1965
Rookie Year
12
Seasons
Richard Albert Van Arsdale, born February 22, 1943, in Indianapolis, Indiana, holds a distinction no other player in franchise history can claim: he was the very first Phoenix Sun, selected in the 1968 NBA expansion draft that brought professional basketball to the Arizona desert for the first time. "The Original Sun" is not a marketing phrase — it is a literal historical fact, and Van Arsdale's distinguished twelve seasons in the NBA, nine of them in Phoenix, built the foundation upon which everything the Suns franchise would become was constructed. Van Arsdale and his twin brother Tom (who also played in the NBA) grew up in Indianapolis and attended Indiana University, where both became standout players under coach Branch McCracken. Dick was selected by the New York Knicks in the 1965 NBA Draft and spent three solid seasons in New York, establishing himself as a dependable, hard-nosed shooting guard before the Suns chose him in their expansion draft. In Phoenix, Van Arsdale became the franchise's first star and its most consistent performer through the team's early years of establishing identity in a new basketball market. Selected for three NBA All-Star Games as a Sun (1970, 1972, 1973), he represented quality that many expansion teams struggled to provide and gave Phoenix fans an immediate reason to invest in the new franchise. His consistent scoring — he averaged between 15-21 points per game across his best Phoenix seasons — and reliable defensive effort made him the rock upon which the franchise was built. Beyond the statistics, Van Arsdale's significance is cultural: he was the first player to wear a Suns uniform, the first to compete in a Suns game, and the first to give Phoenix something to cheer for in its earliest basketball days. He wore number 5, which the Suns retired in his honor — a permanent acknowledgment that building a franchise requires someone willing to go first and establish that the endeavor is worth caring about. Van Arsdale did that with excellence and professionalism across nine Phoenix seasons.
Dick Van Arsdale was the very first Phoenix Sun — selected in the 1968 expansion draft that brought the franchise to life. His #5 honors the player who gave the organization its identity.
Phoenix Suns
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Teams
New York Knicks
1965-1968
Phoenix Suns
1968-1977
Personal Life & Family
Status
Married
Parents & Siblings
Off the Court
Connection to Phoenix community through decades of team ambassador work
Youth basketball programs in the Arizona area
Did You Know?
Dick Van Arsdale was not only the first player selected by the Phoenix Suns in the 1968 expansion draft — he was the first to play in a Suns game, the first to score in the franchise's history, and the first to represent what Phoenix basketball would mean to a new generation of fans in the desert.
He and twin brother Tom Van Arsdale are one of the rare sets of identical twins to both have sustained NBA careers, with Tom playing for multiple franchises while Dick spent most of his career as the cornerstone of the Suns.
Van Arsdale made the All-Star team in three different seasons as a Sun at a time when the franchise was still establishing itself — proof that he was not just an expansion player but a legitimate NBA-quality star.
After his playing career, Van Arsdale remained closely connected to the Phoenix Suns organization, becoming one of the franchise's most beloved ambassadors and a regular presence at historical celebrations of the team's heritage.
Career Honors
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