Gene Guarilia, American basketball player, Died at 78

  Sports

Eugene Michael Guarilia was born on September 13, 1937, and died on November 20, 2016.

He was an American basketball player.

Guarilia played four seasons for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Gene attended Holy Rosary High School.

He played freshman basketball for Potomac State College, a junior college in Keyser, West Virginia.

Guarilia established a State Conference freshman record by scoring 595 points in 1953.

He stood at 6’5″ (1.96 m) forward Guarilia played for the George Washington University varsity basketball team beginning in the 1956-1957 season.

Guarilia took the place of All-America Joe Holup who went on to play for the Syracuse Nationals.

During February 1957, Guarilia was averaging 17.1 points per game and was #6 in the NCAA in rebounding.

In the twenty games Guarilia had played, Gene had snatched 353 rebounds.

Gene Guarilia was drafted to the all-Southern Conference basketball team in February 1958.

He was selected by the Boston Celtics in the second round of the 1959 NBA Draft.

He appeared in 129 games for the Celtics over four seasons (1959–1963), averaging 3.2 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.

Guarilia earned four NBA championship rings in his brief career.

Gene Guarilia passed away at 78 years old.