Whether it was playing hoops at the farm as a kid using a goal nailed to a utility pole in the barn lot or the likes of Bob Raver and Bob Crowell driving him to the gym because of family members tending to that same farm, there was no question that the late Larry Grills loved the game of basketball and it showed as he became a star in the 1960’s for the Sunman Tigers.

 

An all-around player with a knack for scoring the basketball, Grills played all four years of high school hoops for the Tigers and eventually put together two full varsity seasons during his junior and senior years. In those two years alone, he amassed 589 points and became just one of 10 players in Sunman history to score more than 500 points for their career. Of those 10, Grills now becomes the 8th to be inducted into the Ripley County Basketball Hall of Fame. He scored 212 points during the 1962-1963 season that saw Sunman win the Ripley County Tournament and he followed it with 377 points his senior season which amounted to an 18 point average, an impressive feat given the time period.

 

Despite a one-point loss in overtime to eventual sectional champion Holton in 1964, Grills’ final game saw him pour in a career-high 32 points. Grills, who also lettered in track and baseball, was named a Sunman Team MVP, All-County, All-Conference and All-Sectional in his time donning a Tiger uniform. After graduating from Sunman, Grills enlisted in the Army National Guard until a medical discharge gave way to a very successful career in the work force.

 

Grills began his career at Cummins but the life of a truck driver soon intrigued him and Larry would drive for over 25 years for Hill-Rom in Batesville. In 1971, he married his high school sweetheart GeGe Lattire and the two were blessed with sons Lonnie and Tom, both of whom have found ways to follow in their father’s footsteps. Larry passed away in 2012 at the age of 67 after a long battle with injury and cancer but not before fulfilling a life dedicated to work, family and the game of basketball.