Forty-seven years ago today—April 22, 1971—Rick Howat became only the second Illini player named as an academic All-American, joining Dave Scholz, who was similarly honored in 1968 and '69.
Among those joining Howat on the 1971 academic All-America team were UCLA's Sidney Wicks, Kansas's Bud Stallworth and South Carolina's John Roche.
Howat, who led the state in scoring at Downers Grove North High School with a 32.7 points per game average in 1967, lettered in 1969, '70 and '71 under coach Harv Schmidt. He was a starter in his final two seasons at Illinois, playing alongside Randy Crews, Greg Jackson, Nick Weatherspoon, Mike Price and Nick Conner.