Spiders pay tribute to Greg Beckwith with patch on jerseys

This season, University of Richmond men’s basketball players have donned a number 10 patch on their uniforms in honor of Spider Athletics Hall-of-Famer Greg Beckwith, who passed away in May.  

Beckwith played for the Spiders from 1982 to 1986 and later served as the team’s color commentator alongside play-by-play broadcaster Bob Black. 

UR Head Coach Chris Mooney expressed that Beckwith is not someone the Spiders can replace, which is why remembering and honoring him is so important – something the uniform patch has served to do so far this season. 

“He was a tremendous person with just an incredible personality and a big heart, great family,” UR Head Coach Chris Mooney said. “But he was also a really important piece from kind of the older generation of players, fans, alums, ‘cause he was a star player for Coach Tarrant’s teams, some of the best teams we’ve ever had.”  

Beckwith played an integral role in putting UR’s basketball program on the map. During his four-year tenure, he averaged 4.1 points per game and tallied 573 assists, which is the second-most in UR basketball history. The Spiders made two appearances in the NCAA Tournament with Beckwith in their backcourt. 

In 1984, Beckwith, alongside players like Johnny Newman, helped lead an effort that ultimately knocked off eventual NBA Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley and the Auburn University Tigers in the Round of 64. 

That March Madness victory was one of the first in what has grown into a long list of upsets the Spiders have pulled off against power-five schools in their program’s history. 

In 1988, the Spiders defeated Bob Knight and his Indiana University Hoosiers in the NCAA Tournament; in 2020, the Spiders knocked off the University of Kentucky, a team that was ranked 10th in the country at the time; and in 2022, the Spiders took down the University of Iowa in the Round of 64. 

Earlier this year in February, a video recording of Barkley played on the jumbotron at the Robins Center as UR took on Davidson College in a conference play matchup. Barkley reflected on the Spiders ending his college career in that fateful 1984 tournament game Beckwith played in. 

“It taught me a great lesson about basketball – that there are great players everywhere,” Barkley said in the video, referring to his team’s loss at the hands of the Spiders. 

Beckwith was himself an embodiment of Barkley’s sentiment, thus breathing that notion of there being successful players all over the country into UR’s program. 

“We all need to be a little more like [Beckwith] and try to have the impact that he had for something that he cared so deeply about,” Mooney said.  

Following the Spiders season opener back on Nov. 6, junior center Mike Walz said he remembered sitting in front of Beckwith on plane rides when the team would travel. 

“A lot of great stories about his time here, his broadcasting career here,” Walz said. “Certainly a personality that we’re gonna miss now and forever, so to be able to wear this patch on our jersey and commemorate him in any way possible is super special for us.” 

Contact sports editor Jimmy James at jimmy.james@richmond.edu.