50 Years Later: We Talked to Larry Ketvirtis About Marvin Barnes’ Assault and Cover-Up
Tuesday, April 04, 2023
On October 19, 1972, Providence College basketball star Marvin Barnes hit his fellow teammate Larry Ketvirtis in the face with a tire iron. The attack nearly blinded Ketvirtis. The incident took place at the beginning of the famed Final Four run by the Friars.
Barnes, an emerging basketball star, was not suspended by Providence College and that is just the beginning of the story.
Now, 72-year-old Ketvirtis reluctantly revisited the incident.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTKetvirtis' life was dramatically changed. He had been Providence College’s fifth-leading scorer during the 1971-72 season, but the injury knocked him out from competing on the Final Four run in 1972-73.
Violence, Priest and Gavitt
The details of the events were Barnes approached Ketvirtis in the dining hall and asked him to come outside to talk to him. Then, Barnes hit him with the tire iron.
Ketvirtis paints a dark picture of the event and an even darker one of PC’s response.
“You know there was a crime committed against me, you know. There was a violent crime [when] you get hit from behind by your own teammate -- that's pretty rotten,” said Ketvirtis on Monday in an interview.
“The priest down there, when he showed up in the cafeteria, I asked him several times to call the Providence Police. He would not do it,” said Ketvirtis.
“I had a talk [with Coach] Gavitt. He was still around the campus that night. He would not take me to the hospital for emergency medical treatment. The old coach didn’t care if you needed medical treatment or you needed emergency care. The whole right socket of my eye and cheekbone was smashed. [My eyeball] was dangling — I was very fortunate not to lose my eyesight. It was pretty rotten,” he added.
Legal Battles Took Years
Barnes ultimately pled guilty to the assault and received probation.
The New York Times reported on February 10, 1973:
Marvin Barnes, the star center of Providence College and the nation's top rebounder, today pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon.
He was freed in $1,000 personal recognizance and granted permission to play with the Friars.
Barnes was indicted earlier by a Providence County grand jury for allegedly hitting, Larry Ketvirtis, a former teammate, with a tire iron, in a skirmish outside the college dining hall last Oct. 19. Ketvirtis fractured a cheekbone and underwent surgery.
The alleged incident reportedly followed an intrasquad practice in which Ketvirtis accidentally struck Barnes in the mouth with an elbow, loosening two teeth.
The Cowl, the Providence College student newspaper, later reported there was underlying racial tension on the team.
Ketvirtis blames the cover-up for the lack of prosecution by the courts.
“You know, I'll tell you one thing -- the city had a chance to do what was right. If they had corrected him, Marvin Barnes, when this incident happened -- he might still be alive. They used him for basketball,” Ketvirtis said about the lack of prosecution of the incident.
In November of 1975, a federal court jury in a civil case ruled in favor of Ketvirtis. Barnes, then a pro playing in the American Basketball Association for the St. Louis Spirits and was ordered to pay $10,000 in damages to Ketvirtis.
Famed Rhode Island lawyer Lenny Decoff who represented Ketvirtis was quoted in the PC Cowl saying the jury’s decision was a “complete vindication of Larry’s position.”
Ketvirtis missed the season — the famed Providence College Final Four run that established the Friars as a power.
And, that season established Ernie DiGregorio, Barnes, and Gavitt as stars in basketball. Ernie D. would be drafted third in the NBA draft and won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award.
Barnes was the second pick in the first round of the NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, but signed with the rival league ABA. He was given a multi-million contract.
And for Gavitt, he established himself as a top college coach. He would go on to establish the Big East and later serve as the president of the Boston Celtics.
Ketvirtis left Providence College and attended Curry College.
Barnes died in 2014 after a life littered with drug addiction and legal problems.
Gavitt died in 2011.
Moving Forward
“I forgave Marvin Barnes for what he did to me," Ketvirtis told GoLocal.
Ketvirtis is clearly haunted by the assault by Barnes.
“We were friends. We'd room together on the road. I used to drive down to his house in South Providence. To pick music with him. There was the Boys Club down there, and there were a lot of good basketball players, a lot of street players — excellent," he said.
For me, it's been over for a long time. To get a call like this is a surprise," said Ketvirtis. “I like to look forward."
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