Sure, he could shoot. And he did have big feet, suggesting he was going to be tall. But he was skinny, had poor balance and ran, Thomas joked, like \u201ca baby giraffe.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019d fall a lot, trip over his feet, falling backwards, backpedaling,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cIt was bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, Thomas took him to \u201cthe hill.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776177908_547_coach-rick.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Rick Thomas holds a basketball at Lawrence Central High School, where Jake LaRavia attended school. (NBC)<\/p>\n
At a community park in Indianapolis, adjacent to baseball fields and a skate park, was a large slope of grass. That was where LaRavia built his endurance, developed his athleticism and learned to run without looking like what his coach described as a wobbly, newborn, long-legged animal.<\/p>\n
Thomas would make LaRavia and his teammates jump on one foot while climbing the hill, or bear-crawl backwards all the way up, or carry a teammate on their back to the top.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a lot of grueling memories with him,\u201d LaRavia said when he had a surprise reunion with Thomas on NBC\u2019s \u201cLaunching Legends.\u201d \u201cI mean, the workouts that he used to put me through were nuts.\u201d<\/p>\n
But effective.<\/p>\n
Thomas helped LaRavia go on to become a first-round pick in the NBA, where he now plays for the Lakers.<\/p>\n
He went from the hill to the Hollywood Hills.<\/p>\n
\u201cI credit a lot of where I\u2019m at today because of the work and the time and the faith and the effort that he put into me when I was in high school,\u201d LaRavia said.<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776177910_871_Jake-LaRavia-hill.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Rick Thomas stands in front of a hill in Lawrence Township, Indiana. (NBC)<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m willing to help anybody that wants to play basketball\u2019<\/p>\n
Thomas wasn\u2019t much older than his players when he began coaching.<\/p>\n
Just 22 years old at the time, and not far removed from his own playing days, he had been working at an electronics store when the head coach of the local high school basketball team asked him to coach his AAU team. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018No, I don’t want to do that. I’m not ready for that. I’m still trying to play myself,\u2019\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
He was convinced to take the job, which was an unpaid position<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m willing to help anybody that wants to play basketball,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
One player in need of help was eighth-grader Jake LaRavia, who was looking for playing time on an AAU team. He was in the first group of players that Thomas coached. Had it been a movie, where the future NBA star meets a first-year coach in an Indiana gymnasium, they would have led a scrappy, underdog team to a title and rode off into the sunset with their trophy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat first year we were terrible, actually,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cSo, that next year it was like, \u2018Ok, something needs to change here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The workouts changed.<\/p>\n
If his team was going to win games, it wouldn\u2019t be because they were better, but because they were stronger, faster and tougher.<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776177910_62_IMG_5903.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Jake LaRavia and Rick Thomas (Courtesy of the LaRavia family)<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that we wouldn’t be the best team out there,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cWe weren’t a high-ranking team, but if we were conditioned and we could fight, there’s a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had his players run \u2014 a lot. He strapped a green, elastic resistance band around them and made them drag him. He made them wear a 40-pound weight vest while doing drills.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a lot of sweat, a lot of sweat,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cA lot of yelling, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
And a lot of trips up the hill at Lawrence Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody likes the hill,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cWhen it\u2019s hill day, heads go down.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the players still went up, completing what Thomas describes as \u201cplyometrics on an incline.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s credit to where I’m at now and kind of just the work ethic that he was able to build from me,\u201d LaRavia said. \u201cWe would go out to the local hills and run sprints at the hills and do bear crawls backwards up the hills.\u201d<\/p>\n
He occasionally even carried Thomas up the hills, back when his coach said he weigh as much as 250 pounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got the heavy Rick,\u201d Thomas said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really helped my athletic side come out a little bit more in the work that we did,\u201d LaRavia said. \u201cHe was my guy, as far as from a basketball, and even, like I said, a big brother perspective in that aspect of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776177911_964_IMG_2823.png\")
<\/p>\n
Jake LaRavia and Rick Thomas smile in El Segundo, California. (NBC)<\/p>\n
\u2018They just became family\u2019<\/p>\n
Thomas agreed the relationship had more of a big brother feel than head coach, thanks in part to the two being close in age. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The relationship also grew, Thomas said, because of their team\u2019s shared struggle.<\/p>\n
They were not, he said, a \u201cshoe-deal team\u201d \u2014 a brand-sponsored AAU team that gets free apparel and travel expenses for tournaments. That meant working as a team on and off the court, whether it was continuing workouts in the cul-de-sac at Thomas\u2019 house, or holding a car wash to raise money so the team could travel to Las Vegas to compete in a tournament. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we made $2,500,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cJust signs, had three or four guys out on the corner and we pulled up in a parking lot at the church, and they let us use the water.\u201d<\/p>\n
They made it to that tournament in Vegas, and many others that followed. At one tournament in particular, following a growth spurt from his sophomore to junior year that helped with his dunking ability, LaRavia began getting noticed by college coaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had like five or seven offers in a day,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cIt was crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
LaRavia decided on Indiana State, where he played for two years before transferring to Wake Forest for one year. He then declared for the 2022 NBA Draft and was selected with the 19th overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat day was a movie,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cBecause that’s every kid’s dream. Mine. Everybody … It really didn’t set in until we hugged and he was like, \u2018All the work we put in finally paid off for him.\u2019 That’s all I could ever ask for because that’s all he wanted was to be good and make it to the NBA. I just wanted to be a part of that. So, any time he\u2019d call, I’m going to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776177912_266_IMG_7870-rotated.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Jake LaRavia and teammates stand on corner to raise funds for their AAU basketball team. (Courtesy of the LaRavia family)<\/p>\n
Now it\u2019s usually LaRavia\u2019s phone that\u2019s ringing because Thomas\u2019 daughter Rayleigh, now 9 years old, always tries calling him.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019Can I FaceTime Jake?\u2019” Thomas said she asks. “\u2018No, he’s working!\u2019 or \u2018No, he’s at practice!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Although LaRavia did once answer her call on gameday and told her he was getting ready for the game. Thomas told her to say, “Sorry, have a good game!”<\/p>\n
“She really loves him,” Thomas said. <\/p>\n
Added LaRavia: \u201cThey just became family at the end of the day.”<\/p>\n
They had a family reunion in Los Angeles in March. Thomas \u2014 now a fire alarm technician who still coaches AAU \u2014 went to LA to surprise LaRavia as part of NBC\u2019s \u201cLaunching Legends.\u201d<\/p>\n