St. John's honors Lou Carnesecca, legendary basketball coach, with billboards on LIE and other major roadways
St. John's has placed billboards on major roadways in the New York/New Jersey area to honor long-time basketball coach Lou Carnesecca. Credit: St. John's University
Sitting in New York traffic just got a little more interesting.
In its efforts to pay homage to legendary basketball coach and New York icon Lou Carnesecca, St. John’s University has outfitted a number of electronic billboards along the area’s most-traveled highways with photos of him and some of his pearls of wisdom. Their presence has ignited very positive responses from the Red Storm fan base, which has taken to social media with its photographs and praise.
The most prominent billboard may be one near Citi Field, where the Grand Central Parkway and the Whitestone Expressway intersect. Others are located in New Jersey, at the helix curve entering the Lincoln Tunnel, the junction of I-80 and Route 17 and on the New Jersey Turnpike near Newark. St. John’s also has video billboards posted on the Long Island Expressway in Queens near the campus.
One of Carnesecca’s wise sayings that is displayed on some billboards reads: “One day in New York is more of an education than one month in any other city . . . You make it here and you can make it anywhere.”
Carnesecca’s funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Friday at the St. Thomas More Church on the St. John’s campus in Queens, which will be followed by a private burial.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.