 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dartmouth Loses Two Legends
Created: 7/11/2004 1:06:21 PM
|
Former Dartmouth baseball coach Tony Lupien and Big Green basketball legend Rudy LaRusso both passed away on Friday after being in declining health in recent years.
Ulysses J. (Tony) Lupien, Jr., 87, a major league baseball player in the 1940s and baseball coach at Dartmouth College from 1957-77, died Friday, July 9 at his home in Norwich, Vt.
Mr. Lupien was recognized for decades as a great teacher and mentor. He was also an outspoken observer of labor relations in professional baseball. In 1980 he collaborated with writer Lee Lowenfish to author The Imperfect Diamond, a book that remains a definitive text on baseball labor from the introduction of the reserve clause in 1879 to the litigation in the 1970s that led to free agency.
A first baseman, he played with the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox. He then was a minor league player-manager into the early 1950s before becoming a college coach.
Mr. Lupien was born in Chelmsford, Mass., on April 23, 1917, a son of Ulysses and Eugenie (Gosselin) Lupien. He grew up in Manchester, Conn., graduated from Loomis School in Windsor, Conn., in 1935 and from Harvard University in 1939.
At Harvard, he was captain of the baseball team as a junior and of the basketball team as a senior. He was the Eastern Intercollegiate League batting champion in 1938 and 1939. He also quarterbacked his freshman football team at Harvard.
After his playing career, in 1956, Mr. Lupien was hired by Dartmouth's athletic director, Red Rolfe (the former major league player and manager), to be Dartmouth's baseball coach. He was also Dartmouth's freshman basketball coach from 1956-68.
During 21 seasons as Dartmouth's baseball coach, Mr. Lupien guided his teams to 313 wins, 305 losses and three ties. His teams won the Eastern Intercollegiate League championship four times (1963, 1967, 1969, 1970). Dartmouth's 1970 team also won the NCAA District One (New England) championship and finished fifth in the College World Series at Omaha, Neb. That team had a 24-10 record that included a 21-game win streak.
Four of his players at Dartmouth -- pitchers Art Quirk, Chuck Seelbach, Pete Broberg and Jim Beattie -- went on to the major leagues. Beattie has also been a major league executive for two decades and currently is general manager of the Baltimore Orioles.
Mr. Lupien retired from coaching in 1977 but continued to work for many years as a stockbroker with various firms in New England.
Rudolph A. (Rudy) LaRusso, who was a two-time Ivy League champion and became a five-time NBA All-Star in the 1960s, passed away after a long battle with Parkinson's disease at the age of 66.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Mr. LaRusso was a two-time All-Ivy League selection and led the Green to its last conference championships in 1958 and 1959.
Mr. LaRusso helped the Lakers reach the NBA Finals four times, but they lost to the Boston Celtics each time. The power forward started with the Lakers in Minneapolis in 1959 and moved with the team to Los Angeles. He averaged 15.6 points and 9.4 rebounds over a 10-year career.
At 6-foot-7 and 220 pounds, Mr. LaRusso was a frontcourt teammate with Elgin Baylor, who said, "Rudy and I go all the way back to our days together in Minneapolis. He was one of my favorite teammates ever, and we had some great times. He was a wonderful person and a good friend, respected by everyone."
Mr. LaRusso concluded his professional basketball career in two seasons with San Francisco Warriors. There, out of the considerable shadows of Baylor and Jerry West, he had back-to-back seasons when he averaged more than 20 points a game. After his 1969 retirement, he became an investment banker and sports agent.
Mr. LaRusso scored 50 points, his career high, against the St. Louis Hawks on March 14, 1962, and still ranks among the Lakers' all-time leaders in rebounds.
|
|
Related Schools: Dartmouth
|
|
Related Sports: No Associated Sport
|
|
*This Article has been archived.*
|
Click here for a printer friendly version
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
 |
|
|
