Lou Tsioropoulos
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 31, 1930 Lynn, Massachusetts |
| Died | August 22, 2015 (aged 84) Louisville, Kentucky |
| Nationality | American / Greek |
| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Listed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school |
Lynn English (Lynn, Massachusetts) |
| College | Kentucky (1950–1953) |
| NBA draft | 1953 / Round: 7 / Pick: 57th overall |
| Selected by the Boston Celtics | |
| Playing career | 1956–1959 |
| Position | Small forward |
| Number | 29, 20 |
| Career history | |
| 1956–1959 | Boston Celtics |
| Career highlights and awards | |
|
|
| Career NBA statistics | |
| Points | 910 (5.8 ppg) |
| Rebounds | 751 (4.8 rpg) |
| Assists | 165 (1.1 apg) |
| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
Louis Charles "Lou" Tsioropoulos (Greek: Λουδοβίκος "Λου" Τσιωρόπουλος; August 31, 1930 – August 22, 2015) was a Greek-American professional basketball player who played for the NBA's Boston Celtics for three seasons from 1956–1959. He was born in Lynn, Massachusetts.
Tsioropoulos played college basketball at the University of Kentucky under legendary coach Adolph Rupp. As a sophomore in 1951, he was a member of Kentucky's NCAA Championship team, which defeated Kansas State 68-58 in the Championship game.
In the fall of 1952, a point shaving scandal involving three Kentucky players (a fourth player, Bill Spivey, a teammate of Tsioropoulos on the 1951 National Championship team, was alleged to have been involved in the scandal but denied the charge) over a four-year period forced Kentucky to forfeit its upcoming season, which would have been the senior year for Tsiroropoulos and future Hall-of-Famers Frank Ramsey and Cliff Hagan. The suspension of the season made Kentucky's basketball team, in effect, the first college sports team to get the "death penalty", which actually was nothing more than the NCAA asking members schools not to schedule Kentucky, and not mandating it.
Tsioropoulos, Ramsey and Hagan all graduated from Kentucky in 1953, and as a result, became eligible for the NBA draft. All three players were selected by the Boston Celtics: Ramsey in the first round, Hagan in the third, and Tsioropoulos in the seventh. All three also returned to Kentucky for one more season, despite graduating. After finishing the regular season (one in which Tsioropoulos averaged 14.5 points per game) with a perfect 25-0 record and a #1 ranking in the Associated Press, Kentucky had been offered a bid into the NCAA Tournament. However, then-existing NCAA rules prohibited graduate students from participating in post-season play. The Wildcats declined the bid because their participation would have forced them to play without Tsioropoulos, Ramsey and Hagan, thus jeopardizing their perfect season.
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