NEW YORK (AP) — Lou Carnesecca, the excitable St. John’s coach whose outlandish sweaters turned an emblem of his crew’s rousing Closing 4 run in 1985, has died at 99, just some weeks shy of what would have been his one centesimal birthday.
The college mentioned it was notified by a member of the family that Carnesecca died in a hospital on Saturday surrounded by his household. St. John’s mentioned the Corridor of Fame coach “endeared himself to generations of New Yorkers along with his wit and heat.”
Carnesecca was a treasured determine in New York sports activities in his day, affection for “Little Looie” by no means wavering in a metropolis with scant persistence for its gamers, coaches, executives and house owners.
He coached St. John’s for twenty-four seasons over two stints — making a postseason event every year — and have become the face of a college whose campus area in Queens would finally carry his title. A statue of him was unveiled earlier than the 2021-22 season. When requested as soon as in a question-and-answer session with the varsity to explain St. John’s, Carnesecca mentioned: “house.”
It was house the place he coached St. John’s to 18 seasons of a minimum of 20 wins, and 18 NCAA Event appearances. It was house the place he completed with a 526-200 report and had 30-win seasons in 1985 and 1986. And it was house the place St. John’s turned a constitution member of the Huge East Convention and a pillar of its success.
He was the coach of the 12 months 3 times in a league that started play in 1979 and rapidly asserted itself as one of many nation’s greatest. Amongst his star gamers throughout these early Huge East years had been Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson and Walter Berry.
Carnesecca coached St. John’s to the NIT title in 1989, though by then the event had lengthy been a poor cousin to the NCAAs. He entered the Basketball Corridor of Fame in 1992, the 12 months he retired.
“I by no means scored a basket,” he mentioned at his induction, forgoing a sweater for a crisp go well with. “The gamers did every part. With out gamers, you possibly can’t have a recreation.”
He was an old-school coach, grounded in fundamentals. And thru all of it, Carnesecca was a swirling, kinetic presence on the sidelines, arms flailing, legs kicking, shirt tails flying, all 5-foot-6 of him curled in exasperation over a missed shot or agonizing name. However his antics by no means crossed the road into chair-throwing fury.
Carnesecca was merely consumed by his gamers, a love for a recreation in his marrow, a lifetime spent in schoolyards, beat-up gyms and big-time arenas. He beloved the “odor of the sweat” and the “really feel of rubber burning” when sneakers met a varnished flooring.
He remained the consummate gentleman in a sport populated by outsized egos, fierce recruiting wars and a relentless pursuit of the following contract. Mike Tranghese, a former Huge East commissioner, as soon as known as him “our soul and our conscience” and “one of many giants of the sport.”
Carnesecca by no means took himself too famously. He all the time believed a tough loss ought to by no means get in the best way of a glass of Chianti and fettuccini with a Bolognese sauce. He held clinics all around the world, making pals, providing toasts wherever he went. He was there with a sort phrase in addition to a wisecrack in his breathy, raspy voice. His household tree could have gone again to Tuscany, however he might maintain his personal with one of the best of Borscht Belt comics.
“I don’t know if there’s anyone else in teaching like him,” longtime UConn coach Jim Calhoun as soon as instructed the Hartford Courant. “Even when individuals hate the Huge East no person hates Looie. If you happen to like basketball, you want Looie. If you happen to like youngsters, you want Looie.”
Luigi P. Carnesecca was born on Jan. 5, 1925, the son of Italian immigrants. He grew up in Manhattan, in East Harlem, residing above the grocery retailer and deli owned by his father. He took his heritage severely, rooting for such New York Yankees as Tony Lazzeri and Joe DiMaggio.
After a stretch within the Coast Guard throughout World Warfare II, he turned the coach at his highschool — now the longtime basketball energy Archbishop Molloy. In 1958, he took an assistant’s job at St. John’s, his alma mater, the place he had performed baseball on a crew that reached the 1949 Faculty World Sequence, however not varsity basketball.
He labored for eight seasons underneath Joe Lapchick, the teachings about humility and onerous work from the Corridor of Fame coach lasting a lifetime. Carnesecca would later move alongside to Mullin some recommendation he bought from Lapchick: “A peacock right now, a feather duster tomorrow.”
“I discovered extra when Coach Lapchick cleared his throat than I might have at any clinic,” Carnesecca mentioned.
He succeeded Lapchick in 1965, the 20-win seasons piling up rapidly. However after 5 years, Carnesecca was not proof against the siren music of the professionals. He coached the New York Nets of the American Basketball Affiliation for 3 years, Rick Barry amongst his gamers.
Years later, throughout a 1982-83 season during which his St. John’s crew would end 28-5, Carnesecca mirrored on the stress of faculty teaching and his time within the ABA.
“I misplaced 50 video games teaching professionally — that was stress,” he mentioned. “I didn’t really feel like getting off the bed. My mom might coach this crew.”
His keep within the execs didn’t final lengthy. Carnesecca knew that was not his pure habitat. He mentioned he might give the identical halftime speech solely so many instances. He returned to St. John’s in 1973.
Successful seasons adopted in fast succession regardless that his metropolis was not the recruiting magnet of generations previous. Prime highschool gamers migrated south and west to campuses with gleaming arenas and didn’t want the industrial pull of New York to burnish their model.
When requested why he didn’t increase his base in his search of gamers and enterprise past his metropolis’s 5 boroughs, Carnesecca knew he had loads of expertise in his neighborhood. He took a subway token — now a relic from bygone generations — out of his pocket.
“That’s my recruiting finances,” he mentioned.
By the 1984-85 season, Carnesecca and St. John’s captivated New York, a throwback to a time when faculties like Metropolis Faculty and NYU mattered not solely within the Huge Apple however throughout faculty basketball. The Redmen — their nickname years later modified to the Purple Storm — performed powerful, pulsating video games at a packed Madison Sq. Backyard in opposition to Syracuse groups coached by Jim Boeheim, Villanova groups coached by Rollie Massimino and Georgetown groups coached by John Thompson and led by Patrick Ewing.
It was then the saga of The Sweater took maintain. Through the years, Carnesecca would recount his baffling entry into the world of style again and again like an embellished household story.
Primarily, St. John’s was preparing for a street journey to Pittsburgh in January and Carnesecca was underneath the climate. The constructing could be drafty, and his spouse thought it will be good if he wore a sweater. He discovered one which had been given to him by an Italian basketball coach. It was a brown pullover with broad turquoise stripes. It by no means made it into the pages of GQ.
“It’s ugly, isn’t it?” Carnesecca mentioned.
Irrespective of. Mullin hit a profitable shot on the buzzer, and the coach had his fortunate attraction. He caught with the sweater. Alongside the best way, St. John’s ended Georgetown’s 29-game profitable streak and soared to a No. 1 rating.
However there have been additionally two lopsided losses to Georgetown throughout the 16-2 run with the sweater. He put it away, his luck exhausted with the pullover. He then went with a tan, snowflake quantity for the NCAA Event. St. John’s defeated Southern, Arkansas and Kentucky earlier than a victory over North Carolina State within the West Regional remaining despatched Carnesecca to the Closing 4.
“Once I’m going to my grave,” he mentioned, “this I’ll bear in mind.”
St. John’s headed to Lexington, Kentucky, together with two Huge East compatriots — Georgetown and Villanova — and Memphis. St. John’s caught with Georgetown within the semifinals, down 32-28 at halftime. However the Hoyas pulled away to win 77-59, holding Mullin to eight factors.
“I feel we tried every part,” Carnesecca mentioned of Georgetown, which bought upset by Villanova in a single the game’s nice finals.
After he retired, Carnesecca was succeeded by a parade of coaches at St. John’s, Mullin amongst them. Even into his 90s, some three a long time out of teaching, Carnesecca would make his technique to The Backyard when the Purple Storm had been there. His gait could have been tentative however his thoughts and wit nimble, the gang roaring when the jumbo display screen panned in on him. The coach was at house.
“It’s going to be very troublesome to place the ball down, however the time has come,” he mentioned at his retirement when he was 67. “There are two causes, actually. I nonetheless have half of my marbles and I nonetheless have a beautiful style in my mouth about basketball.”
The varsity mentioned Carnesecca leaves behind his spouse of 73 years, Mary, in addition to daughter Enes and son-in-law Gerard, a granddaughter, and a niece and nephew along with prolonged household.
This story corrects Carnesecca’s report at St. John’s within the fifth paragraph.
Fred Lief, a retired Related Press sports activities author, was the principal author of this obituary. Former AP Sports activities Author Paul Montella contributed to this report.
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