Hall of Fame
With his high school career winding down, the conference Player of the Year was garnering more attention. The Tigers dispatched assistant coach Adrian Dantley, the former Notre Dame All-American and 16-year NBA all-star, to check out Ralph.
“After talking with Coach Dantley I decided to make a visit to Towson,” Ralph said. “I loved the place, I loved the location. I really connected with some of the players there. It was an easy choice for me to make.”
Ralph scored 1,387 points for a 12.5 average, averaging 18.6 ppg his final two years. He stands among Towson’s top all-time scorers and high on the career field goal percentage list with a .534 clip. His .585 field goal percentage in 1994-95, due in a large part to his great leaping ability around the basket, still ranked him second on the all-time single season list at the time of his induction.
Named to the Big South’s All-Rookie Team in his freshman year, Ralph paced the Tigers in scoring (18.4) and rebounding (4.8) in 1997-98. He was Towson’s top scorer in 1996-97 with an 18.8 average. He excelled at the free throw line. He remains second on the single game free throws made list for sinking 18 of 20 against New Hampshire in 1998.
He ranked third in scoring (18.4) in America East in his senior year and was named to the All-Conference third team. In 1997 he was selected to the America East All-Tournament team, and later picked on ESPNET SportsZone’s America East All-Star team.
Near the end of his senior the Tiger coaching staff put together a highlight tape of Ralph’s dunks and submitted it to the NCAA. That led to an invitation by the NCAA Tournament committee to compete in its annual Slam Dunk Contest. He finished fourth.
“It was a great time,” said Ralph who was selected as Towson’s Male Athlete of the Year twice. “I enjoyed the atmosphere and meeting the other players from around the country. One of the other guys competing was Corey Brewer from Oklahoma. We wound up being teammates about 10 years later in the Belguim League.”
Ralph played in the Netherlands, Belgium, Russia and France. He was the MVP of the Dutch League in 1999 and MVP of the Belgium League in 2002. He retired after the 2014 season. The urge to test the NBA waters tugged at him during his overseas career but he finally dismissed it.
“When I was 26 we talked about it but the feedback my agent always got was that I was too skinny,” said Ralph who played at 180 pounds. “I didn’t have enough weight. I was about 20 pounds too light. I had a sure thing overseas.”
