The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Calhoun enjoys Christmas in August
UNCASVILLE — Jim Calhoun sat in a courtside chair, legs crossed and one arm stretched to the side as he cradled a game program in his lap. He’d flip through a few pages before being greeted by Ray Allen.
This was the calm and relaxed Calhoun, the version Ed Nelson rarely used to see.
“He’s a character, that’s for sure,” said Ed Nelson, who played forward for Calhoun from 2004-06. “You’ve got to be mentally tough [to play for him]. You’ve got to challenge [yourself]. He also knows how to motivate, too. There were a lot of times where I might have been down and upset with certain situations, but he was really good at getting whatever he could out of you.”
The fire-breathing, spitballing version of Calhoun, who for 26 years made Nelson and countless other Huskies shake in their shoes, took Friday off. The Jim Calhoun Celebrity Classic at Mohegan Sun, which drew close to 50 former Huskies, brought out the more cordial version of the Hall of Fame coach.
“You guys have your Christmas in December, I have mine in August,” he’d tell the media.
Calhoun, 76, harkened back to his made-for-TV rants at one point, joking that if his new set of assistant coaches at Division-III University of St. Joseph were to see that side of him in photos, he’d probably
scare them away.
When asked if he sees new UConn men’s basketball coach Danny Hurley as a “young Jim Calhoun,” Calhoun referred to those photos.
“I don’t know because I don’t see myself,” he said. “I see pictures and I think, ‘Who is that guy?’ That’s what I hid from the assistants at St. Joe’s.”
Calhoun — who said he’s trying to lure former Trinity Catholic and UConn Rashamel Jones onto his staff — did not show that side to the 5,323 fans who watched the White team beat the Blue team 112-106 behind 15 points from Nelson. He was named MVP along with Kalana Greene.
“Not too many guys can have this kind of turnout,” said Rudy Gay, who played for Calhoun from 2004-06 before landing in the NBA.
They came from near and far to celebrate the 20th anniversary of this game. Nelson came from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he works as a brand manager for Bacardi. Charlie Villanueva came from Texas, where he owns a restaurant. Svetlana Abrosimova, a standout on the UConn women’s team from 19982001, came from Russia. She was adamant about participating in this year’s game after missing last year’s while she was pregnant with twin girls. And Kevin Freeman, who’s now an
assistant on the Penn State men’s basketball team, made sure to remind everyone where he was coming from.
“I love Happy Valley,” Freeman shouted.
This was a night to celebrate not only UConn, but Calhoun himself.
He was back in his element, only this time showing a softer side.
“For him, sitting at home on the coach, there’s only so many card games, so many apps you can download until you realize this is what you’re made of, this is what you are,” said Allen, joking that he’d tell Calhoun’s new players to “carry a towel” when sitting on the bench. “It doesn’t surprise me because I know he’s a competitor and he finds every opportunity throughout the day to figure out how to compete or to make somebody around him compete.”