He also represented the college for three National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tennis tournaments.
[citation needed] Erickson was drafted in 1953, serving for two years in the United States Army.
He remained at Wisconsin until he was hired as the general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks expansion team on April 3, 1968.
[3] After Erickson resigned as the general manager, he won the Republican Party primary, but lost in his 1970 run for the United States Senate against incumbent William Proxmire.
The Big Eight Conference hired Erickson to be its director of basketball in 1988, a position that he held until he was promoted to be the assistant commissioner.