 1934 – June 14, 2012) was an American college basketball coach. He served as head men's coach of Oral Roberts University (ORU) for three seasons.

Acres played college basketball at UC Santa Barbara and semi-professionally for Kirby Shoes. He received a degree in education from UC Santa Barbara and later a master's degree from California State University, Los Angeles. After his playing career, he went into teaching, initially at Mark Twain High School.^[1]

Acres coached at Carson High School in California from 1970 to 1982, winning the state 4A title in his last season there. He then took an assistant coaching role at Oral Roberts for the 1982–83 season under Ken Hayes. With the move, Acres was able to coach two of his sons, who were already at ORU – Mark (who would later go on to play in the National Basketball Association) and Jeff – as well as Sam Potter, who had played for Acres at Carson High.^[2] In December of that season, after a disappointing 3–5 start, Hayes was fired and Acres was installed as interim head coach.^[3] After leading the team to an 11–9 record in his time as interim coach, Acres was given the full-time head coaching job during that offseason.^[4]

The following season, Acres led the Golden Eagles to a 21–10 record, Midwestern City Conference regular season and tournament championships, and was named conference co-coach of the year with Joe Sexson of Butler.^[5] In the 1984–85 season, Acres led the Golden Eagles to a 13–15 record and resigned at the end of the season.^[6]

Besides his coaching career, Acres served as a referee for basketball, football, and baseball at the high school level. He was also a financial services professional. Acres died on June 14, 2012.^[1]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Oral Roberts Titans (Midwestern City Conference) (1982–1985)
1982–83	Oral Roberts	11–9	10–4	T–2nd
1983–84	Oral Roberts	21–10	11–3	1st	NCAA First Round
1984–85	Oral Roberts	15–15	8–6	T–3rd
Oral Roberts:		50–39 (.562)	29–13 (.690)
Total:		50–39 (.562)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

References

1. "Richard Acres obituary". Legacy.com. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
2. "Acres named as assistant ORU basketball coach". Sapulpa Daily Herald. June 17, 1982. p. 10. Retrieved July 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Hayes fired as Oral Roberts basketball coach". El Paso Times. December 20, 1982. p. 27. Retrieved July 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "ORU to stick with Acres". News Pilot. March 12, 1983. p. 11. Retrieved July 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "XU pair named second team MCC". The Cincinnati Enquirer. March 1, 1984. p. 22. Retrieved July 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Acres resigns position as Oral Roberts coach". The Oklahoman. March 13, 1985. p. 33. Retrieved July 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

• Coaching record @ sports-reference.com