[tps_header]Larry Demic[/tps_header]
[tps_title]NO. 2[/tps_title]
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Larry Bird should remember Larry Demic well, and that’s not because they are both Indiana natives.
Demic, recruited by Fred Snowden from the blue-collar town of Gary, Ind., and Bird entered the NBA in the same year, 1979. Demic introduced himself emphatically in one of their first exhibition games as rookies.
Demic at the time was Arizona’s most heralded player as the ninth pick overall in the 1979 draft by the New York Knicks. Bird, with Boston, was a few months removed from playing Magic Johnson in the 1979 NCAA finals.
Demic, a bruising forward at 6’9″ and 225 pounds, tried to claim his turf in the paint against Bird in the exhibition game played at Ohio State’s old St. John Arena.
Demic committed a hard foul on Bird, who was trying to fill the lane for a fast break. Boston fans will say it was a dirty play. Demic was not ejected after Bird went crashing far out of bounds. His white Boston jersey was covered in black dirt from the cement floor beyond the wooden floor, which was cut off just beyond the basket at the ancient gym.
They played on.
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Larry Demic was the original standout who wore No. 32, now retired with Sean Elliott’s name. Another standout Pete Williams, ranked on this badass list, also wore No. 32
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Things don’t come easy for those from Northwest Indiana, where the industrial town of Gary is located. Scrappy Kenny Lofton, a member of Arizona’s first Final Four team of 1988, is from the same area in East Chicago, Ind.
U.S. Steel built the largest integrated steel plant in 1906 in North America along the lakeshore where Gary and East Chicago are located. The company constructed the town of Gary — named for U.S. Steel co-founder Elbert H. Gary — to house millworkers who flocked to the area.
In a setting like that, you battle for everything you can get.
As a junior, Demic was ejected from a game at McKale Center against Eastern Michigan after being charged a flagrant foul for an excessive elbow while trying to clear out the opponents who draped over him most of the game near the basket.
Snowden insinuated that EMU coach Ray Scott, former coach of the Detroit Pistons, used a physical style of play against the Wildcats that he employed while in the NBA.
“The pure college guys don’t adjust rapidly,” Snowden said in an Associated Press article. “Demic just lost some of his poise for a moment.”
Demic, who tallied 184 fouls in his Arizona career, ranks seventh on the Wildcats’ foul-out list with 15 in his career. That number of disqualifications stands as the most for an Arizona player who has participated in Pac-10/12 era.
Arizona senior center Kaleb Tarczewski is not far behind with 13.
The high number of foul-outs is not indicative of dirty play. It’s more that Demic was aggressive, tough and never one to back down. That is why as a senior he averaged a double-double — 19.3 points and 10.3 rebounds — in addition to shooting 57.1 percent from the field.
Opponents knew who owned the lane when they saw Demic on the other side.
Check back at AllSportsTucson.com in the upcoming days for the No. 1 player on this Arizona Wildcats top hoops badass list. Who can it be?
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He has also written articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.[/tps_footer]
