Dick Groat’s spouse was Barbara Womble. After over 35 years of marriage, Dick and Barbara had a strong bond. Following the passing of Dick Groat, a professional baseball and basketball player, today, April 28, 2023, at the age of 92, many people are looking for information about his wife and family.
According to his relatives, Groat passed away at UMPC Presbyterian Hospital due to the effects of a stroke. In a statement, Pirates Chairman Bob Nutting expressed his profound sorrow over the passing of such a cherished member of the Pirates family and the Pittsburgh community.
Dick played basketball at Duke and briefly in the NBA before switching to baseball for his native Pittsburgh Pirates, where he became an All-Star and the 1960 National League MVP. With two World Series victories and eight All-Star selections at shortstop in Major League Baseball, Groat was a well-known athlete. The athlete was one of only 13 athletes in American history to play both sports professionally. He was a two-sport All-American in baseball and basketball while in college.
Dick Groat’s Wife And Children
Barbara Womble is Dick Groat’s wife. Barbara used to reside and work in New York as a model. The sportsmen wed Dick Groat as his bride in November of 1955. Until the passing of Dick Groat’s wife, the couple, who adored one another, lived as husband and wife. When Barbara passed away from lung cancer in 1990, they had been married for 35 years.
Tracey, Carol Ann, and Allison were the names of the three daughters that Dick and Barbara had. Groat is survived by Ms. DeStefano, who oversees the Champion Lakes club, as well as two further daughters, Tracey Goetz and Carol Ann Groat, six grandsons, and eleven great-grandchildren.
On Tuesday of last week, Groat received a visit from a television crew and former Pirates pitcher Steve Blass at his residence in the Pittsburgh suburb of Edgewood, Pennsylvania. They announced Groat’s induction into the Pirates Hall of Fame while concurrently conducting an impromptu interview. Two days after the interview, while en route to see it be shown before a Pirates game, Groat suffered a stroke, according to his daughter Allison DeStefano.
Dick Groat’s Net Worth
Several sources suggest that Dick Groat’s net worth was $1.7 million at the time of his passing. The Fort Wayne Pistons selected Groat third overall in the 1952 NBA Draft, but his early success was curtailed by a two-year military commitment.
The athlete was selected by Major League Baseball and his local club primarily due to financial considerations when Pirates management forced him to make a professional decision upon his return. 2011 saw the induction of Groat into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame. Dick was the first person to be honored in both the college basketball and baseball halls of fame after that.
Over the course of 1,929 games, Groat amassed 352 doubles, 67 triples, 39 home runs, 829 runs scored, and 707 runs batted in. The baseball player made 1,237 double plays while playing shortstop, which is ranked 14th in MLB history. With the world champion Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960, Groat was the National League’s Most Valuable Player and batting champion with a 325 average.
He also became the first basketball player in school history to have his number 10 acknowledged, was named to two All-America teams, and twice won the McKelvin Award given to the best athlete in the Southern Conference.
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