[1][2] Lalich played basketball for East Technical High School in Cleveland, Ohio, where he captained a championship team in 1938.

[6] Lalich played professionally in the National Basketball League with the Sheboygan Redskins, the Cleveland Chase Brassmen, the Pittsburgh Raiders and the Youngstown Bears.

He appeared in one game for the team in the Basketball Association of America where he attempted one field goal and was credited with one personal foul.

[8] Following his basketball career, Lalich worked for 35 years for Western & Southern Life Insurance Company, retiring in 1980 as divisional vice-president of sales.

[5] He was the son of Serbian immigrants and his older brother, Nick Lalich, was also a professional basketball player for the 1945–46 Youngstown Bears in the NBL and was the leader of the OSS team that rescued about 550 downed air crews during World War II Operation Halyard, without losing a single life or a single plane.