Larry Reid played at Gaston College before helping UNC Charlotte to its first conference title and a long career as a coach, teacher and administrator.

Posted: Aug 05, 2022

GASTON COLLEGE RECORD BOOK: Basketball's "other" coaching legend - Larry Reid

(Part 3 of a 10-part series)

Many recognize legendary college basketball coach Leonard Hamilton as Gaston College's most prominent alumnus.

Hamilton, who helped break the color line for the school's basketball program in 1966, enters the upcoming season with 617 NCAA head coaching victories as he prepares for his 21st season at Florida State.

But another Gaston College alumnus - who is Hamilton's cousin - also had quite the coaching legacy.

It's 1969 Gaston College graduate Larry Reid.

Reid's playing career ended at nearby UNC Charlotte - where he helped create history for that school - before he embarked on a long and successful career as a coach and educator.

A longtime Gastonia resident who attended formerly all-African-American Highland High School before a family move to Pensacola, Fla., Reid returned home for Gaston College's 1968-69 school year after spending one year at South Carolina State.

At Gaston College, he set a school record for scoring average at 22.2 points per game in the 1968-69 season and earned N.C. Community College conference all-league honors (along with teammates Charlie Hamilton and Beirut Wall) as head coach Pete Brooks' team went 21-11 overall.

Then nicknamed "Rebels," Gaston College played its first games at the old Charlotte Coliseum (now Bojangles' Arena) and hosted local power Gardner-Webb at Gastonia's old Groves Gym before losing in its league tournament title game against Spindale's Isothermal Community College.

Reid's 709 total points in the 1968-69 season remains third all-time in school history and he had five games in which he scored 30 or more points in a contest. It was a year in which Gaston College played a schedule that included of games against a North Carolina freshman team with future pros Dennis Wuycik and Bill Chamberlain, Gardner-Webb with future Basketball Hall of Famer Artis Gilmore and Brevard, Fla., with future pro Harold Fox.

After leaving Gaston College, he became a part of UNC Charlotte's first basketball championship team.

The 49ers, coached by Harvey Murphy, won the conference tournament of the old Dixie Conference (now Conference USA South) with three wins in three days in Lynchburg, Va. Reid was named tournament MVP after scoring 58 points in three games for the No. 3-seeded 49ers.

Another former Gaston College standout (and future Gaston County junior high and high school coach) Jim Turpin was another key player for UNC Charlotte that season.

After graduating from UNCC, Reid coached alongside Hamilton at Austin Peay, where he stayed for five years as an assistant coach.

After five more years as an assistant coach at Oral Roberts, Reid was head coach at DeKalb Community College in Atlanta and later head coach at Tennessee State. Reid eventually became coach and an admistrator in the Pensacola, Fla., school systems where he remains after retirement in 2016.

At Tennessee State, Reid's top player was eventual NBA All-Star Anthony Mason, who played three seasons for the Charlotte Hornets.