USF to pay tribute to Schneider
For the first time in his 27year varsity basketball coaching career, Bellarmine’s Patrick Schneider is sporting a watch, a handsome, goldplated Movado timekeeper wrapped tightly around his left wrist with a brown leather band.
The watch belonged to his beloved father Bernie, the patriarch of the large Schneider family, a Riordan and USF graduate and longtime popular high school coach and teacher in Marin County, who died in August after a long bout with cancer.
“I’m not really into things or jewelry and never have been,” said Schneider. “But it’s a great reminder of him.”
He patterned his life and coaching style after his father, and included him in all endeavors to Bernie’s last breath.
At his father’s packed funeral on USF’s campus, Schneider, the oldest of eight children, quoted Dan Fogelberg’s “Leader of the Band,” song during a memorable eulogy: “My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man. I’m just a living legacy of the leader of the band.”
Schneider included how each of his father’s many traits were instilled and then enhanced by each of his siblings: Meghan, Moira, Deirdre, Kevin, Brendan, Kathleen and Brigid.
“It was one of the most beautiful eulogies I’ve ever heard,” USF senior associate athletic director Frank Allocco said. “Clearly, Bernie was at the core of everything for his family, his community, his church and school and students.”
Allocco was so moved that he helped plan a tribute for Bernie at Saturday’s 1 p.m. USF men’s basketball game against LoyolaMarymount.
Just before halftime, public address announcer Joe Hallisy will ask 35 Schneider relatives to take the same court that he first took back in 1957, the first year War Memorial Gymnasium was built.
He played basketball and baseball at USF, and wrote a book, “Glory and Heartbreak,” about the history of Bay Area basketball.
“He christened the gym all those years ago, so it’s only right we honor him now,” Hallisy said. “He was a great man who did great work for so many.”
Especially for high school kids, first starting at RedwoodLarkspur. His reputation for details, organization and fundamentals were second to none, even as a junior varsity coach.
Tom Seidenberg was a promising sophomore in 1966 with a chance to go to varsity. “My goal was to make varsity as a 10thgrader, but I wasn’t going to play a ton, and Bernie’s reputation was so good I asked to stay down. It was the best decision I ever made. He taught me every facet of the game.”
Seidenberg earned AllMarin County Athletic League honors as a senior, and went on to coach high school basketball and teach math in Washington and New Hampshire for 45 years.
“I owe so much of my life to Bernie,” Seidenberg said. “He was just a great man. I’ve never forgotten him.”
Neither has Will Garner, probably Bernie’s best high school player. Garner, a twotime MCAL Player of the Year, played college hoops at Utah and professionally overseas for 20 years. Garner transferred from El Paso, Texas, to TamalpaisMill Valley in the late ’60s, where Bernie took the head job.
Garner got choked up Thursday when recalling Schneider’s human spirit. “He told me right away we could talk about anything and if I needed any help outside of basketball he was there for me,” Garner said.
“And he was. Many times we never talked about basketball, and that’s what I remember most. That’s why I loved the man. He really was like a second father.”
Larry Moyer was Schneider’s assistant coach during that time. “He was extremely detailed and organized,” Moyer said. “But what I remember most is that he loved kids and treated them with respect.
“He was a treasure, an absolute treasure. I think about what a wonderful human being he was and how passionate about the game he was too.”
Patrick said he’s constantly reminded of his father this season. His Bells (131, 31 West Catholic Athletic League), ranked fourth in the Bay Area by The Chronicle, play Friday at Berne’s alma mater, sixthranked Riordan (122, 31).
The watch, he said, does remind him that time and life are precious, so it’s best to have a plan. Bernie used to keep 4by6 cards detailing every quarter of his son’s game, with scouting notes and words of encouragement.
“I have hundreds of his cards stored away,” Schneider said. “My dad was definitely a man with a plan.”