NCAA writer Jim O’Connell dead at 64
NEWYORK » Few held court like Jim O’Connell. Whether you were Coach K, a TV analyst, a fellow sports writer or a fan, he had the same effect on everyone: In just a few minutes, he had you hooked, drawn into his colorful basketball world. And you were calling him Oc, too. O’Connell, the longtime college basketball writer for The Associated Press and a member of the Hall of Fame, has died. He was 64. He died Monday after a series of ailments, his son Andrew said. “He was a great man,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “He was a guy you looked forward to seeing. Always had a good word and a smile.” “He wrote sports, but he did it in a positive way, always. He was always good to players, coaches, fans — everybody,” he said. “He was a unique individual, always had a good word for everybody. Always.” And always told a tremendous story, often entertaining and educating AP co-workers in between bites of his nightly, welldone hamburgers and chocolate egg creams. He also was a fixture at college basketball games. TV analysts, other writers, fans, coaches and referees would gravitate toward a man with a long memory, Irish wit and perfect timing.
“You gotta hear the one about ...” he would start, and then everyone would stop and listen.
O’Connell — he signed his name Oc, pronounced it “Ock” — was a former president of the United States Basketball Writers Association and entered that organization’s Hall of Fame in 2002. The same year, he accepted the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame’s Curt Gowdy Award for his coverage of the sport.
O’Connell served as the AP’s national college basketball writer since 1987 and was a fixture at major events from the Final Four to the Big East Tournament to the Maui Invitational. “For more than 30 years at The Associated Press, Jim O’Connell represented the very best in sports journalism. His tireless and unparalleled coverage of college basketball elevated our entire sport,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We all owe Oc an incredible amount of gratitude for the way he handled himself, the way he covered our game and for the positive impact he had on so many,” he said. Oc covered the Dream Team at the Barcelona Olympics and worked as a desk supervisor, overseeing the entire sports operation for the world’s largest newsgathering organization. In 1982, Oc was the one who pushed the button that told the sports world that tiny Chaminade had beaten No. 1 Virginia and Ralph Sampson in Hawaii, still considered the greatest upset in college basketball history.
“He was the source on college basketball,” said Terry Taylor, the AP’s sports editor from 1992-2013. “He knew coaches, players, games, dates of games and final scores — all manner of factoids — off the top of his head. And when you looked it up, he was always right.”
He was a mentor to journalists in the AP and elsewhere. For decades, he coached young reporters in bureaus around the AP on how to cover a game, making sure the play-by-play, the NCAA Tournament implications and the star performances were all put into context.
O’Connell built deep relationships with colleagues, players, executives, referees and coaches, including fellow Hall of Famers Jim Calhoun, John Thompson and Lou Carnesecca.
“Oc and his wife, Annie, were great friends to my wife, Patty, and me when we moved to Long Island to take the job at Hofstra,” said Jay Wright, coach of current NCAA champion Villanova. “Oc is the most knowledgeable, ethical, humble college basketball expert ever. He is dependable as a friend and as writer.”