Sports: St. Thomas More basketball coach Jere Quinn wins his 1,000th game
St.Thomas More’s Jere Quinn records milestone coaching victory
— St. Thomas Worcester, Mass. More coach Jere Quinn celebrated an astounding milestone on Wednesday. Quinn won his 1,000 career game. Another number meant more to him.
That's the number of St. Thomas More staff and students, friends and family members that made the trip to watch a 66-55 win at Worcester Academy and be at his side for a postgame ceremony, as well as the number of coaches and former players who've reached out to him over the last week or so.
One of his college coach from Central Connecticut State University, 82-year-old Ron Pringle, showed up. So did Tom Blackburn, the retired Worcester Academy coach who competed against Quinn for years, as well as Bobby Prattico, a former player from Quinn's very first team.
Quinn, 62, was clearly moved — in his own low-key way — by the outpouring of support.
"It's the most rewarding aspect of it," he said. "It's kind of neat to have those people here."
Technically, it was the second party thrown for Quinn, whose record is an astounding 1,000-267 over his 40-year coaching career.
The Quinn family recently held an "almost a thousand" party at their home on the Montville campus. His wife of 38 years, Judy, has been along for entire ride. They met as students at CCSU.
"It's crazy," Judy said. "I was here at the beginning."
So what keeps her husband coaching?
"He loves it," Judy said. "He's never complained in all of these years once about the drives, the overnights, practice, any part of it, never. It's definitely his love of the sport and the kids . ... It's been a great life. No complaints on my end either. I love it."
Quinn's 1,000th win didn't come easy.
The Chancellors led for most of the game but didn't pull away until the final minutes. Clinging to a 49-47 lead, Everette Hammond scored six straight points to spark an 11-3 run, and then the Chancellors close it out from the foul line.
Hammond finished with 14 points and six rebounds while Adrien Nunez had a team-best 15 points and added five rebounds.
Nunez was happy to be part of his coach's milestone win.
"It's an historical thing that he's done," Nunez said. "He's the GOAT. He just knows everything. He's never out of answers. After playing with him for 21 games, you can see why he got 1,000 wins."
When the final buzzer sounded, the Chancellors surrounded Quinn, and St. Thomas More supporters came on the court for the post-game celebration. Quinn gave a brief speech, spending most of the time praising Worcester Academy.
He felt a bit guilty for reaching the magical mark on the Worcester Academy court.
"It would have been nice to win it at home just because you don't want to do it on somebody else's court," Quinn said. "I've always liked to do everything in anonymity and quietly."
A former player once said that Quinn is really quiet but really loud, referring to the difference between their coach off and on the court. That about sums up his career, too. Quinn has quietly gone about his coaching business during his legendary career, making a loud statement with his program's success and behind the scenes developing young men. His teams always adopt his relentless work ethic that he says comes from his father and mother.
He never actively recruits a player off campus, instead they reach out to him and ultimately believe in the prep school's mission: structure and discipline.
In turn, he's made a promise to them.
"One of the things I've told all of our kids is, 'you just don't have me for this year. You have a commitment from me for life.' "
His son, Matt, a T-More assistant, has also been part of his father's journey.
"It's an experience I'll cherish my whole life," Matt said. "I feel just very lucky. Not everyone gets to have this type of relationship with their father. Not only was he always my mentor and hero, just being his partner is something that's just truly special to me."
Perhaps somewhere down the road, Quinn will take time to reflect on what it all means. Right now, he's too busy coaching.
"Life just moves so quickly," Quinn said. "I think I'll be able to reflect a little bit more when we're not driving back and having dinner and preparing for a game on Saturday and then Tuesday and then Friday and Saturday."
Quinn doesn't see an end in sight. He's enjoying it too much to retire anytime soon.
Judy has her own theory about that.
"A couple more years, I'd say," Judy said. "He's not ready to be done. I don't think he'll get another thousand in." g.keefe@theday.com