Larry Finch

Larry Finch was a player and coach for the University of Memphis mens basketball team. He is perhaps most famous for leading the Memphis State Tigers to the NCAA mens basketball championship game in 1973 in a heroic loss to the UCLA Bruins, led by Bill Walton.

Finch was born in Memphis, and played basketball for Melrose High School in the Orange Mound section of Memphis. He then entered Memphis State and played basketball under famed basketball coach Gene Bartow. This decision was somewhat controversial for both Memphis black and white communities, given the recent assassination of Martin Luther King and the resultant heightened strain on race relations in Memphis, not to mention so few local AfricanAmerican prep stars had been able to wear a Tiger uniform to that point. Some had advised Finch not to go, but whether or not he saw it as an opportunity to do something even more meaningful than playing for his local university, Finch loved his hometown team. As he led the Tigers to new heights of success, at least during basketball games, Memphians had a chance to see things less in black and white and more in Tiger blue and gray.

Source: Wikipedia