He played pro basketball when it was a second job

By STEPHANIE HAYES, Times Staff Writer
Published February 8, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT Peter T. Lalich was a professional athlete in the National Basketball League in the 1940s. He died on Feb. 1. [Times files (1998)]

SPRING HILL - Peter T. Lalich was a towering force on the basketball court - a skilled rebounder at 6 feet 3 with an intense stare and a mass of dark hair.

He was a professional athlete in the National Basketball League with the Sheboygan Redskins, the Cleveland Chase Brassmen, the Pittsburgh Iron Men and the Youngstown Bears.

But in the 1940s, there was no glitter and fame. After games, he'd board a train home to his family and go back to work at his full-time job at a truck company.

"He got about $100 a game," said his wife, Alyce Lalich.

Mr. Lalich was born to poor Yugoslavian immigrants in Lorain, Ohio, who pushed him to find a way to excel.

At East Tech High in Cleveland, he was a basketball standout and a sought-after college recruit. He went on to play at Ohio University, where he's now in the school's hall of fame.

"He represented the days of when in college basketball, everybody was an underdog," said Jack Yager, a family friend. "If you study that border of Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, there were steel mills, there were coal mills. Sports were the way out."

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Basketball took him to a new level.

But when his second son was born, he decided to stop playing. He took a job as a manager with Western Southern Life Insurance. Constantly, he traveled.

Everywhere he went, he'd buy gifts for his wife - golf outfits, fancy dresses. She wore one to her husband's work convention, where the president of the company paid notice.

"He said I had the prettiest gown in the whole place," said Mrs. Lalich, 85.

She met her husband in college and loved his outgoing personality, his little jokes. She went to his basketball games and yelled at the referees when they made bad calls.

Mr. Lalich worked, and his wife took care of the home, finances and investments. He taught her golf, and in a year, changed her handicap from 36 to 24.

He taught his sons, Peter Jr. and Todd, basketball, football and baseball. He disciplined them firmly and instilled a moral code with clear rules.

"Sports were a platform for what my dad always taught us," said Todd Lalich, 58. "We didn't listen too much as kids, but we ended up imitating him."

Mr. Lalich retired to Spring Hill's Timber Pines community with his wife in 1986. He played golf and listened to big band music - he had hundreds of hours cataloged on tape.

He finally slowed down when his kidney's started to fail. On Feb. 1, Mr. Lalich died. He was 87.

But his sports legacy is alive.

His grandson, also named Peter Lalich, is a quarterback at the University of Virginia, where he may become a starting player.

Stephanie Hayes can be reached at shayes@sptimes.com or 727 893-8857.

BIOGRAPHY

Peter T. Lalich

Born: June 23, 1920.

Died: Feb. 1, 2008.

Survivors: wife, Alyce Lalich; sons, Peter Lalich Jr. and Todd Lalich and his wife, Penny; grandchildren, Bonnie, Peter and Michael Lalich.

[Last modified February 7, 2008, 22:20:52]