Gene Guarilia

Eugene Michael Guarilia (born September 13, 1937 in Duryea, Pennsylvania) is a retired American basketball player.

He attended Holy Rosary High School. Guarilia played freshman basketball for Potomac State College, a junior college in Keyser, West Virginia. He established a State Conference freshman record by scoring 595 points in 1953.

A 6'5" forward Guarilia played for the George Washington University varsity basketball team beginningin the 1956 "-" 1957 season. He took the place of All-America Joe Holup who went on to play for the Syracuse Nationals. In February 1957 he was averaging 17.1 points per game and was #6 in the NCAA inrebounding. In the twenty games he had played, Guarilia had snatched 353 rebounds. He was selected to the all Southern Conferencebasketball team in February 1958.

Guarilia was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the second round of the 1959 NBA Draft. Guarilia appeared in 129 games for the Celtics over four seasons (1959–1963), averaging 3.2 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. He earned four NBA championship rings in his brief career.

In December 1959 Boston placed Guarilia on its "farm out" list to trim their roster to the required 10 player limit. Though officially off the Celtics roster, he remained in Boston to be available if other players were injured. Red Auerbach consideredrotating Guarilia on the active list with one of the other Celtics rookies, like John Richter. The coach said that this move could be done in accordance with NBA rules.

Guarilia was particularly effective in Boston's 1961 "-" 1962 NBA championship victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. In the final moments of regulation time, in the decisive seventh game, he stopped Elgin Baylor. The Celticswent on to win the game in overtime (sports).

A new NBA rule allowed Guarilia to become the 11th man on the Boston roster in the (1962-1963) NBA Championship versusthe Lakers. On September 25, 1963 the Celtics placed Guarilia on waivers to reduce their playing squad to 16 players.

References

*cite news| publisher=Charleston Gazette |title=A-B's Carl Hartman Leading Scoring Race With 311 Points |date=December 26, 1954
page=21
*cite news| publisher=Charleston Gazette |title=Hewitt Captures State Conference Scoring Honors |date=March 14, 1962 |page=19
*cite news| publisher=Lowell Sun |title=Celtics Cut Rookie Guarilia |date=December 16, 1959 |page=46
*cite news| publisher=Lowell Sun |title=The Lookout |date=April 12, 1963 |page=17
*cite news| publisher=Portsmouth Herald |title=Celtics Farm Gene Guarilia |date=December 16, 1959 |page=12
*cite news| publisher=Washington Post |title=Gene Guarilia Player Hoyas Have To Watch |date=February 19, 1957 |page=A21
*cite news| publisher=Washington Post |title=Guarilia of GW Again Selected |date=February 27, 1958 |page=C3
*cite news| publisher=Washington Post |title=Guarilia Cut By Celtics |date=September 26, 1963 |page=D7

External links

* [http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/guarige01.html Career statistics] at basketball-reference.com
* [http://www.celtic-nation.com/history/stats_records_summaries/player/player.php?name=Gene%20Guarilia Profile and picture] at Celtic-Nation.com