Sports Poets Society

By George Vecsey   The New York Times - Jan. 21, 2001 See the article in its original context from January 21, 2001, Section 8, Page 4 Buy Reprints View on timesmachine HE took exactly one shot in Madison Square Garden, although it was actually more of a chuck . A heave. A brick. An air ball, decades before the term was invented. Despite his lifetime 0-for-1 excursion into long-range gunnery, his number will be hung from the rafters. And what a number it is, three full digits' worth -- 526, the number of games won by St. John's University during the regime of Lou Carnesecca. The St. John's jersey will be unveiled during the Connecticut game on Jan. 30, and Looie, now 76, will no doubt recall the old barn farther up on Eighth Avenue, where he made his one mad fling for glory. ''I did play one game in the old Garden,'' he said recently. ''I was a terrible player. But I always wanted to be a coach. I was coaching little kids in the neighborhood, so they

Former St. Johns Red Storm head basketball coach Lou Carnesecca attends the press conference naming Rick Pitino as the team's new head coach, at Madison Square Garden in New York,  on March 21, 2023. Porter Binks/Getty Images https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/01/sport/lou-carnesecca-obit/index.html By Associated Press Sun December 1, 2024 New York (AP) – Lou Carnesecca, the excitable St. John’s coach whose outlandish sweaters became an emblem of his team’s dazzling Final Four run in 1985, has died at 99, just a few weeks shy of what would have been his 100th birthday. The university said it was notified by a family member that Carnesecca died in a hospital on Saturday surrounded by his family. St. John’s said Carnesecca “endeared himself to generations of New Yorkers with his wit and warmth.” Carnesecca was a treasured figure in New York sports in his day, affection for “Looie” never wavering in a city with little patience for its players, coaches, executives and owners. He coached S

Lou Carnesecca was raised by jubilant St. John’s players after they beat  Boston  College 85-77  in the Big East Championship at Madison Square Garden in 1983. Credit...G. Paul Burnett/Associated Press https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/30/sports/basketball/lou-carnesecca-dead.html Known for his quick wit and garish sweaters, he took the New York City university to national basketball prominence over 24 seasons. By Richard Goldstein Published Nov. 30, 2024Updated Dec. 1, 2024, 1:12 a.m. ET Lou Carnesecca, the Hall of Fame coach who took St. John’s University to national basketball prominence and who was known for his quick wit and colorful courtside persona, died on Saturday. He was 99. His death was confirmed by Brian Browne, a spokesman for the university , who provided no other details. When Carnesecca took over as the St. John’s head coach in 1965 , the university, while rich in basketball tradition, played as an independent . It had begun a gradual move to the Jamaica section of Quee

(Top photo of Lou Carnesecca and his players at the 1983 Big East Tournament: Andy Hayt / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5959323/2024/12/01/lou-carnesecca-death-st-johns/ By Dana O'Neil Lou Carnesecca, the charismatic basketball coach who brought St. John’s to national prominence and became one of the faces of the Big East’s golden era, died Saturday at age 99. St. John’s confirmed the Hall of Fame coach’s death Saturday night . The school did not provide details on the cause of his death. Carnesecca won 526 games and lost just 200 in his 24 years at St. John’s, leading the team to 18 NCAA Tournaments and the 1985 Final Four . He looked like everybody’s favorite uncle, a pocket-sized man in a world full of giants, shuffling about in his ugly sweaters . Lovable “Looie,” the king of one-liners and the maestro of the run-on sentence, charmed them all, and as it turns out, snookered them all. “ Looie ? Please, he’d start the game with a, ‘Bless yo

https://vault.si.com/vault/1969/01/27/a-new-mr-bones-has-a-winner ARCHIVES CLASSIC GALLERIES JUMPIER THAN A MINSTREL END MAN, ST. JOHN'S COACH LOU CARNESECCA IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF HIS TEAM, WHICH PLAYS A COOL AND COLLECTED GAME CURRY KIRKPATRICK TABLE OF CONTENTS ORIGINAL LAYOUT Lou Carnesecca has a face that was-not so much molded as anvilled. Everything there is sharp and craggy, much like the Apennine cliffs of Tuscany, from which his people came. Sober and often frowning, the face was marked in youth by too much dirt in street games, too much spaghetti sauce at dinner, but it can light up— paesano! —very easily, too. Well weathered at 44, Carnesecca is a product of New York City sidewalks, and he has seen both sides of the coin. Way back he sliced the cold cuts and cheese in papa's East Side delicatessen before sneaking out to play stoopball under the 59th Street bridge, basketball up the block, and steal the flag, jump the hydrant and dodge the car anywhere he could. T

Alors que les Lillois sont invaincus depuis douze matches, pas sûr que Bruno Genesio soit tenté de procéder à plusieurs changements pour concerner son groupe et gérer les temps de jeu respectifs. 1 Dec 2024 - L'Équipe JOËL DOMENIGHETTI DE NOTRE ENVOYÉ SPÉCIAL PERMANENT Peuvent-ils durer sans tourner? CAMPHIN-EN-PEVELE (NORD) – À Montpellier, Lille aborde cet après-midi son 22e match de la saison, au moins quatre de plus que ses concurrents hexagonaux. Voilà pourtant deux mois et demi que le LOSC n’a plus perdu (0-2 sur le terrain du Sporting Portugal, le 17 septembre en Ligue des champions). Or, de nombreux joueursontététouchésdanscette période par les blessures, jusqu’à dix au moment d’affronter la Juventus Turin (1-1, le 5novembre). L’idée du déplacement dans l’Hérault – avec un groupe redevenu plus consistant depuis Rennes (1-0, 24novembre) – est d’éviter le piège du relâchement après le succès à Bologne mercredi en C1 (2-1).Les cadres lillois, ici Aïssa Mandi, Bafodé Diakité, A

Sono passati quasi trent’anni da quando il leader del nuovo Sudafrica convocò gli Springboks per iniziare la costruzione della Nazione arcobaleno da lì: neri, bianchi, coloured insieme...  Poco ha funzionato, tranne proprio la squadra di rugby 1 Dec 2024 - Corriere della Sera - La Lettura Di DOMENICO CALCAGNO © RIPRODUZIONE RISERVATA Ventinove anni fa, Nelson Mandela convocò nel suo ufficio alle Union Buildings, a Pretoria, François Pienaar, capitano degli Springboks  che stavano preparando la loro prima Coppa del Mondo di rugby. Il neo presidente del Sudafrica spiegò a Pienaar perché sarebbe stato importante vincere e in sostanza chiese al giocatore di dargli una mano per realizzare il piano che aveva elaborato. Mandela aveva scelto gli Springboks per iniziare la costruzione della Nazione arcobaleno , convinto che lo sport avesse la forza di unire le persone. « One team, one Country » era la parola d’ordine, e puntare sugli Springboks, la squadra dei bianchi, contro la quale tutti i