Ian Clark
March 17, 2022
Jim Ericksen
- Nationality: USA
- Date of Birth:
- Place of Birth:
- Position: FRD
- Height (CM): 196
- Weight (KG): #N/A
- Junior Assoc:
- College: Snow College (1973-1975) / Weber State (1975-1977)
- NBL DEBUT: 2/02/80
- AGE AT DEBUT: 0
- LAST NBL GAME: 11/07/82
- NBL History: Launceston 1980-82
- Championships: 1
- Launceston Casino City (1981)
NBL EXPERIENCE
Jim Ericksen made his NBL debut with the Launceston Casino City Tigers on 2/2/1980. He scored 23 points in his first game.
Jim Ericksen was one of the most reliable players to come to Tasmania; which is proven by his record of playing 3 season’s with the one club in the NBL; three season’s with Latrobe in the North West Basketball Union and three season’s for the Queechy All Stars team in the local Launceston Basketball League.
Robbie Thompson, who played with Jim Ericksen at Launceston Casino City in 1980, said that Ericksen “was the best big man I’ve played with. He could run the floor, he had great footwork, and a great little board shot.”
In the NWBU in 1980; it is recorded in Nick Haywood’s book The Union, that the Advocate award was won by Ulverstone’s star recruit Cliff Martin, followed by Latrobe’s gun player, Jim Ericksen in 2nd. Ulverstone beat Latrobe in the 1980 NWBU Grand Final and in the 1980 Top Shot ABC final. Ulverstone Redhoppers player Robbie Thompson had the following to say re the 1980 Grand Final, which along with the 1982 Grand Final, were two of the best Grand Finals seen on the North West Coast. “We played Latrobe who had Ericksen and Alden Ulrich and we had Regan Lusk, Cliff Martin, Phil Thomas, Grant Hearps, Longdon and blokes like that. It was a great game which ended with Cliff shooting a long shot on the buzzer to win by a point. We celebrated well too.” Latrobe’s starting five was Jim Ericksen, Trevor Mathew, Alden Ulrich, Garry McDermott and Mike Gaffney.
In 1981 the Examiner award went to Jim Ericksen from Latrobe and Cliff Martin was runner-up; with Martin winning The Advocate’s player of the year.
In 1982, Ulverstone Redhoppers beat Latrobe in overtime in what was another great grand final. “Latrobe’s best included Curtis Coleman who nailed 29 points, Ericksen 22 and Gary McDermott with 10. For Ulverstone, Lusk top scored with 26 points. The Advocate best player in 82 was awarded to Trevor Matthew (Devonport) followed by Ericksen and Lusk.
Phil Thomas rated Cliff Martin and Jim Ericksen as the first picked in his all time top five players in the NWBU. Thomas who has been involved in the NWBU from the first year in 1974, until the current time, had the following to say re Jim Ericksen – perhaps the best big man to play in Tasmania. Relentless rebounder that could play both ends.
Jim Ericksen also played three seasons in the local Launceston Basketball League for the Queechy All Stars, with Richard Smith in 1981 and 1982 and never in the history of Tasmanian local basketball has any team had two players in their team as tall as Ericksen and Smith. Sanyo City had the “black flash” Cliff Martin and Kings Meadows Traders had the “Sky Walker” Curtis Coleman and Olympian Ian Davies.
Not sure which team won the Premierships in Launceston in 1980, 1981 or 1982, but maybe Lucas or Jenny Sytsma can tell me as they followed the Queechy All Stars back in those days, when son Mark played in the Queechy All Stars under 12 team. Thanks to Lucas for this photo of Jim Ericksen’s playing singlet from his time playing with Queechy. The question is has Lucas also got the missing Launceston Casino City championship cup hidden away somewhere? The banner that was won by the team in 1981 was missing, but was found in a Hobart shed earlier this year. Who stole the championship cup is the question that needs to be answered. I don’t think that Jim Ericksen took it back to Utah when he returned home to the U.S at the end of the 1982 season, after the writing was on the wall re the demise of Launceston’s NBL team due to financial reasons.
Jim Ericksen played three seasons the Launceston Casino City Tigers. He averaged 20.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 0.2 assists in 72 NBL games.
NBL TOTAL STATISTICS
| SEASON | AGE | TEAM | TEAM RECORD | GP | MINS | PTS | REB | AST | OR | DR | STL | BLK | TO | PF | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | TS% | EFG% | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 0 | Launceston | 5-21 (13) | 26 | 0 | 657 | 298 | 19 | 90 | 208 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 54 | 258 | 548 | 47% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 141 | 162 | 87% | 53% | 47% | 42 |
| 1981 | 0 | Launceston | 14-8 (2) | 24 | 0 | 408 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 172 | 346 | 50% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 64 | 82 | 78% | 53% | 50% | 31 |
| 1980 | 0 | Launceston | 9-13 (8) | 22 | 0 | 385 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 61 | 157 | 314 | 50% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 71 | 94 | 76% | 54% | 50% | 31 | Totals | 72 | 0 | 1450 | 298 | 19 | 90 | 208 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 166 | 587 | 1208 | 48.6% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 276 | 338 | 81.7% | 53% | 49% | 42 |
NBL PER GAME STATISTICS
| SEASON | AGE | TEAM | TEAM RECORD | GP | MINS | PTS | REB | AST | OR | DR | STL | BLK | TO | PF | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | TS% | EFG% | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 0 | Launceston | 5-21 (13) | 26 | 0.0 | 25.3 | 11.5 | 0.7 | 3.5 | 8.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 9.9 | 21.1 | 47% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 5.4 | 6.2 | 87% | 52.6% | 47% | 42 |
| 1981 | 0 | Launceston | 14-8 (2) | 24 | 0.0 | 17.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.1 | 7.2 | 14.4 | 50% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 2.7 | 3.4 | 78% | 53.0% | 50% | 31 |
| 1980 | 0 | Launceston | 9-13 (8) | 22 | 0.0 | 17.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.8 | 7.1 | 14.3 | 50% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 3.2 | 4.3 | 76% | 53.7% | 50% | 31 | Total | 72 | 0.0 | 20.1 | 4.1 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 2.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 8.2 | 16.8 | 48.6% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0% | 81.7% | 53% | 49% | 42 |
CAREER HIGHS
| POINTS | REBOUNDS | ASSISTS | STEALS | BLOCKS | TURNOVERS | TRIPLE DOUBLES | 42 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
|---|
STATE LEAGUE EXPERIENCE
- Latrobe 1980–1982
Ericksen joined Latrobe for the 1980 North West Basketball Union season, playing his first season in Australia. In that year he finished second in the Advocate award behind Ulverstone recruit Cliff Martin, and Latrobe reached both the 1980 NWBU Grand Final and the 1980 Top Shot ABC final against Ulverstone.
Ericksen remained with Latrobe in 1981 and won the Examiner award, with Cliff Martin finishing runner-up, during another strong season on the North West Coast.
Ericksen continued with Latrobe in 1982, when the club reached another NWBU Grand Final before losing to Ulverstone in overtime. He scored 22 points in that decider, and he finished second in the 1982 Advocate best player voting behind Trevor Mathew and ahead of Regan Lusk.
Alongside his North West Basketball Union years, Ericksen also played three seasons for Queechy All Stars in the Launceston Basketball League from 1980 to 1982. In 1981 and 1982 he teamed there with Richard Smith, giving Queechy one of the tallest front lines seen in Launceston local basketball at the time.
COLLEGE
Ericksen played college basketball at Snow College and Weber State, As a freshman he was part of the Snow College program in Ephraim and remained there through the mid-1970s before moving on to Weber State after Snow College signed off on his transfer in 1975.
At Snow College he developed into the Badgers’ top scorer and top rebounder during his final junior college season, and his play there drew recruiting attention before he continued his career at Weber State.
Ericksen joined Weber State for the 1975-76 season under head coach Neil McCarthy in the Big Sky Conference, and as a junior center he played 31 games for a team that finished 21-11 overall and 10-6 in conference play, with Weber State winning the Big Sky regular-season title before the conference tournament era decided the NCAA berth.
In 1975-76 he averaged 9.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game while shooting .477 from the field and .776 at the free-throw line, which works out to 301 points, 121 rebounds, and about 50 assists across the season.
His 1975-76 season included a 23-point game against Carroll College, a 25-point outing against Montana State, and a 28-point performance against Utah State, showing his scoring range before conference play closed with Weber State in first place in the league standings.
Ericksen returned in 1976-77 for his senior season and started all 27 of his appearances for Weber State, again playing center in the Big Sky as the Wildcats went 20-8 overall and 11-3 in league play under McCarthy, finishing second in the regular-season conference race and reaching the Big Sky tournament final.
As a senior he averaged 14.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game while shooting .485 from the field and .695 from the foul line, totaling 401 points, 221 rebounds, and 29 assists.
His best scoring total that season was 29 points, and his best rebounding total was 16, while other standout games included 24 points and 13 rebounds against Montana, 21 points against Saint Louis, 17 points and 12 rebounds against Oregon State, and 26 points against Gonzaga.
Ericksen’s 1976-77 season ended with second-team All-Big Sky honors, while teammate Stan Mayhew made the first team, and Weber State closed the year just short of the NCAA tournament after losses to Montana State and Idaho State in the conference tournament.
Across his Weber State career he played 58 games and produced 702 points, 342 rebounds, and 79 assists, averaging 12.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game while shooting .482 from the field and .722 from the free-throw line.
His Weber State run came during the final seasons at Wildcat Gym before the program moved into the Dee Events Center, and he left after the 1976-77 season as an established frontcourt starter with back-to-back winning seasons, a regular-season conference title, a conference runner-up finish, and an all-conference selection in his senior year.
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