ONE OF A KIND

Kevin Cadle – basketball coach and television presenter. Born, Buffalo, New York: 17 March, 1955. Died, London: 16 October, 2017, aged 62

Kevin Cadle, who has died suddenly, aged 62, following a short illness, was dubbed “the Alex Ferguson of British basketball”, because, like “Fergie’s Furies” his teams successfully played a high-tempo, high-scoring game which entertained.

There had been American coaches in the UK before Cadle arrived in 1983, but none made the impact this gregarious young man from Buffalo in New York State made as he set out to become the “winningest” coach in British basketball history. And none hung around as long to build a genuine legacy within the game.

Although he was a sufficiently-good high school player to win a basketball scholarship to Penn State University, in the elite Big Ten Conference – which made him a very good player indeed – Kevin Cadle’s first love was American football, hardly surprising since he lived across the road from the Buffalo Bills’ War Memorial Stadium, where the Bills played their home NFL games. And he would return to the gridiron game after basketball, but, that was some way ahead.

Graduating from Penn State, he wasn’t offered a professional basketball contract, far less his chance in the NBA, so, he began his coaching career in Texas, first with Texas A&M University, and later with Angelo State, in San Angelo. He was still very much a tyro coach when, in 1983, aged only 28, he arrived in Scotland, as the new coach of Team Solripe, based at Falkirk’s Coasters Arena, as the town’s old ice rink had become.

He had only been in Europe once before, on a university trip to communist Poland. He had been so disconcerted with the empty shelves in shops, he feared Scotland might be similarly poverty-stricken, arriving with some essentials such as toilet rolls, he feared might not be available here.

Scottish basketball was unprepared for the Cadle effect. At that time David Murray’s MIM ruled the roost, they were considered unbeatable domestically, and regularly beat the top English teams in tournaments. Cadle was unimpressed when, in a preseason tournament, his players celebrated only losing by a single-figure score to MIM.

He tore into them in the dressing room. His motto was: “Never accept good over best” and he only wanted the best from his team. Solripe ended MIM’S dominance when they beat them in an epic Scottish Cup Final.

One of his star players at Falkirk, “Pastille Man” Bobby Kinzer, so-called from his starring role in a Rowntrees TV advertisement, said of his old coach, mentor and friend in a facebook tribute: “There will be no other like KC. Witty, funny, passionate, extraordinary, and loved to interact with people! Farewell to a true Warrior and a Great Friend. Not just of mine but of so many!”

Cadle’s success at Falkirk attracted the big-money English clubs. He went south to Manchester Giants, then on to Kingston, but, when that club his financial trouble, it was bought by Rangers’ chairman David Holmes, a Falkirk man who had enjoyed his nights at Coasters and wanted to turn Rangers into a multi-sports club. He brought Cadle and Kingston back to Coasters as Rangers BC. Jim Morrison captained the team during that rollicking season in which Rangers went head-to-head with MIM for the major British titles, and won two to MIM’S one. He said: “He was the best coach I played under, he totally changed my game and my attitude. But, he became a friend, he kept in touch, with unexpected ‘phone calls to see how I was doing. He was definitely one of the good guys.”

Even rivals became friends and admirers. Alton Byrd was Mr MIM when Cadle arrived to rock the boat, that rivalry was fierce, but, later, when Cadle signed him for Kingston, they became great friends. Byrd said on facebook: “Kevin was all you could want in a coach and a friend. Our teams competed against each other in Scotland. And then I was offered the opportunity to play for him at Kingston and Guilford. Those record-setting teams were the embodiment of Kevin’s personality. Tough, smart, connected, and focused. Winners.”

His record at club level in the UK is awesome – won 379, lost 79 – there are no draws in basketball. He was the first man to coach a British club to the knock-out stages of the European Cup. His record of 30 trophy wins may never be broken. Also, he proved his credentials in the international arena. He coached both Scotland and England internationally and took Team GB as close as they have ever come to Olympic Games qualification in 1992.

Then, in 1998, having been there, done it and got a closet full of tee-shirts and DVDS, he quit coaching London Towers for the uncertain world of television punditry. He was a natural on-screen, or on radio, so he switched seamlessly to become SKY TV’S face of American sport. Of course, he excelled in basketball, but it was his return to his first love, gridiron which brought the best out of KC.

It mattered little that he saw everything from a Buffalo Bills perspective. He knew his stuff, he could put it across, and, as an interviewer, he had that rare gift of getting his subjects, including some of the biggest names in American sport, to open up to him and create TV gold.

His television work led him to motivational speaking, and, here again, he triumphed. He wrote a well-received autobiography, ghosted by Paul New, whom he had first met when Paul was Sports Editor of the Falkirk Herald, when Cadle arrived there in 1983 – theirs was a lasting friendship.

In a heart-felt tribute in his old paper, New said: “That was the true warrior spirit coming out in Kevin, and it was this fierce competitive streak which enabled him to turn Falkirk from also-rans into, albeit briefly, the No.1 team in Scottish basketball, toppling MIM whose dominance had been unchallenged for years.

“Itwasoveralmostassoonas it had begun, with Kevin only staying with Falkirk for two years. But what a glorious roller-coaster ride for the legions of Falkirk fans!

Yet Kevin’s success with Falkirk really was just the tip of the iceberg.”

Kevin Cadle is survived by wife Lorraine, and Toia, his daughter from a previous relationship. MATTHEW VALLANCE The Scotsman welcomes obituaries and appreciations from contributors as well as suggestions of possible obituary subjects. Please contact: Gazette Editor n The Scotsman, Level 7, Orchard Brae House, 30 Queensferry Road, Edinburgh EH4 2HS; n gazette@scotsman.com

“There will be no other like KC. Witty, funny, passionate, extraordinary, and loved to interact with people”