Tribute to Coach Hank Raymonds

Raise your hand if you know about Coach Hank Raymonds.  UNC plays Marquette tonight, March 25, 2011 for the right to advance to the elite eight in the NCAA basketball tourney. Some Carolina fans are lamenting the Heels' loss to the Al McGuire led Marquette Warriors in the 1977 NCAA title game.  I'm from North Carolina and attended grad school at UNC. I will be rooting for UNC because I've always respected their program. I wasn't a Carolina fan when I was young. First and foremost, I was a fan of my father's teams at Winston-Salem State University; but since that's a small, predominantly black college in NC, it wasn't on the radar of most basketball fans in North Carolina when I was growing up, let alone the country.  ACC basketball is THE SPORT in NC.  Since I like to go against the grain, my favorite ACC team when I growing up was the University of Maryland, but that's a story for another day.

Today is a great time to introduce readers of this post to Hank Raymonds.  Raymonds was Al McGuire's long time assistant and took over as head coach and athletic director after McGuire left the coaching profession in 1977. I came across this wonderful article, "Hank," on Coach Raymonds in November, 2010, a month before he died.  Hank is what college athletics were about and should be about today. The article is great, but the comments section is on another level. Coach Raymonds touched the lives of so many people, and they return their love to him in an outpouring of words that are heartfelt and moving.  I've chosen to highlight two posts that touched me.  The first is a prayer that Bob Weber wanted Hank Raymonds to read when he was battling cancer:

"Lord God, You alone are the great Healer, when my mind and body are weak, I look to you for strength and reassurance. Surround me each day with the peace of Your love and compassion. Quiet my spirit so that I may know Your goodness and be filled with Your peace. Heal me, Lord, according to Your plan for my life. I make this prayer through Jesus Christ, my Lord."



Marquette Alumnus and Tony Award winner Tony Crivello (Kiss of the Spiderwoman) had these thoughts on Coach Raymond:

"You will forever be an icon to so many of us Hank. I will always be a Marquette "Warrior" because of you. I had the intimate pleasure of watching you at courtside... as a cheerleader during those Championship years. You gave us dignity and left us Champions. We will always return same... in your name. You have no idea how touched you touched so many of us. I always found you to be a gentleman Coach Hank. You handled yourself and others with respect and caring. I have observed this first hand. And you always did it with a smile and laugh. Indeed, you are the 'soul' of Marquette' basketball. Love, prayers, peace, strength..."

The story on "Hank" is worth your time. Here's his obituary. Tonight, those who have a rooting interest in the game will be cheering hard for either UNC and Marquette. I hope to see a great game, but will also be thinking of you Coach Raymond. I never met you, but I appreciate the lessons that I've learned from those who loved you. I celebrate you, your life and your legacy.