University of Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame
Larry Killick 1947 - Basketball
For many years Vermont fans, basketball and the name of Burlington, Vermont native Larry Killick, a 1969 UVM Hall of Fame inductee, are synonymous. The son of former University of Vermont alumni activities director, Lawrence F. (Whitey) Killick, Larry Killick played for Vermont in 1942-43, then put in a three-year stint with the Marine Corps.
He kept his hand and eye sharpened by playing a lot of ball while serving in the South Pacific during WW II, and the practice paid off for he led the 1946-47 Vermont squad to the greatest season enjoyed by a University of Vermont hoop contingent until that point. The John C. (Fuzzy) Evans coached team won 19 times, lost three and upset numerous eastern powers, including Manhattan and Yale. Larry Killick scored more than 300 points that season - a very high number for that era of basketball. In 53 games with Vermont he amassed 733 tallies.
After participating in an all-star game in New York City's Madison Square Garden, he was besieged by professional scouts, and was drafted by the Baltimore Bullets. The Vermont basketball great also saw action with two semi-pro clubs, one made up of state players and the other in Glens Falls, N.Y. Larry Killick is also noted for inventing 'Little Kid Basketball' in 1952. Equipment he designed made it possible for boys as young as six years old to become proficient in the game.
Sports Illustrated selected Killick as one of the Top 50 Vermont athletes of the 20th Century. The magazine's editors composed a list of the "Top 50 Athletes" in each state in its December 27, 1999 issue to commemorate the millennium. Killick ranked 25th among the Top 50 Vermonters.
