Larry Haskell Friend (April 14, 1935 – February 27, 1998) was an American

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA) player.

Biography

Friend was born and raised in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, and was Jewish. He played basketball at Marshall High School in Chicago. However, he moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, before his senior year and played basketball at Fairfax High School. Friend first played college basketball at

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campus ...

, where he was named an All-American Junior College. He then transferred to the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Fran ...

, where he was a three-year starter. He averaged 19.1 points per game his senior season and was also named to the AP All-American third team. Friend was drafted with the fifth pick in the second round of the

1957 NBA Draft The 1957 NBA draft was the 11th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 17, 1957, before the 1957–58 season. In this draft, eight NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball play ...

by the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associa ...

. In his one season with the Knicks, Friend averaged 4.0 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game. In 1961–62 Friend returned to professional basketball to play for the

Los Angeles Jets The Los Angeles Jets were an American basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, founded by Jack Blanck and Len Corbosiero, that was a member of the American Basketball League in the league's 1961–62 season. History The American Basket ...

in the American Basketball League. He appeared in thirty-nine games for the Jets and averaged 11.0 points and 3.7 rebounds per game, while also leading the league in three-point shooting (58–163). Due to financial problems, the Jets folded midway through their first season. Following his playing career, Friend owned an investment business. In 1990 he was inducted into the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themselves ...

. He died on February 27, 1998, in

Newport, California Newport is an unincorporated community in Mendocino County, California. It is located on California State Route 1 near the Pacific OceanDeLorme ''California Atlas & Gazetteer'' (2008) Yarmouth, Maine p.47 south of Westport, at an elevation o ...

, of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that su ...

. He is survived by four children, Denise, Russell, Matthew, and Nicholas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friend, Larry 1935 births 1998 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American Basketball League (1961–62) players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Chicago California Golden Bears men's basketball players Deaths from cancer in California Forwards (basketball) Guards (basketball) Jewish men's basketball players Jewish American sportspeople Los Angeles City Cubs men's basketball players New York Knicks draft picks New York Knicks players 20th-century American Jews