Larry “Gator” Rivers, a former Harlem Globetrotter and Chatham County Commissioner, gave up the ghost at the age of 73 from most cancers, as showed via Chatham County Commission Chairman Chester Ellis and Campbell and Sons Funeral Home. Rivers performed an important function within the integration of highschool basketball in Georgia as a member of the primary Black and white built-in crew that gained the Georgia High School Association basketball event in 1967. After graduating from Beach High School in 1969, he performed basketball at the collegiate stage as an all-conference guard at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph.
Following his school occupation, Rivers spent 16 years taking part in and training with the Harlem Globetrotters, returning to Savannah to be extra fascinated about his group. He volunteered in faculties, counseled community court docket refurbishments, and opened a non-profit group referred to as Gatorball Academy to show basketball and mentor adolescence. In 2020, he introduced a a hit marketing campaign for county commissioner in Savannah as a Republican, elected after his Democratic opponent used to be disqualified as a result of a prior criminal conviction.
Rivers’ passing elicited condolences from a lot of other people similar to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, and United States Representative Buddy Carter. Mayor Johnson remembered Rivers as a legend and affirmed that he would endlessly be remembered for his determination to mentoring and educating younger other people about basketball and lifestyles. Rivers’ contributions to Savannah’s group will at all times be favored, and he’ll be ignored via many.
Funeral preparations have now not been finalized but.