Hall of Fame basketball coach Thomas dead at 91
Thomas directed Lancers men’s basketball program for 21 years
There will be one highly noticeable empty seat in the stands of the St. Denis Centre when the University of Windsor Lancers take to the basketball court this season.
Legendary coach Paul (Doc) Thomas and his wife Kerri have been fixtures at OUA men’s basketball home games for years, always seeking out a pair of lower-level seats near the rail and closest to the exit because of mobility issues Thomas faced later in life.
A member of the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame, Thomas died Thursday from complications related to a battle with cancer. He was 91. “I was lucky I got to see him a few weeks ago and I’m so glad I did,” said Stan Korosec, who as a university athlete was a two-time all-Canadian for Thomas and the Lancers.
“He was just like the old Doc, so positive about beating his cancer. He was a real competitive guy in basketball and that continued right down to his final days.”
Korosec played for Thomas during a successful stretch of Lancers history — winning an Ontario University title in his first season in 1978-79 and earning a spot in the national championship tournament all four years of his career.
“He had a competitive spirit but he also really cared about his players,” said Korosec, better known these days for his high-profile role with Matty Moroun’s bridge company. “It was like a fatherly thing and he really liked it that a lot of the players kept in touch.”
Thomas had a lot to do with that lifelong connection, sending out what he called the LOTE (Lancers of the Thomas Era) newsletter to former players with tidbits of information and updates. It went out to hundreds of men. “He was at all of my kids’ weddings,” said Dan Devin, his voice cracking with emotion.
Devin played five seasons for Thomas in the 1970s.
He and his wife visited Thomas less than a week ago.
“Nothing had changed,” Devin said. “He loved life. He’d always try to be as positive as possible. Before I left, I gave him a hug and said I love you.
“He had a hard time speaking but he said, ‘Back at you.’”
Thomas himself had a stellar high school career at Niagara Collegiate and still holds the singlegame scoring record for the Niagara Falls league at 59 points.
He went on to become a perennial all-Canadian for the University of Western Ontario, earning a tryout with the New York Knickerbockers.
In the summers, he played baseball and spent time in the farm system of the Chicago Cubs.
Back on the basketball court as a player-coach during the 1951-52 season, he took the Tillsonburg Livingstons to the Canadian Senior A championship, which led to him becoming the country’s youngest Olympic basketball coach at the 1952 Helsinki Games.
Thomas earned a PhD in physical education at the University of Southern California and coached at the University of California at North Ridge and the University of Saskatchewan before he was hired by Windsor in 1970 for a newly created full-time position that involved coaching and teaching in the kinesiology department.
He would coach the Lancers for 21 seasons, using a much-debated platoon system where all five players came off the court at the same time and were replaced by five fresh bodies off the bench.
It was a system that took the Lancers to six appearances in the CIAU national tournament and twice saw Thomas honoured as Canadian university coach of the year.
“If everyone bought in, it was a system that brought a lot of success,” noted former player Jim Minello.
Thomas demanded his players carry themselves a certain way because they were representing the university.
“He made us make up our beds when we were on the road,” Minello said. “He wanted us to be gentlemen, scholars and good ambassadors for the university.”
Nick Grabowski, his assistant coach for all 21 seasons, said Thomas never smoked or drank and made it clear he wanted his players to follow that example.
Grabowski recalls the time the team was travelling to a tournament on a Greyhound bus making its regular public run out west when two women got on at a stop and headed toward the back where the team was sitting.
Thomas and Grabowski gave up their seats without asking how far the women were going on the route and they wound up standing for two hours.
“He never complained,” Grabowski said. “That was Paul. He was a really, really generous man.”
Thomas developed an international reputation for his teaching techniques, something that earned him invitations to basketball clinics around the globe, including Norway, Finland, China, the U.S., Mexico, Belgium, Poland and Sweden.
He coached Canada’s team at the 1974 World University Games in Russia and he took the national B team on a rare playing tour of China.
He authored books on the game and was a guiding hand in the development of Canada’s national certification program.
“The passing of Paul Thomas leaves a big hole in the fabric of Canadian basketball,” said Michele O’Keefe, the president and CEO of Canada Basketball.
“His passion and commitment to the athletes, coaches, officials and to basketball left me in awe.”
Thomas has been inducted into multiple halls of fame including in his hometown of Niagara Falls, at Windsor and Western universities, with the OUAA Referees Association, the Windsor Essex hall and the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.
“He’s obviously a legendary figure in university basketball and basketball in Windsor and throughout Canada,” said Mike Havey, the University of Windsor’s athletic director.
The Canadian Hall of Fame recognized his contributions to the game in 1980 — and 18 years later, his daughter and Olympian, Misty Thomas, joined him as an inductee.
Thomas has three children by his former wife: Misty, Scott and Brett.
“He loved encouraging us and challenging us,” Scott said. “Every summer he coached all of us in little league and I still don’t know how he made all of our games as kids with his own schedule, but he did. It was just a wonderful experience.”
Scott grew up in the old St. Denis Hall, dribbling two basketballs on the court at halftime when he was little more than a toddler. He later played five seasons for his dad.
“It’s what you hope for in a father-son relationship,” Scott said.
Scott said his father shared the same philosophy as his famous friend in basketball from those California days, John Wooden.
The iconic coach from UCLA believed a coach was nurturing not just court skills but also the skills needed to live a good life.
“My dad believed in teaching a kid how to live the right way,” Scott said.
Even after leaving the university, retirement never really took hold for Thomas.
He went on to run a physiotherapy clinic and a bed and breakfast with Kerri. He coached and worked in the athletic department for Academie Ste. Cecile.
The university and his family are holding a celebration of life at the St. Denis Centre Nov. 17 starting at 11 a.m.