Lynn basketball icon Tsioropoulos passes away

Lou Tsioropoulos, one of the greatest athletes ever to come out of Lynn, has died at the age of 84.
Tsioropoulos was a member of Kentucky?s 1951 NCAA national championship team and won two NBA titles in his three years with the Boston Celtics.
Tsioropoulos’ nephew, Michael Johnson, said his uncle died Saturday in Louisville of natural causes. A memorial service was held there Wednesday. He would have turned 85 Monday.
Born in West Lynn, Tsioropoulos started his high school career at Lynn Classical, but a move across town before his junior year prompted him to change schools and attend Lynn English. He played basketball and football at English, and shined in both sports.
Tsioropoulos was named as a first-team All-American in football during his senior year. Nicknamed “Long Lou” in his high school days, Tsioropoulos set scoring records as a hoops star at English, leading the Essex League and scoring over 300 points one season under coach Al Levy.
On the football field, he was primarily a defensive end and defensive back, but made the All-America team as a guard. According to a May 22, 1981 Item article, the All-America team selectors commented that Tsioropoulos “had to be on our team ? he?s one of the best players in the country.” He graduated from English in 1949.
Tsioropoulos went on to earn a basketball scholarship to Kentucky and join future pros Frank Ramsey and Cliff Hagan to win one NCAA title and help the Wildcats complete the school?s only undefeated season, averaging 14.5 points and 9.6 rebounds per game during that season. He finished with career averages of 8.4 points and 8.3 rebounds and the school retired his No. 16 jersey. At the time, Tsioropoulos was the only out-of-state member of the Kentucky squad.
“We are terribly saddened to hear Lou Tsioropoulos passed away over the weekend,” Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart said in a statement. “Lou was and always will be a Wildcat legend. His accomplishments speak for themselves: the national championship season in 1951, an undefeated season in 1953-54, and a two-time NBA champion.”
Despite being such a gifted football player, Tsioropoulos said “(he) didn?t think you could play two major sports in college, so (he) stayed with basketball,” according to a May 22, 1981 Item article.
Tsiropoulos fulfilled a boyhood dream after college, going pro and joining the Celtics, becoming the first Lynn native to make the NBA. In the Feb. 3, 1958 edition of The Item, Tsioropoulos is quoted as saying “I?ll admit I dreamed as a boy of someday playing with the Boston Celtics, but I didn?t think for a minute those dreams would ever be realized. That I have been able to play for a club like the Celtics and an owner like Walter Brown exceeds any expectations I ever had.”
According to an Item drawing by Eddie Germano that ran on Feb.4, 1958, at the time Tsioropoulos was the only Greek-American and the only New Englander playing in the NBA. A bad back forced Tsioropoulos to retire in 1959.
“He was a prototype for the sixth man that was developed over the years,” Tommy Heinsohn, for whom Tsioropoulos served as a backup, said in a statement from the Celtics. “He was a fun guy and probably would have had a longer career as a Celtic if it wasn’t for injuries. My heart goes out to Lou’s family and he will be missed.”
The Celtics’ statement added that Tsioropoulos “had a special connection to the Celtics family both as a hometown hero as well as being part of the organization’s first two championships.”
Tsioropoulos spent two years as a lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve, where he was named to the Armed Forces All-Star football team.
After his playing career, Tsioropoulos went on to teach for three years in Lynn and later in Kentucky before he took a coaching job at a high school in Louisville.
In 1996, Tsioropoulos was among the first inductees into the Lynn English Hall of Fame. He?s also a member of the Kentucky Hall of Fame, inducted in 1975.
Tsioropoulos is survived b