HECLA — The colorful world of sports in Lawrence County is somewhat pale today.

Carl Large, one of the most colorful figures in the area’s high school sports, died Wednesday at the age of 74.

Large was a three-year star at Kitts Hill High School and scored 1,579 career points including 716 his senior season. He was all-county each season, was an Associated Press second team All-Ohio pick as a junior and first team as a senior.

His point total was the third most in Ohio high school basketball and included a personal game-high 41.

Large earned a basketball scholarship to Ohio State University but couldn’t adjust to college life in a big city at the tender age of 16.

After being recruited to Marshall University by the legendary Cam Henderson, Large still wasn’t ready for college life and returned home again.

But he later signed with Rio Grande College and was a three-year starter. He averaged 20.4 points a game his senior year and set a school record with 22 consecutive free throws in a game at West Virginia Tech. He was named the team’s most valuable player.

He was elected to the Rio Grande Athletic Hall of Fame Dec. 10, 1977, and was the 1992 Ironton Sports Day honoree.

After college, Large was drafted and served two years in the armed forces including a 17-month stint in the Korean War.

Large returned home and began a career as a teacher and junior varsity basketball coach at Tipp City in 1959. He landed his first head coaching position in 1964 at newly-formed Clinton-Massie High School.

In his first season, Large led Clinton-Massie to a 10-10 record and a win in its first tournament game.

He had an overall record of 46-30 at the school before returning home to coach the Rock Hill Redmen.

Rock Hill was 9-3 in his first season and followed in his first full season with a 13-5 record.

Two years later, Large took the job as the girls’ head basketball coach and rattled off three straight winning seasons as he posted a 39-14 record. Her returned as the boys’ coach in 1987 to try and rebuild the program and went 25-37 including 14-8 in his final season when he elected to retire.

Large and his wife, the former Rita Ferguson, were married in 1972.

Large has a daughter, Molly, by his first wife, the late Jeanie Markins Large who was killed in an automobile accident along with his 7-year-old son, Craig, in 1967.