Larry Finch

Larry O. Finch (February 16, 1951 – April 2, 2011) was a basketball player and coach from Memphis, Tennessee. A product of Melrose High School in the Orange Mound neighborhood, he chose to play for Memphis State University under coach Gene Bartow — a decision that carried significant weight given Memphis's fraught racial climate following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. In his senior season (1972–73), Finch and teammate Larry Kenon led the Tigers to the NCAA championship game, where Finch scored 29 points before falling to John Wooden's UCLA Bruins. He later returned to the University of Memphis as a coach.