The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Coach K feted at 37th annual Franciscan Sports Banquet
SOUTHINGTON — When Gretchen Rossi got a phone call from Mike Krzyzewski on Monday, a day before Coach K and his wife, Mickie, were to be feted at the 37th annual Franciscan Sports Banquet, she feared there might be something wrong.
When Krzyzewski told Rossi, longtime public relations director for the Franciscan Life Center, that his daughter’s house had burned to the ground on Sunday, Rossi figured there was no way the Hall of Fame coach would make the trip to the Aqua Turf Club on Tuesday evening.
And yet, there was Krzyzewski on Tuesday, signing autographs, posing for photos and sharing a podium with Jim Calhoun — a combined 2,122 wins, eight national titles and 17 Final Fours seated next to each other at the dais.
“He still came,” said Calhoun, a friend of Krzyzewski’s since they coached at Northeastern and Army, respectively. “That tells me more about him. I expect great things from a great man.”
Krzyzewski reported that no one was hurt in the fire, but “everything’s gutted” in the home and that his daughter, Debbie, and her family will be out of their home for at least a year. It was caused by a candle that was left on.
“The last few days have been painstaking,” he said.
But while Mickie stayed back in Durham, N.C. to be with her daughter, Krzyzewski honored his commitment and was presented with the Saint Francis Award for his commitment and dedication to Christian values and athletics at the banquet.
Coach K also accepted the Saint Clare Award on Mickie’s behalf.
“There was no way I wasn’t going to be here,” Krzyzewski said, before turning to Calhoun, “for the Franciscans, and for you. I’d have your back anytime, and I know you’d have mine.”
That may come as a surprise
to college basketball fans in general and UConn fans specifically, given the battles Coach K and Calhoun have had on the floor — Christian Laettner’s buzzerbeater in the 1990 Elite Eight, UConn’s first national championship with a win over Duke in 1999; the Huskies vanquishing Coach K’s Blue Devils again five years later, in the Final Four.
Heck, it evens goes back to when Krzyzewski coached Army and Calhoun Northeastern, when Calhoun’s bunch beat Army on a halfcourt, banked buzzer-beater by Perry Moss.
But the two Hall of Famers come from similar backgrounds, both “lifers in the game,” per Krzyzewski. And both have great respect for the Franciscan Life Center in Meriden, which Calhoun has supported since he arrived at UConn nearly 40 years ago, and which Krzyzewski was blown away by during a tour of the center on Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s amazing,” the former Duke coach said. “Everyone I was with today smiled ... when you’re with good people, it’s the best.”
Krzyzewski captivated the crowd of over 800 with a speech that mixed great humor and great compassion.
“A single word bonded all of us: Respect,” Krzyzewski said of Calhoun. “Although there’s one thing I found out today that was a little bit disconcerting. I thought we lost to you because of your coaching in 1999. I found out you brought four of the Franciscan nuns. That’s probably the best play you’ve called.”
He recalled advice his mother gave him just before he started coaching high school in innercity Chicago more than 60 years ago.
“Tomorrow, you’re going to start driving the bus,” Emily Krzyzewski said to young Mike. “If you only let good people on it, that bus will take you to places you would never be able to go alone. If you get on someone else’s bus, make sure that they’re good people.”
Three others were feted on Tuesday. Tim Tolokan, the former longtime UConn sports information director, earned the Dean of Sports Award. Tolokan was unable to attend the ceremony, however, due to health issues. Former UConn radio man Joe D’Ambrosio accepted the award in Tolkan’s absence.
William Ghio, a close friend of Calhoun who is currently battling cancer, earned the Jim Calhoun Community Service Award.
And Rossi, director of public relations for the Franciscan Life Center for 39 years, was presented with the Mother Shawn Appreciation Award for her work supporting the Franciscan sisters.
“Coach K and Coach Calhoun are successful for another reason: their wives,” Rossi pointed out during an emotional speech, referencing Pat Calhoun and Mickie. “They are amazing women, and without them, and with them, they have experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”
Kryzyewski retired from coaching last year after spending 47 years in college basketball, the final 42 at Duke. He is the winningest coach in men’s college basketball history with 1,202 wins, capturing five national championships and reaching 13 Final Fours. He was also named National Coach of the Year on eight different occasions.
And yet, Calhoun went 5-3 against him while the two were at UConn and Duke, respectively. And while Krzyzewski tops the all-time men’s college basketball coaching wins list and Calhoun is third at 920 (separated only by Jim Boeheim’s 998), Coach K recognizes that Calhoun bested him in at least one category.
“He’s the best program-builder ever, in the history of sports,” Krzyzewski said.
Once again, the respect was mutual.
“In my opinion, in this generation, he’s the most accomplished,” Calhoun said of K. “Yeah, he’s a great coach, a great husband, a great father, but he’s also certainly a great person.”
Jim Calhoun and Mike Krzyzewski, great coaches, great adversaries, great admirers of each other, together for a great night at Aqua Turf Club despite family tragedy just a couple of days earlier.
“In this day and age,” Coach K summed up, “having a night like this is stupendous.”