Ed Ratleff

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Ed Ratleff

| image = Ed_Ratleff_Long_Beach.jpg

| width =

| caption = Ratleff as a sophomore at Long Beach State

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 6

| weight_lb = 195

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1950|03|29}}

| birth_place = Bellefontaine, Ohio, U.S.

| high_school = East (Columbus, Ohio)

| college = Long Beach State (1970–1973)

| draft_year = 1973

| draft_round = 1

| draft_pick = 6

| draft_team = Houston Rockets

| career_start = 1973

| career_end = 1978

| years1 = {{nbay|1973|start}}–{{nbay|1977|end}}

| team1 = Houston Rockets

| career_number = 42

| career_position = Shooting guard / small forward

| highlights =

2× Consensus first-team All-American (1972, 1973)
2× PCAA Player of the Year (1972, 1973)
3× First-team All-PCAA (1971–1973)
No. 42 retired by Long Beach State 49ers

| CBBASKHOF_year = 2015

| stats_league = NBA

| stat1label = Points

| stat1value = 2,813 (8.3 ppg)

| stat2label = Rebounds

| stat2value = 1,363 (4.0 rpg)

| stat3label = Assists

| stat3value = 896 (2.7 apg)

| medal_templates =

{{MedalCountry | {{USA}} }}

}}

William Edward "Easy Ed" Ratleff (born March 29, 1950) is an American former professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He attended East High School (Columbus, Ohio) where he led his high school basketball team to the Ohio State Championship in 1968 and was joined by Dwight "Bo" Lamar to claim the 1969 Ohio High School title.{{Cite web|url=https://www.publicschoolreview.com/east-high-school-profile/43205|title=East High School Profile (2020-21) | Columbus, OH|website=Public School Review|date=7 November 2023 }} Ratleff played college basketball for the Long Beach State 49ers, earning consensus first-team All-American honors twice. He was chosen for the 1972 U.S. Olympic team and participated in the Munich Games. He was selected with the sixth overall pick of the 1973 NBA draft and played five NBA seasons.

High school

Ratleff attended Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ohio, leading his team to the AAA (big school) state championship in 1967–1968 with a 25–0 record.{{Cite web|url=https://ohiobasketballhalloffame.com/?p=400|title=Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame|website=ohiobasketballhalloffame.com}} The ’68-69 Tigers were also undefeated state champions. Overall in three seasons he led the Tigers to three state championship games, two state championships and a 70-1 record.{{Cite web |url=http://archive.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20140407/HSSPORTS03/303200020/5th-star-sought-all-time-All-Ohio-prep-basketball-team |title=Archived copy |access-date=February 11, 2015 |archive-date=February 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211223243/http://archive.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20140407/HSSPORTS03/303200020/5th-star-sought-all-time-All-Ohio-prep-basketball-team |url-status=dead }}

College career and Olympics

A 6'6" guard/forward, he played college basketball at California State University, Long Beach under coach Jerry Tarkanian. He still holds the school's career record for scoring average (21.4). He was twice named first-team AP All-American by the AP, in 1971–72 and 1972–73.{{Cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/all_america.html|title=NCAA College Basketball AP All-America Teams|website=Basketball-Reference.com}}

Ratleff played for the United States national basketball team at the 1972 Summer Olympics, where the United States lost a controversial gold medal game to the Soviet Union. Ratleff and his teammates refused to accept silver medals in protest at the refereeing controversy. Throughout the Olympic tournament, Ratleff averaged 6.4 points per game.[http://www.usabasketball.com/history/moly_1972.html USA Basketball] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070822182059/http://www.usabasketball.com/history/moly_1972.html |date=2007-08-22 }}.

Professional career

Ratleff was chosen with the sixth pick in the 1973 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets.{{Cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_1973.html|title=1973 NBA Draft|website=Basketball-Reference.com}} He played five season for the Rockets, averaging 8.3 points and 4.0 rebounds in his NBA career.{{Cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/ratleed01.html|title=Ed Ratleff NBA Stats|website=Basketball Reference|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|accessdate=19 February 2025}}

Personal life

In 1991 his number 42 was retired by Long Beach State. In 2009, he was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2015, he was part of the class inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame and in 2017 he was inducted into the Ohio High School Athletic Association Ring of Champions.