Few people in the history of Australian basketball have achieved more than Ricky Grace. NBL Championships, abundant personal accolades, even a stint in the American NBA – ‘the Amazing one’ has had it all in his 13-year NBL career.

On the surface, it sounds like everything anyone could want. So why – with success, fame and popularity already assured – did Ricky begin to feel a growing sense of emptiness in his life just a few years ago?

Looking back, he now sees the emptiness as the result of drifting away from the Christian roots of his childhood. And thankfully, it was this sense of emptiness that led him to re-investigate Christianity and eventually to enter into a relationship with God through Christ – a decision he made in 1999.

Born in Dallas in 1966, Ricky followed a similar path to many kids as he grew up dabbling in all three major US sports – American football, baseball and basketball. Taking naturally to basketball, he committed himself to the sport at around age 15 and was soon headed to the University of Oklahoma, one of America’s elite nurturing grounds for young basketball talent.

Every March, the American sports world stops for ‘March Madness’ as the nation’s 64 best college teams battle for the NCAA championship. In 1988, Ricky was part of what is now regarded as one of the best starting lineups ever assembled in the NCAA, a team that captured national attention and swept their way to the championship game, only to fall at the final hurdle.

Later that year, Ricky was drafted by the NBA’s Utah Jazz, but after trying out with the team failed to make the playing roster. Far from spelling the end of Ricky’s career, that initial setback proved to be just the beginning.

Australian basketball legend Cal Bruton, recognising that a quality player had become available, quickly lured Ricky to Australia for a one-season deal with the National Basketball League’s Perth Wildcats. When Ricky joined the Wildcats in 1990, nobody could have foreseen what impact that one-year deal would have on his career and the future of the club – least of all Ricky himself. “I thought it was something that maybe I would do for a year or two, and then go back and try for the NBA again,” he admits.

When Perth won the NBL championship in Ricky’s first year, those plans quickly took on a different complexion. Signing a new three-year deal in 1991, Ricky led the Wildcats to another title in 1991 and soon became a permanent fixture at the NBL’s most successful club of the 90s.

With 13 seasons now under his belt, Ricky has compiled a career filled with truly ‘amazing’ achievements. In 1993-94, he landed a short-term contract with the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, and while the stint didn’t last long, Ricky finally proved to himself and the basketball world that he could compete at the game’s highest level.

Returning to Perth, he won two more titles in 1995 and 2000, and is now the Wildcats’ all-time leader in games played, points scored, steals and assists.

Having been named to the All-NBL First Team – an honorary team comprising the league’s best player at each position – in just his second season, Ricky demonstrated his remarkable longevity by being named to the Team again a decade later, in both 2001 and 2002. Last season, at age 35 he provided more proof of his durability by posting the highest scoring average of his career, scoring 23.2 points per contest.

For a player once known for his blinding speed, it may have been expected that the game would pass Ricky by, as younger, quicker players ran circles around his aging legs. But while teammates have come and gone, and some of his footspeed has disappeared, Ricky has worked hard and changed his game to remain at the top.

“When I first came out here, Cal Bruton said I was so fast I could steal the hubcaps off a moving car,” he laughs. “My game was based mostly around speed and beating my man off the dribble. Now, I’m a lot better shooter and scorer than I was then, and I’m a smarter player. Even though I don’t move as quickly, I see the game before it happens, so that still helps me to be quick.”

Having stayed in Perth on medium-term contracts, following the 1996 season Ricky signed a six-year deal with the Wildcats, a major commitment that meant he would be away from his homeland for the foreseeable future. “By that time Perth had become my second home,” he said.

Soon after, Ricky decided to become an Australian citizen, and in 2000 was part of the Australian team at the Sydney Olympics. “It was great to be involved in something that so many Australians were proud of,” he says. “One of my goals in becoming Australian was to play for Australia at the Olympics. When I accomplished that, it was a great feeling.”

But while this change in earthly citizenship has been a defining moment in Ricky’s life, a bigger change came in 1999 when he made the decision to become a Christian.

Despite outward success and the appearance of satisfaction, he admits to a continued sense that something was missing. “It was just an accumulation of things. I probably wasn’t being the best father in the world or the best husband in the world. I wasn’t dedicating myself 100 per cent to anything, and that was making that void or that hole a little bit bigger,” he says.

“I was concentrating too much on myself, and I didn’t have my priorities in order.”

As this feeling grew, Ricky began meeting with the Wildcats’ team chaplain, John Bond. As they discussed the Bible’s message about Jesus, things began to fall into place and Ricky understood the importance of putting his trust in Christ. “John and I had some really good conversations, and at the end of that I decided to get baptised and dedicate my life to Christ,” he says.

Over the last three years, Ricky’s on-court performances haven’t faded, but his life away from basketball has undergone some major changes. “From studying the Bible and having John as a mentor, I’ve learned how to prioritise my life and the way of living that comes with being a Christian. It has just brought on a peace within myself.”

Since he first became a Christian, Ricky has been drawn to sharing his faith with others and doing some form of missionary work. As part of this goal, he was one of several NBL players to join the ARM (Athletes as Role Models) Tour to Central Australia this past offseason. The tour visited six Aboriginal communities in ten days, running coaching clinics and talking to kids about issues such as drugs, alcohol and petrol sniffing.

Ricky says the tour was also a golden opportunity for him to share his faith. “I was able to be around other Christians in the League, but in a non-competitive, non-threatening environment. For us to be able to take the word to untouched people was something that was really rewarding.”

For now, Ricky’s schedule gives him limited time to be involved in ministry away from basketball. But he has learnt to see his role in the NBL as a missionary opportunity. “Part of being a Christian is spreading the word to people who don’t know about Jesus or don’t have a chance to hear the word,” he says. “I think all Christians are missionaries from that point of view. That might be through basketball or any other opportunities that come my way.”

But while the competitive fires still burn strongly, it is clear that coming to Christ has given Ricky a new outlook on his career in the uncompromising world of professional sports.

“Just like anyone else in an industry dominated by non-Christians, you need to make sure you don’t lower your standards or your way of life,” he says. “One of the sayings that I continually remind myself of is ‘even a dead fish can swim with the current’. I just continually remind myself of that – not to swim with the current.”