Richmond Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2007
- Class:
- 1982
One of Richmond men's basketball's all-time leading scorer with 1,723 points, John Schweitz capped a brilliant four-year career by leading the Spiders to their first-ever postseason berth with an appearance in the 1982 National Invitation Tournament. A four-year starter, Schweitz averaged 17.7 points as a sophomore and 18.7 points as a junior, teaming with UR Hall of Famer Michael Perry, the Spiders' first 2,000 point scorer, to form one of the most prolific combinations in Spider basketball history. As a senior captain playing for first-year head coach Dick Tarrant, also a Hall of Famer, Schweitz led the team in scoring with 17.5 points per game.
He concluded his career with a team-leading 16 point effort in a 1982 first round NIT game against Maryland which attracted a sellout Robins Center crowd of 9,373. Schweitz was a two-time All-Conference selection in 1981 and 1982, a First Team All-State pick in 1982 and a Second Team All-State choice in 1981.
He was selected in the sixth round of the 1982 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics. He spent three seasons in the CBA, including playing a year and winning a championship at Albany for head coach Phil Jackson. He spent a full year with the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics and completed his playing career in 1986-87 with the Detroit Pistons. Schweitz was head coach at Francis-Marion College from 2000-2006. He guided the 2003-04 team to a program-best 27-4 record, a national Top-10 ranking, and the program's first NCAA Division II National Tournament invitation, during which the squad advanced to the Sweet 16. He was named the 2004 Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year and the NABC South Atlantic Region Coach of the Year.
