Catasauqua and the Lehigh Valley have lost a sports legend.

Larry Miller, arguably the Rough Riders’ greatest basketball player and one of the finest in Lehigh Valley’s hoop history, passed away Sunday evening at the age of 79. Miller’s health had been ailing in recent years, and he died while in hospice care at Holy Family Senior Living Center in Bethlehem.

Miller played for the Roughies from 1960-64 and scored 2,722 points and was a Parade First-Team All-American his senior year. He led the Roughies to three consecutive Class A district titles and scored 46 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in a win over Steelton in the state playoffs. In their final district title, Miller had 38 points and 25 rebounds in a 70-59 victory over Nazareth, giving the Roughies their fourth title in five years.

From Catty, Miller moved on to North Carolina, where he was one of three players ever to win ACC Player-of-the-Year and Tournament MVP honors in consecutive seasons and is the only Tar Heel to win ACC Player of the Year twice. He was also the ACC Male Athlete of the Year in 1968.

He scored in double figures in 64 consecutive games, which remains the UNC record. Miller scored 1,982 points in three seasons and averaged 21.8 per game, the fifth-highest by a Tar Heel. During his time there, Carolina went 70-21, including 32-10 in ACC regular-season play, from 1965-68. The Tarheels lost to UCLA and Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) in the 1968 National Championship game.

As a senior, Miller had the unique distinction of being named a First-Team All-American with Abdul-Jabbar, Pete Maravich, Elvin Hayes, and Wes Unseld.

Miller was drafted by the Sixers in the fifth round of the 1968 draft, but he signed with the Los Angeles Stars of the ABA. He played seven seasons in the league with the Stars, San Diego Conquistadors, Utah Stars, Virginia Squires, and Carolina Cougars.

In 1972 while playing for Carolina, Miller set the league’s single-game scoring record with 67 points without the benefit of a 3-pointer while playing in a 1972 game for the Carolina Cougars, making 25 of 40 shots and 17 foul shots.

Overall, Miller averaged 13,6 points per game in the ABA.