They Call Him 'Slick'

by Mike Houck

Feb. 4, 2002

NORMAN, Okla. - Richard Kwesi Ainooson was born in Boston, Mass., on Aug. 13, 1978. More than 23 years later he is wrapping up a college basketball career that, according to him, has been nothing short of special.

After three years of playing prep basketball at Midwest City High School and earning the team's most-dedicated-player award as a senior, the Oklahoma City product could have continued his playing career at an NAIA school. Ainooson (pronounced ANN-uh-sin) says three smaller non-Oklahoma colleges wanted him to join their basketball teams. But he claims he never considered the notion.

"I already had my mind made up," says Ainooson. "I was going to attend the University of Oklahoma to get an excellent education. And I was going to try to walk on to the basketball team."

Ainooson earned a pair of academic scholarships and was determined to get off to a quick start in the classroom. And early in the fall semester, he was unwavering in his attempt to make the hoops team. Ironically, a clash between books and basketball arose. Team conditioning workouts were held in the early mornings and Ainooson had a 7:30 a.m. lab that he was required to attend. He couldn't do both and was forced to miss a couple of workouts. The result? He didn't make the team and spent the year focusing on school and OU's computer engineering curriculum.

Undaunted in his quest to become a Sooner hoopster, Ainooson tried again as a sophomore. Preseason conditioning would separate the walk-on candidates from the eventual team members. Ainooson remembers it vividly.

"That was hard," he says with a half smile. "Nothing but running. I trained on my own to get ready for it, but it didn't matter. It was so tiring. But I just had to keep going. I wasn't going to quit. If I was going to get cut it wasn't going to be because of a lack of effort. I just kept running."

The 6-3, 185-pounder says he and freshman walk-on candidate Michael Cano helped each other through the process. They'd take turns making morning wake-up calls to each other to make sure they didn't miss workouts. They hoped that both would make the squad, although it was likely only one would.

Then came the phone call from one of the assistant coaches.

"Coach Seltzer called me in my dorm at 7:30 in the morning and told me that both Cano and I had made the team," recalls Ainooson. "I screamed in the hallway and woke up a lot of people. There were those who doubted I could make it, but I just worked really hard. It paid off."

Ainooson appeared in just six games that year and played one minute in each contest. His only two points came in a 102-51 drubbing of Western Carolina in the first game of the Sooner Holiday Classic. While the basket was memorable, two other moments from the season stick out in his mind.

"One of my favorite moments at OU was advancing to the Sweet 16 my first season. To beat fourth-seeded Arizona and fifth-seeded UNC Charlotte as the No. 13 seed was just a great feeling. I also remember getting my nickname.

"We were at practice the first week of the season and Coach Sampson wanted to demonstrate something. He started to call me over to him, but I guess he couldn't remember my name. He tried to remember but then just settled on 'Slick.' Everyone kind of laughed and the next thing you know, my teammates were calling me 'Slick' that same practice, especially Michael Johnson. It stuck."

Richard Kwesi Ainooson

To this day, Ainooson is best known to his coaches and teammates as "Slick." Even some of his friends and teachers got word of the moniker and began calling him the same.

As much enjoyment as Ainooson got out of the 1998-99 season, he found himself off the team for the 1999-2000 campaign. Ainooson's grades dipped. Not drastically, but enough for Sampson to instruct him to spend the next year concentrating strictly on academics. Sampson said there was a chance he would be reinstated to the team, but no guarantees were made. Ainooson says not being on the squad ended up being more difficult than he first imagined.

"I remember going to the first home game of the year and feeling mad and disappointed. I had watched OU since I was in elementary school and then a dream came true when I made the team. All of a sudden I wasn't on it anymore. That's when it really hit me. At that first home game a light went on inside my head and I told myself, 'I'm going to make it again.'"

Ainooson switched his major from computer engineering to management information systems and enjoyed enough success in the classroom to earn another opportunity to make the team. He endured preseason conditioning again, and again he was unsure if he would make the squad. While he admits he wasn't as shocked when he found out he survived the cut as he was two years earlier, there was a sense of relief.

The 2000-01 season brought 26 victories and a Big 12 Tournament title that Ainooson says "was meant to be." He played in eight games last year and made two field goals, one of them a three-pointer that put the Sooners over the century mark in a 100-72 win over North Texas. That hoop, he says, constitutes another of his favorite memories.

Last summer, Ainooson was rewarded for his hard work when Sampson decided to grant him an athletic scholarship. Cano also got the scholarship nod. For those who have witnessed the time and effort put forth by the pair, Sampson's move did not come as a surprise.

Through OU's first 18 games this season, Ainooson totaled 22 minutes in eight appearances and contributed eight points and seven rebounds, more than in his previous two seasons combined. He says this has been a special year.

"This is a very tight-knit team. We have the chance to leave a mark," he says.

Ainooson, who has recently declared management as a second major, will conclude his athletic eligibility at the end of the basketball season. He says he will have one year of schooling left to wrap up his management requirements and will search for a management information systems internship this summer to gain experience in the field.

While he's anxious to move on with his life and a career with computers, Ainooson will never forget his OU experience, both as a student and as an athlete.

"I feel real lucky," he explains. "I've been able to live a life as a regular college student and also as a student who plays on the basketball team. Not too many people get to go through that and I feel fortunate."

One might say that this has been one "slick" experience for Ainooson.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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