Road to Duke
Robert Brickey was born December 26, 1967, in Fayetteville, North Carolina — a military town, home to Fort Bragg, built on duty and discipline. His mother was a Fayetteville State University graduate. His father was a military man. These facts would matter when the time came to choose a college.
At E.E. Smith High School — the Golden Bulls, a storied program that has produced more NFL players than most schools in North Carolina — Brickey was a three-time All-Conference performer who led his team to three conference championships. As a junior, he carried the Golden Bulls to the state championship game. As a senior, he reached the state semifinals and was named North Carolina Mr. Basketball and the state’s High School Player of the Year. Consensus top-50 national recruit.
He was focused on Wake Forest. Then head coach Carl Tacy retired, and successor Bob Staack didn’t inspire confidence. When Coach K came to Fayetteville, something unexpected happened: Krzyzewski and Brickey’s father bonded immediately. Both were military men. Coach K had graduated from West Point. Brickey’s father understood that language — discipline, accountability, the belief that structure builds character. The connection sealed the decision.
"I wanted to be close to home," Brickey said. "I wanted a quality education. I wanted my parents to have an opportunity to see me play. I wanted to play in the ACC, which I thought would help me pursue my dreams of playing in the NBA." Duke was ninety minutes from Fayetteville.
In the summer of 1986, Brickey arrived at Duke for a six-week precollege program. There he met Phil Henderson, a McDonald’s All-American from University Park, Illinois. The two freshmen became roommates and fast friends. Then they played pickup against David Henderson and Johnny Dawkins — the seniors who had just taken Duke to the championship game against Louisville. "That was an eye-opener," Brickey said. The summer of 1986 taught them both: Duke basketball was not a destination. It was a standard.
At Duke
Robert Brickey played four years at Duke, 1986–90, and accumulated 109 wins. He was a three-year starter, a senior captain, and the most explosive athlete on every team he played for. At 6’5” and 210 pounds, he was listed as a small forward, but Coach K played him at center for a stretch as a freshman — making up for the lack of height with leaping ability, quickness, strength, and intelligence. He earned the nickname King Dunk around the ACC and was featured on an ACC preview cover with that moniker. Coach K called him his Original High Flyer.
He finished with 1,299 points, 649 rebounds, and 55.0% from the field — one of the best marks in school history. He recorded 147 career dunks, a Duke record that stood over two decades until Mason Plumlee broke it in 2013. First Team All-ACC Tournament in 1988, when Duke won the ACC Tournament Championship. In the summer of 1987, he was selected for the USA Under-19 National Team, coached by Larry Brown, and won a silver medal alongside Larry Johnson and Gary Payton. They lost the gold medal game to a Yugoslavian team featuring Vlade Divac, Dino Radja, and Toni Kukoc.
Brickey was part of three consecutive Final Four teams — 1988, 1989, and 1990. In 1988, Duke fell to Kansas in the Final Four. In 1989, Phil Henderson dunked on Alonzo Mourning in the East Regional Final, and Duke fell to Seton Hall. In 1990, Brickey’s senior year, he captained the team and started in the championship game against UNLV. The Runnin’ Rebels won 103–73 — the most lopsided title game in history to that point. Brickey and Henderson had gone to three Final Fours in four years and laid the foundation for the dynasty that followed. The back-to-back titles in 1991 and 1992 were built on the shoulders of the players who absorbed the losses and kept climbing.
Off the court, Brickey earned a B.A. in Political Science. He and Henderson lived together their freshman and junior years. Brickey later said he got to know a lot of people through Phil. When Henderson died of cardiac arrest in the Philippines in 2013 at age forty-four, Brickey was among the first to speak publicly: "Please tell me you’ve got the name wrong, or you went to the wrong apartment, tell me you made a mistake. It’s tough. It’s tough for everybody."
After Duke
A lingering knee injury from his senior year killed Brickey’s NBA dreams. He was undrafted. He played in the CBA, the Global Basketball Association’s Fayetteville Flyers, and in Mexico. The career was brief, the knee unforgiving. By the early 1990s, his playing days were over.
He turned to coaching. The journey was long: Community Outreach Coordinator at Duke (1999–2000), assistant at Army (2000–02), assistant at SMU (2002–04), assistant at James Madison (2004–05), head coach at Shaw University (2005–08), Assistant Director of Basketball Operations with Duke’s women’s program (2008–09), assistant at North Carolina Central (2009–11), head coach of the Oshawa Power in NBL Canada (2011–12), assistant at Fayetteville State (2013–15) — where his mother had graduated years before.
At every stop, he hung the same letter on his office wall. It was from Coach K: "Never stop learning, work your tail off, and be the best person you can be." He kept it through Army and SMU and James Madison and Shaw and Durham and Oshawa and Fayetteville. He still has it in his home office today.
Where Is He Now
In 2018, Brickey was hired as head coach of the Raleigh Firebirds. In 2022, he was named head coach of the Fayetteville Stingers in The Basketball League — bringing professional basketball back to the city where he grew up, where his mother went to college, where his father raised him with military discipline, where he led the E.E. Smith Golden Bulls to the state championship game. He has one daughter, Kristina.
When Coach K coached his final home game at Cameron Indoor in March 2022, Brickey told WRAL: "It’s an end of an era, and I guess we all knew this day would come at some point, but it seems like it got here a lot sooner than we would have imagined." He still keeps the letter on the wall.
Robert Brickey was born in Fayetteville and raised in a military family. His father and Coach K spoke the same language. He was North Carolina Mr. Basketball. He arrived at Duke in the summer of 1986 and met Phil Henderson, and together they played pickup against Dawkins and David Henderson and learned what the standard was. He was King Dunk — 147 dunks, a school record that stood for two decades. He played center at 6’5” because Coach K believed in him. He won a silver medal with Larry Johnson and Gary Payton. He went to three Final Fours and started in a championship game. He earned a political science degree. His knee betrayed him. He coached at Army, SMU, Shaw, Duke, NCCU, and a team in Canada. At every stop, he hung the same letter. He came home to Fayetteville to coach professional basketball in the city where he was born. His best friend, Phil Henderson, died at forty-four. Robert Brickey is fifty-eight years old. He is still coaching. He is still home. The letter is still on the wall.