It's hard to be named Michael Pacholek. You wouldn't believe how many ways "Pacholek" gets misspelled. But it shouldn't be hard to properly spell "Michael."
I've only known about one person who actually spelled the name "Micheal." And he was no role model.
Michael Ray Richardson, as his name was originally spelled, and he always used his full name, was born on April 11, 1955 in Lubbock, Texas, and grew up on the East Side of Denver, Colorado. He graduated from Manual High School, as did Wellington Webb, the 1st black Mayor of Denver, and Norman Rice, the 1st black Mayor of Seattle.
He was recruited to the University of Montana by head coach Jud Heathcote, who later coached Michigan State to the 1979 National Championship. He was succeeded at Montana by Jim Brandenburg, who, with Richardson as his best player, won the 1978 Big Sky Conference title.
The New York Knicks drafted him, and the New York media billed him as "the next Walt Frazier." Two picks later, the Boston Celtics drafted Larry Bird. Richardson made 3 All-Star Games as a Knick, was twice named to the NBA's All-Defensive Team, and led the league in assists and steals in 1980.
But the Knicks were going nowhere. On Christmas Day 1981, the Knicks lost to the New Jersey Nets, 96-95 at Madison Square Garden. It was their 4th loss in a row. The sportswriters asked Richardson what was happening, and he said, "The ship be sinking." He was asked, "How low can it sink?" He mixed his metaphors and said, "The sky's the limit."
At the end of the season, he was transferred off the sinking ship, traded to the Golden State Warriors. After 1 season with them, again leading the league in steals, he was traded to the Nets. At that time, tired of seeing his name misspelled as "Micheal," he legally changed the spelling to that.
On a Nets team coached by Stan Albeck, with Albert King (brother of his ex-Knick teammate Bernard), Darryl Dawkins, Otis Birdsong, Buck Williams and Mike Gminski, the Nets beat the defending NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers in the Playoffs. It was the franchise's only Playoff series win between the 1976 ABA-NBA merger and the 2001-02 season.
It wasn't an especially good season for Richardson, because, like so many other athletes in the 1980s, he had become addicted to cocaine. In 1985, he once again led the league in steals, and was named to his 3rd All-Star Game. He was named NBA Comeback Player of the Year.
But on February 25, 1986, Richardson was banned for life by NBA Commissioner David Stern, after testing positive for cocaine for a 3rd time in 3 seasons. He was the 1st active NBA player to be banned by the league.
He was reinstated by the NBA in 1988, but decided to continue his career in Europe, and never played in the NBA again. He played for minor-league teams on Long Island and in Albany, then went to Europe, playing in the Italian, Yugoslav and French leagues.
In 2004, he retired, and was named head coach of one of his former teams, the Albany Patroons. After 3 years, he was fired, for making comments that were viewed as anti-Semitic and homophobic. But some Jewish advocates spoke up for him, and he was soon offered a new job, with the Oklahoma Cavalry in Lawton. He led them to the Championship of the Continental Basketball Association in 2008 and 2009. In 2011, he was named head coach of the London Lightning of Canada's National Basketball League, and he led them to the title in 2012 and 2013.
He left after the 2014 season, and it turned out to be his last coaching job. He returned to Lawton, worked for a financial firm, and ran youth basketball clinics with Birdsong. He was married to Kimberly, who owned a beauty salon. Their son, Amir Richardson, born in France while Micheal Ray was playing there, became a professional soccer player, currently with ACF Fiorentina in Florence, Italy. He plays for the Morocco national team, and helped them win the Bronze Medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Micheal Ray Richardson recovered from cocaine addiction, and stayed off drugs for the rest of his life. But that life was brought to an end today, November 11, 2025, in Lawton, from prostate cancer, at the age of 70.
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