Rick Suder Jr. (born c. 1964) is an American retired athlete who played college basketball for Duquesne of the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) from 1982 to 1986. He holds the Duquesne single-season and career free throw percentage records as well as the A-10 career free throw percentage record. Suder formerly held the school single-game assists record. He led the A-10 in scoring and free throw percentage for the 1985–86 season. Suder graduated from Center High School before attending college locally at Duquesne. Following his basketball career, he had a career in business and became a financial advisor. Suder is the grandson of Major League Baseball infielder Pete Suder.
Early life
Rick Suder attended a basketball camp at Robert Morris University where he learned free throw shooting from Calvin Murphy who emphasized making the shot one motion. Suder is from Center Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. He attended Center High School in Monaca, Pennsylvania— which merged into Central Valley High School in 2010— before matriculating to Duquesne, where he would earn the nickname "Suder the Shooter". He committed to Duquesne on April 18, 1982. Suder was a 1982 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Fabulous 5 selection from the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) and the Pittsburgh Public Schools. According to the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame, he was also an (All-Area, Pittsburgh) first team selection by the Pittsburgh Press.
College career
When Suder tallied 11 assists on February 11, 1984, as a sophomore against , it tied Andy Sisinni's single-game school record set two months earlier on December 10, 1983. The record was surpassed by Brian Shanahan on December 14, 1986.
Junior season
In January 1985, a rape trial commenced involving four suspended players on the team. Suder's first 30-point game occurred when he scored 30 points in the opening round of the 1985 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament against on March 6, 1985. He led Duquesne in both free throw percentage and scoring as a junior. Suder was a 1985 second team All-A-10 selection when his 17.7 points per game was third in the conference. During the offseason, Duquesne basketball went through two player expulsions and two additional suspensions following the rape trial, which hampered the team with cascading effects.
Senior season
Prior to his senior season Suder was a selection for the media's preseason first team All A-10 team, along with Maurice Martin, Rod Blake, Nate Blackwell and Dale Blaney. Suder scored 34 points against on January 11, 1986. He was a 1986 NCAA Men's Basketball All-American honorable mention selection by the Associated Press, after being among the 1985–86 NCAA Division I statistical leaders. Suder led Duquesne in steals, free throw percentage and scoring as a senior. Following his senior season, he was a first team All-A-10 selection (with Blaney, Martin, Blake and Barry Mungar) when his 20.5 scoring average and 91.8% free throw percentage both led the conference. The 91.8% ranked second among A-10 single-season free throw percentages but fell to fourth by the time of the A-10 2019–20 Media Guide. Although Duquesne was eliminated in the semi-finals, Suder was a member of the All-tournament team for the 1986 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament.
Legacy
According to the A-10 2019–20 Media Guide records, Suder is the A-10 career free throw percentage leader (342–390 87.69%, 1983–86, min 2.5 FT/game). Suder's career percentage was listed among the top 25 in the NCAA Division I record book until the 2006 edition. In the 2007 edition JJ Redick (662–726=91.2%) and Gerry McNamara (435–490=88.8%) displaced him from the list. Suder's 1985–86 (135–147=91.8%) and 1984–85 (139–157=88.5%) single-season free throw percentages rank first and second in Duquesne basketball history.
Suder was inducted into the Duquesne's Sports Hall of Fame on January 13, 1995. He was a class of 2002 inductee into the Beaver County, Sports Hall of Fame. The Beaver County Times noted that he was a 2017 inductee into the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Hall of Fame.