Larry Siegfried passes Friday at age 71.

• Big Gain

  Last Tuesday Larry Siegfried had a massive heart attack blowing a hole the size of a half dollar in his heart. Most people would have died on the the spot, but he didn't go to the hospital until Saturday. His daughter called her father "an animal", as he not only walked around 5 days with a hole in his heart, but also had a coronary artery with a 90% blockage. Three surgeries at the Cleveland Clinic in hopes of getting his heart to beat on it's own weren't successful.
  
  Siegfreid played for Shelby high school in the late 50's. The 6-4 guard averaged 38 PPG for his high school career, before the 3-point line, and had back to back games of 58 and 60.
  
  He was the #2 scorer on Ohio State's 1960 National Championship team, that included included Jerry Lucas, John Havlichek, Mel Nowell and Joe Roberts with Bob Knight coming off the bench. He's a member of two All-Century teams, the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame and the Ohio Athletic Association Circle of Champions. Siegfried was drafted by the Cincinnati Royals with the 3rd pick of the NBA draft, but he signed with the Cleveland Pipers of the fledgling ABA. He said he didn't want to live in Cincinnati since it was the Cincinnati Bearcats who ruined Ohio State's bid for back to back National Championships by upsetting Ohio State in the 1961 Title Game. Siegfried later won 5 NBA Titles playing Point Guard for the Boston Celtics.
  
  It was a comment by Bobby Knight at last years 50th reunion of the 1960 team that may stand as the greatest tribute to Siegfried. Knight said, "I never saw a better guard in the Big Ten than Larry Siegfried. He he was a great player. It's not rocket science, he was tough as hell. He could shoot, he was physical and could jump. He could just play and he was a tremendous defender. If I had my choice of any guard who played in the Big Ten who I coached and everything, I'd have a hard time picking anyone else."
  
  Siegfried was such a great athlete he had a tryout with the Cleveland Indians as a pitcher and was approached by the Boston Patriots about playing DB.
• CinciX12

  

  Just to nitpick a little here, and God rest his soul whoever he was to OSU basketball.
  
  But you can't blow a hole in your heart the size of a half dollar and live more than about an hour. So its very unlikely that is true. Maybe a valve problem with some prolapse or something, but not an actual hole.
• Big Gain

  Not saying you're incorrect, that's what his doctor was quoted as saying. His chest cavity and lungs were filled with blood and other organs had been affected by the time he was admitted to the hospital, 4 days later.
• CinciX12

  

  Who knows, sometimes the 'non-medical' defintions given out to explain things sometimes just confuse the topic even more so.
• Tiernan

  I remember my Dad saying about the same thing Knight said...that Siegfried was better than Havlichek in college but Hondo became better known becuz of his pro career. Funny that they both ended up with the Celtics.