There would be plenty of winning the next season, Siegfried’s last as a member of the Buckeyes.  The team would finish the regular season undefeated, capture another Big Ten Championship, and then make an encore appearance in the championship game.  OSU was 27-0 when it landed in the 1961 final.  Awaiting them was intrastate rival Cincinnati.  The 6’-4” Siegfried averaged 15.2 points in the 27 games prior to the showdown with Bearcats, second only to the 24.9 averaged by Lucas.  With a second consecutive national championship squarely in their sights, the Buckeyes forged a 1-point halftime lead, 39-38, and then found themselves deadlocked with Cincinnati, 61-61, at the end of regulation.  The Bearcats then pulled away, 70-65 in overtime, behind the play of Bob Wiesenhahn and Tom Thacker, ending OSU’s dream of repeating as national champs.

For Siegfried, the loss was hard to swallow.  His selection (along with Lucas) to the All-Tournament team did little to dull the pain, nor did his freshly minted status as a collegiate All-American.  The Cincinnati Royals nabbed him with the third overall selection in the 1961 NBA Draft, opening up what was to have been an exciting new chapter in his life, but the stinging loss to the rival Bearcats still resonated.  He did not want to play in that city, that soon, not after such a bitter defeat.  So he sat out the 1961-62 NBA season instead, playing for the ABL Cleveland Pipers, turning him into Cincinnati’s Public Enemy No.1.  He also refused to don a Royals uniform the following season.  Cincinnati finally gave up on Siegfried a year later, during the 1963-64 regular season, dealing him to St. Louis.  Once there, he was cut loose to make room for a highly-regarded draft choice.

Red Auerbach and the Boston Celtics were kings of the NBA when Siegfried hit the waiver wire, winners of six championships in a seven-year span, including five in a row.  With Bill Russell dominating the league in a way no player had done before, the Celtics were clearly the class of the NBA.  But there were concerns; with Bill Sharman’s retirement in 1961, followed by Bob Cousy’s departure two years later, the Celtics were a team in need of depth in the backcourt.  Sam Jones and KC Jones were playing All-Star basketball, and were arguably as good as any combination in league history, but Auerbach knew that Boston was an injury away from relinquishing its stranglehold on basketball’s biggest prize.  Paying the $1,000 waiver fee to take a chance on an unproven player made perfect sense; if it didn’t work out, he could cut Siegfried loose and try to find another backup point guard.  If it did, then Auerbach had another savvy playmaker who could help his team repeat as world champions.

Siegfried joined the Celtics – and former OSU teammate John Havlicek – midway through the 1963-64 regular season, missing out on Auerbach’s legendary training camp, and averaging 3.3 points over 31 games.  Ironically, the Cincinnati Royals would await Boston in the Eastern Finals, providing Siegfried with an added measure of motivation.  He played sparingly in that series, but he played well when called up, and the Celtics rolled to a 4-1 victory and a chance to win a record sixth consecutive NBA crown.  Three weeks later the Celtics would defeat the San Francisco Warriors 105-99 in Game 5 of the 1964 NBA Finals, and Siegfried would add an NBA Championship to the collegiate title that he had won at OSU.

The following season a mature Larry Siegfried eased comfortably into his niche.  With the benefit of a full training camp under his belt, and with a newfound trust placed in him by Auerbach, Siegfried played in 72 games and upped his scoring average to 6.3 PPG.  Loathe to fill a specific roll at Ohio State, he was now the first guard off of the bench – and loving every minute of it.  The Celtics stormed to a 62-18 regular season record and into the 1965 Eastern Finals.  It was there, in Game 7, that John Havlicek made his incredible steal to preserve a 110-109 lead and send the Philadelphia 76ers packing.  Siegfried, now an official part of the Celtic Family, found himself in a second consecutive NBA Finals.  A 4-1 dispatching of the Los Angeles Lakers brought yet another championship to Boston.  The Celtics, with Siegfried in tow, were now on an undeniable roll of near mythic proportions.

The 1965-66 season would be Auerbach’s last on the bench.  With it came an eighth consecutive NBA crown, and a greater roll for Siegfried.  He finished the season as the team’s third leading scorer (13.7 PPG), this despite not starting, and burnished his reputation as an all-around talent off of the bench.  A year later his average increased yet again, to 14.1 PPG, but the Celtics’ championship run was history.  Wilt Chamberlain and the 76ers were the new kings of the NBA.  Boston, led by player-coach Bill Russell, looked old and unable to continue its dominance of the 1960s.

All of that changed a year later.  The 1967-68 Celtics went 54-28, and then upset the heavily favored Sixers 4-3 in the Eastern Finals.  A 4-2 defeat of the Los Angeles Lakers gave Russell & Co. an incredible 10 titles in twelve years.  Siegfried averaged 12.2 PPG.  More importantly, he now had four NBA championships in five years with the Celtics.

Another championship would follow in 1969.  Russell and Sam Jones would bow out as champions, and the team would go into rebuilding mode.  Tommy Heinsohn would take over as head coach, and the team would select All-American guard Jo Jo White from Kansas in the 1969 NBA Draft.  A year later the Celtics left Siegfried unprotected in the NBA expansion draft.  He would play parts of two seasons for the San Diego/Houston Rockets, and then finish his career after 21 games with the Atlanta Hawks.  Through it all he remained a Celtic at heart, thankful for his place in history and his role on greatest dynasty the NBA has ever known.

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