The college basketball world lost a great one over the weekend when news of legendary St. John’s University coach Lou Carnesecca’s passing made the rounds.
By all accounts, the three-time Big East Coach of the Year was an even better man than he was basketball coach. And Michael Wilbon, longtime co-host of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, was able to add a little color to the life and legacy of Coach Carnesecca on Monday’s episode of The Tony Kornheiser Show.
“I don’t think that I ever met a nicer man than Louie Carnesecca. In the whole sports world, this whole time I’ve been covering the industry, and it’s been 45 years,” Wilbon began.
“I was at St. John’s, maybe, you know, it was like right about now, doing a story on Chris Mullin before the big Georgetown-St. John’s game. The first of the three in 1985. …I went to Jamaica Queens, St. John’s campus, and while I was there…it starts snowing. It was one of those deals where it looked like Denver. It was snowing like three inches an hour. And it’s fairly early in the day, but I’m not going to make a flight that’s gonna get me out of LaGuardia. I’m gonna get stuck in New York. I have no luggage, I have no clothing. I just went up to talk to Chris Mullin and come back on the shuttle.
“So it’s snowing. Desperately, I call a taxi. How about a taxi coming to Jamaica Queens in 1985? You like my odds on that one?” Wilbon asked jokingly. “No,” Kornheiser replied.
“So I’m waiting outside now for this taxi to come. And Louie, Coach Carnesecca walks out, and the snow is falling on my head, with an afro then. And he says, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing?’ And I said, ‘Coach, I’m waiting for a taxi to go to LaGuardia.’ ‘What? What? A taxi. It’s snowing. You see it’s snowing?’ And I go, ‘Yes, I have no other way. I have no rental car, I gotta get there.’ And he says, ‘Hold on. Hold on. Don’t go anywhere, hold on.’ And then, within a minute or so, a car pulls around. And I don’t remember whether Louie was driving or the late great Katha Quinn…the sports information director at St. John’s who was Louie’s right hand then in the ’80s…but they drove me to the Delta shuttle. And by about two minutes, after about an hour and a half in a car in snow, I make the last shuttle home to Washington, compliments of coach Lou Carnesecca.”
It’s always fascinating to hear of instances where athletes and coaches help journalists, outside of answering a question at a press conference or giving an interview. Some athletes and coaches hold adversarial relationships with journalists. Carnesecca clearly did not.
This was also early in Wilbon’s career, when he wasn’t the nationally recognized figure he is today. At just 27 years-old, he only had a few years at the Washington Post under his belt. Carnesecca didn’t need to help Wilbon, but he did anyway.
Clearly, the moment stuck with Wilbon and shaped his perspective on Carnesecca’s character. And based on the outpouring of similar sentiments from those in sports media over the weekend, Wilbon isn’t alone.
