Lou Carnesecca funeral brings St. John's family together to mourn and remember
Lou Carnesecca, as it turned out, was a great draw to the very end.
The Hall of Fame basketball coach was celebrated in a funeral Mass on Friday at the cozy St. Thomas More church on the St. John’s campus, and people came out from all over.
There were generations of former Red Storm players — many who didn’t even play during his 24 seasons at the helm of the St. John’s program — as well as rival coaches, family members, school administrators and longtime friends.
And while his basketball career was the canvas for the day, the words and stories all of them told about Carnesecca, who died last Saturday at the age of 99, painted more a picture of a man who will be remembered for the example he set, the life lessons he taught and the important role he played in their lives.
Chris Mullin, perhaps the program’s most iconic star, described a person who preached fundamentals in everything, not just basketball.
“That’s how he coached and that’s how he lived,” Mullin said. “When you do that, when you stick to the fundamentals, you win. And he’s the ultimate winner. That’s why there’s so many people from all walks of life and every decade [here] — because we love him. He gave people that respect and people respected him. That’s the ultimate way you live your life for anyone here.”
“He did a lot for a lot of people and he was one of the greatest persons I’ve known,” said Walter Berry, his voice cracking a bit with emotion. “This is a hard day for everybody. Coach was my guy, man. He helped me in ways that nobody else could . . . I didn’t have a father and he almost kind of stepped in and became like a father figure to me.
“You see all of these guys here that he didn’t coach?” Berry added. “They still came out for him because they knew St John’s was Lou Carnesecca.”
Carnesecca replaced Joe Lapchick as head coach in 1965 and retired in 1992, taking three seasons away to coach the ABA New York Nets.
In his 24 seasons, his teams went 526-200. A banner commemorating his win total hangs from the rafter in Madison Square Garden.
“He’s such a part of the fabric of New York,” said Frank Alagia, who played for St. John’s in the 1970s. “Don’t forget: He followed a legend in Joe Lapchick and became bigger than that legend. And when you think about it in sports, how many times can you remember when a legend follows a legend like that? That kind of speaks for itself.”
Carnesecca took his 1984-85 team to the Final Four, and a quartet of icons from that team — Mullin, Berry, Bill Wennington and Mark Jackson — attended the funeral and shared memories.
Jackson remembered the first time Carnesecca attended one of his high school games and the impact it made.
“I remember Coach sitting there and his presence in the gym, it was almost like a spotlight was just on him,” Jackson said. “In any room or gym he walked into — on any sideline — he [commanded] the bright lights and you could tell he had something special about him. From that moment on, I wanted to be a member of the St John’s basketball team.”
“I met Coach when I was 10 or 11 at his camp,” Mullin recalled. “He was more reserved, doing lectures, teaching basketball, telling stories. When he recruited me, again he was very reserved. My first day of practice [at St. John’s], I couldn’t stop laughing. This guy’s running around and jumping. I’m like, ‘Who is this guy? I didn’t meet this guy.’
“My favorite thing: He had a great sense of humor,” Mullin added, pointing at the sneakers he wore with his suit. “If he saw me today, he’d be cracking on my sneakers and making fun of me, like I was going clamming or something . . . With discipline, he obviously had to be very serious but always let you know that it was going to be OK. I had my share of challenges. He was always there for me, honest and direct, but also with care and love.”
Even after he retired and longtime assistant coach Brian Mahoney took over the program, Carnesecca was a beacon for basketball players everywhere to come to St. John’s.
“Being a former player, there’s been no more influential person in my life . . . than Coach Carnesecca,” said Tarik Turner, who played in the late 1990s. “I met him when I was 18 on my recruiting visit here at St John’s and I remember what he told me. He said, ‘Look, son, you know if you can be successful here in New York City, you can be successful in anything you want to do in life beyond basketball, We’re here to support you, and even though I’m not going to coach you, I’m here to support you beyond the court.’ And that stuck with me.
“Coming from Virginia, I didn’t know a lot about New York,” Turner added. “I knew a lot about the Big East. I knew a lot about St. John’s. But he made me feel like he was going to look out for me and I told my dad, ‘I want to come to St John’s.’ Coach Carnesecca is the biggest reason why I committed to St. John’s.”
Metta Sandiford-Artest — who was Ron Artest while at St. John’s — remembered that as a 17-year-old freshman at St. John’s, he couldn’t wait to shake the iconic coach’s hand.
“You’d look out the doors at practice and hope to see him,” he said. “You’d see the name everywhere and the pictures and the Final Four team. As a 17-year-old kid, you kind of idolize that.”
One thing players from every generation mentioned, as Mullin put it: “He gave his players the wins and he took the losses. He burdened the losses for us and he let us celebrate the wins . . . I always felt like he protected us.”
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.