Larry Siegfried

Larry Siegfried

1960 NCAA Champion | 5x NBA Champion | Former Houston Rockets Assistant Coach

Larry Siegfried was born on May 22, 1939, in Shelby, Ohio where he later played the point guard position during his entire career including college basketball for the Ohio State Buckeyes men’s basketball under Head Coach Fred Taylor of the University of Ohio. Some of his notable teammates were future NBA hall of famers in Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek and Joe Roberts. The team also featured future legendary colligate head coach Bob Knight.

The Buckeyes won the 1960 NCAA National Championship. In that same year, they finished their season with a 25–3 record.

In 1961, Siegfried was selected with the 3rd overall pick in the 1st round of the 1961 NBA draft by the Cincinnati Royals but chose not to play for the Royals due to his Buckeyes loss to Cincinnati’s Bearcats earlier that year. Instead, he played a season for the Cleveland Pipers of the American Basketball League (ABL), coached by John McLendon and later Bill Sharman, the Pipers won the 1962 ABL championship. He averaged 9.0 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists per game in his only season with Cleveland.

The following year, the ABL folded and Siegfried originally considered retiring after being cut from the St. Louis Hawks, however, his former Buckeyes teammate John Havlicek vouched for Siegfried to try out for the Boston Celtics, which worked out better than ever as he later won 5 championships with the Celtics in 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, and 1969.

In his last 2 seasons in the NBA, he played for the San Diego Rockets and Atlanta Hawks under Richie Guerin and Alex Hannum respectively.

After his 4 years coaching in the NBA, Seigfried returned to his home state of Ohio where he would counsel prisoners at the Mansfield Correctional Institution in Ohio and did motivational speaking. He also served briefly as the Executive Director of the Central Ohio Chapter of The Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC).

Coach Siegfried passed away on October 14, 2010.

Coaching Career

After a 11-season playing career, Siegfried joined the Houston Rockets coaching staff as an assistant coach under Johnny Egan. He later was retained under Tom Nissalke who replaced Egan in 1976.

In 1975, the Rockets finished with a 41–41 record, qualifying for the playoffs, but lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Boston Celtics in 5 games (4-1). In 1977, the Rockets reached the conference finals but lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in 6 games.

Notable Players Coached