The on-court leader of the University of Oregon’s “Kamakazi Kids”, Ron Lee (born November 2, 1952) was the first player ever named to the Pac-8 All-Conference team for four consecutive years (1973-76) and was the 1976 Pac-8 Player of The Year.
Lee was selected four times as Oregon’s Most Valuable Player and was the Duck’s scoring leader for four straight years. Ron joined the Ducks after they had a 6-20 season (1971-72) and led Oregon to a 71-41 record and two NIT appearances in the next four years.
The Iron Man point guard was the second player in conference history to score 2,000 career points and is the University of Oregon’s career scoring leader with 2,085 points and 18.6 average per game. He averaged 36 minutes per game. Lee came up huge in the 1974 upset of UCLA at Mac Court, part of the Bruins “Lost Weekend” in the state that was immortalized on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
In 1975 he was selected 2nd team consensus All-American and received All-American recognition in 1971 and 1972. The 1975 Ducks team finished 21-9 and took 3rd place in the NIT with Greg Ballard, Stu Jackson and Ernie Kent playing alongside Lee.
After graduating, Lee played six NBA seasons (Phoenix, New Orleans, Atlanta and Detroit), averaging 7.3 points and 3.8 assists per game (1976-1982). He played in all 82 games in three seasons. Ron’s basketball career ended with three years in Italy and Sweden. He returned Oregon, living in Eugene.
Ron Lee was inducted into the University of Oregon Hall of Fame in 1992. Aside from “The Tall Firs,” his is the only Oregon basketball jersey (#30) retired by the school.
