Evan Turner’s number will rise to the rafters Tuesday night at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center as part of the Michigan game’s halftime festivities.
But don’t be surprised if he references one of the greatest players in Richland County history during the ceremony.
“You want to know somebody that nobody ever talks about?” Turner quizzed Jay King of Massachusetts Live. “He played for the Celtics. Larry Siegfried. He was number 21 (at Ohio State, just like Turner). He won a championship, he was a second team All-American, and he won five (NBA) championships. And they never talk about him. I’m probably going to shout him out.”
Turner honed in directly on the connections he has with the Shelby legend. Both were pure guards, not simply shooters, not dominant ball-handlers. They were simply scorers who could defend and knew how to play the game.
I interviewed Siegfried , who died in 2010 at the age of 71, numerous times over the years. He was one of the most talkative sports personalities in the community. He was never short on opinion encompassing a myriad of topics, and he left a wake of admirers in his path.
Anyone who lived in Shelby in the 1950s was well aware of Larry Siegfried and his impact on Whippets’ basketball. The line to see Shelby basketball games formed shortly after the school day ended, and would wrap around the building. Sellout crowds at home and on the road were the norm for Shelby in those days.
In 2000 the News Journal named Siegfried to its Richland County All-Century team, with Lexington’s Jamie Feick, Madison’s Joe Jakubick, St. Peter’s Milt Pitts, Mansfield Senior’s Ken McCally, Savannah’s Larry Huston, and Leo Brown, also of St. Peter’s.
I sent Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight a copy of a story on Siegfried and he immediately wrote a lengthy and thoughtful note back, explaining how appreciative he was of the gesture and that Larry was one of his most treasured teammates.
Siegfried had the most distinguished professional career of any Richland County basketball player. After winning a national championship at Ohio State in 1960, still the school’s lone NCAA basketball crown, Siegfried was a first-round NBA draft pick by the Cinncinnati Royals, where he was expected to pair with Oscar Robertson. Instead, the Shelby product chose to play for the Cleveland Pipers and won the American Basketball League championship.
Later he joined the Boston Celtics, and won five NBA championships while playing for Red Auerbach and eventually Bill Russell. Siegfried loved to tell stories about those days. He often joked that Auerbach did very little coaching: “Ah, Red just steered,” he would claim with a chuckle.
Siegfried enjoyed playing alongside his Ohio State teammate John Havlicek, who convinced the Celtics to sign Shelby’s favorite son. Boston was forever grateful. In his final years, working under player-coach Russell, Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan reported Siegfried was the team’s de facto offensive coordinator. Siegfried frequently noted that he and Havlicek diagrammed Fred Taylor’s out-of-bounds plays for Auerbach, who immediately incorporated them into the Boston offense.
The expansion draft ended Siegfried’s time in Boston, but Ryan insisted local fans there would always remember Siegfried as a Celtic. No doubt Turner will reference Siegfried on Tuesday night as a Buckeye.
But in Richland County lore, and particularly in Shelby, Siegfried was and always will be a Whippet.
