Dancing Barry

Richards graduated from the University of Houston. He first danced at a Houston Rockets game in the 1975 NBA Playoffs. Richards had recently graduated from a Fred Astaire dance studio, where he received a deal for five lessons for $5. The Rockets' opponent was the New York Knicks, whose home games at Madison Square Garden featured Dancing Harry placing a whammy on the opposing team. Richards' friends encouraged him to be Harry's counterpart. In the first game of the series, the Knicks were being routed in the fourth quarter and called timeout; the band started to play. Avoiding security guards, Richards put on a foxtrot move and continued dancing and avoiding security through the entire song. After the song ended, he ripped open his shirt to display "DANCING BARRY" where Superman wears his "S". Dancing Barry became a mainstay at Houston Rockets games for the next four seasons. Interest in Richards' act dipped the following year, so he left his job as the corporate chef of an oil company and moved from Houston to New Jersey. ==Los Angeles career==

. Two years later, in 1982, Richards moved to Los Angeles and became a popcorn-machine salesman. The business was not successful, and he became a mortgage broker, as well as a part-time magician. A friend, who believed the Los Angeles Lakers's home crowd at The Forum was "laid back", convinced Richards to revive his Dancing Barry routine. and the Lakers scored eight points in a row and won the game, 117–110. He no longer had to pay for tickets, and he was paid $35 a game during his first season with the Lakers, the same rate as the Laker Girls were paid. When the Los Angeles Clippers offered to pay him $200 a game, the Lakers matched the offer. He was perturbed that he never received another raise. ==Later years==

Richards married and moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. He became a territorial sales representative and trainer for a veterinary laboratory, selling lab services and training vets on promoting their business. ==References==