Skip Prosser's death

[TheBeagle]

(Ziggy, I know this post belongs on the NCAA page, but how about leaving this here a day or two so it can't get more coverage, please.)

For those of you not living in or around Winston-Salem, NC, there was a tragic death that occurred today. The head coach of Wake Forest University's basketball team, Skip Prosser died around 11am on Thursday from an apparent heart attack. I'm not a grad, nor a fan of WFU, but Skip and I have mutual friends, so I got to know about the man, how special he is, and how much he will be missed by a multitude of people.

Here's an anecdote about the kind of person that Skip is:

Our mutual friends let him know that I (being a Tarheel) had incredible mid-court seats for the UNC/WFU game at Lawrence Joel in 2005. I was informed that he joked about it and said he would let me get through the turnstiles and keep my seats so long as I didn't wear anything Carolina-related. I wasn't planning on doing that anyway, so I showed up to the game with an innocuous grey longsleeved t-shirt. During warmups, I was standing up looking at the players and waiting to see if Skip would look my way, which he finally did. I pointed to my shirt and threw up my hands as if to indicate 'Does this meet your approval?' He smiled (while still chewing his gum) and gave me a thumbs-up. As it turns out Wake beat us because they never missed a damn free-throw (broke an ACC or maybe even an NCAA record for most consecutive free throws made), but knowing that the coach for the opposing team is such a class guy, it took the sting off ( at least a little bit).

It was a tough day for a lot of folks in Winston-Salem, Wake fans or not, so I just thought I'd give Skip a nod of the head for a job well-done, and hope to enlighten you guys who live outisde of the area, who may have caught a brief byline about Wake Forest's coach dying, that this was a really good guy and basketball, in general, is the worse off without him.

[tamburello]

Good story. It's sad to lose people when they're still capable of doing something positive. RIP.

Hmm. wikipedia says that he was the only one to bring 3 different teams to NCAA Tournament in his first season(Loyola in Maryland, Xavier, Wake Forest)

[ziggy]

From everything that I've read, he was really a great guy.

My prayers are with his family, friends and team.

[Jonathanmartin7]

I'm shocked at this loss. So sorry for the wake fans and his family.

[dvdbumpus]

Wow, just wow. That's shocking. I hope we do a tribute to him at the first home game.

[ALong13]

I've been on a cruise for the last week, so I had no chance to see this, and when I got home I saw it in the paper, and well was shocked. I'm not a Wake Forest Fan one bit, but you don't wish death on no one, he was a great coach that took some not-so talented team of Wake Forest and made them good. It was a sad loss to Wake Forest, the ACC, and the NCAA as they lost a truly good coach...

R.I.P. Skip Prosser

My prayers are with his family, his friends, his team, and everyone who appreciated him.