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Arnie 'Stilts' Risen won two NBA titles: news obituary
Published: Tuesday, August 07, 2012
By Mary Schmitt Boyer, The Plain Dealer
Plain Dealer File
Arnie Risen, a former Ohio State and NBA player , is seen in this photo from 2005.
Former Boston Celtics great Bob Cousy remembered Arnie Risen as an intense teammate on the court and a gentle soul off it.
Risen, 87, of Pepper Pike, a former Ohio State University star and two-time NBA champion who was elected to the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1998, died Saturday from complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
A lung cancer survivor, he had been in remission the past six years.
?He was a very nice, gentle man who became such a competitor,? Cousy said in a telephone interview Monday. ?He, obviously, reached the highest echelon in his profession and the NBA, and you don?t get there unless you?re a pretty intense competitor. But you?d never knew that. He was a sweet and gentle person.?
Risen was born Oct. 9, 1924, and grew up in Williamstown, Ky., the oldest of four siblings. He always told his son, Dennis, that he played in the first basketball game he ever saw. He married his high school sweetheart, Betty Barnes, wound up in his high school?s Hall of Fame and had a street named after him in Williamstown.
He went on to Ohio State, playing and starting two seasons for coach Harold G. Olsen, becoming the All-Big Ten center in 1944 and a Helms Foundation second-team All-American in 1945, when the Buckeyes finished first and second, respectively, in the Big Ten.
He also is in the Ohio State Hall of Fame.
?The Risen family is in the thoughts and prayers of the Ohio State basketball family,? said Dan Wallenberg, associate athletics director-communications at Ohio State. ?Mr. Risen made significant contributions to Ohio State during one of the basketball program?s most prominent eras. His contributions as an All-Big Ten center [1944] and two-year starter [1944, 1945] helped the Buckeyes reach the Final Four over three consecutive years [1944-46]. The Ohio State department of athletics and its men?s basketball program is saddened by the loss.?
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http://www.cleveland.com/obituaries/index.ssf/2012/08/arnie_stilts_risen_won_two_nba.html
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfH3eL0X9MI"]Arnold D. "Arnie" Risen's Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Speech - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JXBzN9RIw0"]Arnie Risen NBA Career - YouTube[/ame]