Lyman Hall gathers to honor Nick Economopoulos

WALLINGFORD — They were introduced by decade and each woman walked to center court. The 1970s.

The 1980s. The 1990s. Finally, the 2000s. The players, coaches, managers grew younger with each group, but all were tied by their love of Lyman Hall basketball. They all were ballers.

They were there, too, to pay tribute to Nick Economopoulos, the marvel of a man who died last May at age 72. Few have made as big an impact on girls basketball in Connecticut.

He coached two decades at Lyman Hall and 35 years in all including East Catholic and Coginchaug. He won 619 games. He won two states titles each with Lyman Hall in 1985 and 1986 and East Catholic in 2002 and 2004 and went to seven state finals.

Along with Joe Ticotsky, he founded the AAU Connecticut Starters, still in existence today, that has boasted the likes of Jen Rizzotti, Nykesha Sales, Marci Glenney and Maria Conlon. He was the first chairman of AAU girls basketball in the state and helped build it from 150 girls into the thousands. He was the force behind bringing the national AAU tournament that featured the likes of Sue Bird and Kara Lawson to Hartford.

“He made an imprint on so many eras in Connecticut,” said Ticotsky.

“He changed women’s basketball in our state,” said Lyman Hall coach Christie Madansky, Nick’s daughter. “He created what I got to experience, what my daughter now gets to experience. So many players across the state. I’m so proud of him.”

So there they were, nearly 50 women and a few former male coaches standing at center court Friday night at halftime of Lyman Hall’s 56-22 SCC crossover victory against Wilbur Cross. Smiling. Waving. Posing for photos.

It was billed as an alumni night, but just as importantly the current Lyman Hall team remained there standing and cheering for the former players.

With a 50-50 raffle and raffle for gift baskets, the night also marked the kickoff for a scholarship fund in Nick’s memory. It will go to the Lyman Hall senior who best epitomizes Economopoulos’ values.

“It’s a really emotional night for me,” Madancy said. “It was a small idea I had when I first got the job about trying to get alumni here and get a scholarship going, but the turnout we had exceeded all expectations.

“I talked to the team about how there were women here tonight who played in the ’70s and were

fighting for women’s sports and that they needed to take in the history of this and appreciate they came back to see them play. They built this program.”

Madancy’s daughter Ellie, Nick’s grandchild, is the starting freshman point guard for Lyman Hall. On the bench is assistant coach Shamika Jackson, twotime state player of the year on Economopoulos’ East Catholic state champs. In more than one way, this night was one of family.

Madancy, who played for her dad at Lyman Hall, had been an assistant and interim coach at University of New Haven before coaching Sheehan from 2001-2006 and then becoming Sheehan’s athletic director. She served as an assistant at Lyman Hall last season and, with her dad’s passing, the time was ripe for her to take over the seat Nick once occupied.

“He meant the world to me, the world,” Madancy said. “He taught me everything I know when it comes to basketball. He was a great father. He was a great grandfather. I miss him every day. I can’t tell you how many times I want to call him to talk strategy, to talk anything.

“As much as people know him through basketball, my father had a huge heart. He helped people all the time.”

Madancy, who played in the early ’90s for her dad, looked around the gym. She said Nick used to bring guys in to practice against the girls to teach them the physicality of the game.

“He had this theory, he didn’t care it was girls’ basketball,” she said. “It was basketball. He was going to teach them the game the right way fundamentally to understand what they were doing. And they were going to play hard.”

Christie keeps a seat at the end of the bench for her dad. Her brother, Jimmy, who coached Hand to the Division III state championship last season, has a seat on the bench for him, too.

“That’s where he would always end up,” Christie said. “He’d show up out of nowhere, which was amazing considering how big he was. He’d disappear out of nowhere, too.

“I coached little fourth graders and they’d go, ‘Coach, there’s a guy sitting at the end of the bench.’ I’d say, ‘Don’t worry it’s just my dad.’”

This much you can say about Ellie Madancy. Beyond her obvious ball-handling abilities and court sense, no one appears to have more fun playing. She hit three 3s on this night. Smiled. She missed connections on a pass. Smiled. She threw up an air ball. Smiled anyway.

“I love basketball,” Ellie, 15, said.

As a fifth grader she played on a seventh-grade team for her grandpa, who played football and baseball at Central Connecticut.

“He had a hard shell on the outside, but he definitely was a softy inside,” Ellie said. “I look up to him a lot of as a player. He taught me everything, the fundamentals.

He was always supportive, even when he screamed at me in in the middle of a game. When we got home, he’d go, ‘You played good though. You played good.’

“He definitely influenced a lot of women and where they are today. It means a lot to me to know he had that kind of impact.”

Jackson admitted she felt like jumping into line when the former players who had played for Economopoulos were introduced. But, no, this was Lyman Hall alumni night.

“There aren’t enough words to put into what he means,” said Jackson, who went on to play at Boston College and Southern Connecticut after East Catholic. “His presence, the things he did, the big heart he had, he was more than a coach. The impact he had is pretty evident tonight.

“The family atmosphere that Coach Eco created was the No. 1 thing. From Day One, it wasn’t anything fake. It was organic. We take care of her own. And it wasn’t just kids who won state titles or went on to play in college, it was the impact he made on so many to be a better person.”

A physical education teacher in Middletown, this is Jackson’s first year with Lyman Hall. It’s not coincidental.

“It comes back full circle,” Jackson said. “I was on board with what they wanted to do, the timing and opportunity was perfect.

“Coach Eco’s presence is missed, but his legacy goes on through his kids and his grandkids.”

And the scholarship, Christie and Nick’s wife Sue, created.Jackson said she was thinking the other day how Economopoulos would do something outrageous and out of the blue to lighten the mood.

“To bring a smile to our faces, whether it was after a tough loss,” Jackson. “We’d come to the next practice, and he walked out in an Allen Iverson jersey and a head band on, playing music, dribbling the ball. He was a rare breed.”

When the AAU Starters began in 1988, Lyman Hall was a state power. After losing to the Trojans, Ticotsky said, a lot of kids didn’t start out as Coach Eco fans.

“Then they started playing for him in the summer,” Ticotsky said. “And they were like, ‘I didn’t realize what a great coach and nice guy he was.’ A lot of older coaches get stuck in their ways. He adapted to the times. And he did so many things for other people.”

When Economopoulos’ name is introduced into a conversation one of the first reactions is a laugh or smile.

“He was fiery as a competitor, but he was the funniest guy,” Ticotsky said. “When he passed, people would come up to me and say, ‘I’m so sorry. I know he was your best friend.’ Nick probably had 25 best friends.

“I had people come down from Canada once and two days after they met him, they were telling me, ‘This guy Nick is great, he’s unbelievable.’”

Yes, he is.