Rich Falk Earns NU Athletics Hall of Fame Honorary Induction

Big news out of Evanston as former basketball player Rich Falk will be inducted into Northwestern's Athletics Hall of Fame.  He played for Northwestern in the early 1960s and has contributed in some capacity to Northwestern and the Big Ten for the following 40 years.  It's a pretty noteworthy career for the Wildcats and something that everyone in the Northwestern community can be proud of during his induction.

Here is the full release:

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Former men's basketball student-athlete, coach and administrator Rich Falk has been elected to the Northwestern Athletics Hall of Fame in an honorary capacity as a member of the Class of 2014 for his contributions to Northwestern and the sport of men's basketball over a career that spanned six decades.

Falk played for the Wildcats from 1961-64, spent 19 years in Evanston as a coach and another 21 as a basketball administrator with the Big Ten Conference, serving as the director of the Big Ten Tournament for the final 13 of those seasons. Falk retired in 2010.

Falk's association with Northwestern and its varsity basketball program began as a sophomore in 1961. He scored over 1,000 points in his three-year career and earned All-Big Ten recognition in 1963 and 1964. As a senior, Falk established the Northwestern single-game scoring record with 49 points in a game against Iowa--a record that still stands today. Falk graduated in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in education and was drafted by the Boston Celtics.

After a brief stint in the NBA, Falk returned to his alma mater as an assistant men's basketball coach in 1966, serving in that role for three seasons and compiling a 27-3 record as the Wildcats' freshman team coach. He left the profession for three years, but returned in 1972 for another six-year stint as an assistant under Brad Snyder and Tex Winter.

Falk became the Wildcats' head coach in 1978 following Winter's departure and led the program to its first-ever postseason berth in 1983 where Northwestern defeated Notre Dame in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament. Falk served as NU's head coach until 1986.

In 1989, Falk joined the Big Ten Conference as an assistant commissioner working as an intermediary between the Big Ten's men's basketball coaches and officials. He spent 21 years in that role, also managing the league's officiating program that included the training, assignment and evaluation of all Big Ten referees.

He was promoted to associate commissioner during his tenure and saw his duties expand to include oversight of all of the league's basketball operations including the Big Ten Tournament. Falk also served as an administrator for men's golf, another passion of his.

Falk retired in 2010 following his 21st season as part of the staff at the Big Ten office. He continues to run the Rich FalkBasketball Camp that he founded in 1980; after completing its 35th year in 2014, it is the longest-running basketball camp in the Chicago area.