First Posted: 1/31/2015
YATESVILLE – Gene Guarilia had a lengthy list of well-wishers when he returned to Pittston Area’s Thomas R. Kelly Gymnasium.
Family members, politicians, former colleagues on the Pittston Area faculty, former players for Guarilia and the players getting ready to compete in Friday night’s Wyoming Valley West at Pittston Area boys basketball game all gathered on the court prior to the game.
They were there for the renaming of the floor as the Gene Guarilia Court in honor of the school’s first boys’ basketball coach and the coach of its only district championship team in nearly a half-century of competition.
Guarilia praised his players and their loyalty, as well as thanking his assistant coaches.
“In all my years of coaching, nobody ever walked over me,” Guarilia, 77, told the fans during the ceremony. “Now, with my name on the floor, they’ll be walking over me every night.”
The 6-foot-5 forward grew up in Duryea where he played at Holy Rosary High School. After a junior college stop, Guarilia ranked among the national leaders in rebounds during three seasons at George Washington University.
That production led to Guarilia being picked 14th overall in the 1959 National Basketball Association Draft by the Boston Celtics.
Guarilia was a member of NBA championship teams with the Celtics the next four years. He averaged 3.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in his 129-game NBA career.
The highlight of Guarilia’s professional career came in the Game 7 of the 1962 NBA Finals when he replaced Tom Heinsohn, who had fouled out, and was credited with shutting down Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor and allowing the Celtics to emerge from overtime with a title-clinching victory.
Following his player career, Guarilia was a teacher and coach at North East High in Duryea, then at Pittston Area.
Guarilia retired from coaching in 1978 and teaching in 1993.
