City's Glory Days / Mike Lupica
- Thread starter jerseyshorejohnny
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Brings back such fond memories; makes me feel old.
Mike Lupica often treated Looie good in the News. Here's a column from almost 30 years ago.
"The Little King of Alumni Hall"
by Mike Lupica, New York Daily News
January 30, 1984
The theory has always gone like this: Looie Carnesecca could walk into any class at St. John's -- Theology 101, Elizabethan Poets, Introductory Wine Tasting -- pick 10 kids at random and make them into a basketball team capable of winning 20 games. In fat years and lean years, the little man has somehow worked his magic. He has done his leaps and pirouettes, sung Verdi, loosened his tie, yanked his shirt out of his pants, grabbed his hair, knelt in prayer, dashed down the sidelines like the second coming of Chaplin. He has charmed his kids, beguiled his kids, amused his kids, exhorted his kids. And won 20. Look it up. He is more than halfway through his 16th season at St. John's -- doesn't it seem he has been there for three wonderful lifetimes? -- and the record book says there have been 334 wins. The division is simple. It works out to more than 20 wins every time out of the box.
He is a bit more than an Italian comic. He is a bit of a college basketball legend. Looie Carnesecca. Wins 20. He was asked about all that yesterday afternoon, between halves of the Villanova - Arkansas game, which he was watching on television.
"I think that theory about me may be in jeopardy," he said, his voice already in February form, which means that it sounded like a fingernail being dragged across a blackboard. By March, his voice will sound, in the words of Raymond Chandler, like sauce pans being put away.
Over the telephone, Looie sighed. It was something that should have belonged to an extremely weary mouse. "I'm not very smart this year, you know," he said. He is 59 years old, perhaps the most amazing statistic of all if you were watching him work the sidelines in St. John's tough overtime loss to Syracuse Saturday afternoon (Carnesecca says, "The feet still work. Haven't lost a step.") He is as smart as ever. Either this week or next, he will get the 335th win and then he will have more than the great Joe Lapchick, his mentor and inspiration, the St. John's sideline legend of a different time. Looie has always talked about walking with kings. He has told his kids to walk with kings. Either this week or next, he will do a little of that himself, even though the current team is not nearly his best.
He was asked if he had been aware of the Lapchick record being imminent before people began to talk about it. "I was not conscious of it, no," he said. "But then you know it is my nature to walk around in a general state of unconsciousness. It is a very nice record, though. It is very nice to be talked about this way with Joe Lapchick. But I can't be too worried about it at the present time, because I am worried about . . . survival." He hit a marvelous high note to end the quote. Big finish.
St. John's is 12-4 right now (3-4 in the Big East), and Looie is hoping for a big finish to a season that has been a giant struggle. He calls this group "a brand new team." It is. Billy Goodwin is gone. David Russell is gone. Kevin Williams is gone. Bill Wennington has been hurt. There are new names at Alumni Hall. Mike Moses is a promising but inexperienced junior. There are two freshmen named Willie Glass and Mark Jackson. Ron Stewart was around last season but didn't play much. Chris Mullin is one of the best college players in America, but he can not carry the team every game. Carnesecca is right about the 20-win theory. It is no lock this time. The Redmen should make the NCAA Tournament, because four teams from the Big East will probably make the Tournament, but it is not going to be easy.
Yesterday, as his team entered a week in which it must face Villanova at home and DePaul on the road, Carnesecca was asked: "Where is your team going to be in a month, when this all gets fairly serious?" He laughed. "What am I? Nostradamus?" he said. "If I was Nostradamus, I'd tell you. I can't think that far ahead. I got kids. I've got injuries. Does it sound like I'm crying? Good. I'm crying. The old coach has had to work this time. My mother could have coached that team last season. Yeah, the old coach is working this time. We'd just like to find some continuity before tournament time."
St. John's will find some continuity. Carnesecca will see to it somehow, work the magic somehow, have some fun in March as always. He has a good team this time, not a great one, and this will not be the year he finally goes to the Final Four. But he is Carnesecca. He remains one of our true sporting treasures, at age 59. He does not change. He does not get older. He never loses his voice completely. He swears he has not lost a step on the sidelines. And he is still a step or two ahead of everybody when it comes to enthusiasm and verve and a passionate reverence for the game of college basketball, as played in the school off Union Turnpike. Yesterday just seemed like a good time to check in with him. I hope he coaches until he is 80. I am glad he will soon pass a king named Lapchick in the record books.
"I still love to come to practice," Looie Carnesecca said yesterday. He had to go. The second half of Villanova-Arkansas was beginning. His team will play Villanova Wednesday night. Looie thought he might see something that would help. "Time to go wring my hands," he said. "I better have a little glass of wine."
There has never been anyone quite like him around here. The littlest king, from Alumni Hall.
"The Little King of Alumni Hall"
by Mike Lupica, New York Daily News
January 30, 1984
The theory has always gone like this: Looie Carnesecca could walk into any class at St. John's -- Theology 101, Elizabethan Poets, Introductory Wine Tasting -- pick 10 kids at random and make them into a basketball team capable of winning 20 games. In fat years and lean years, the little man has somehow worked his magic. He has done his leaps and pirouettes, sung Verdi, loosened his tie, yanked his shirt out of his pants, grabbed his hair, knelt in prayer, dashed down the sidelines like the second coming of Chaplin. He has charmed his kids, beguiled his kids, amused his kids, exhorted his kids. And won 20. Look it up. He is more than halfway through his 16th season at St. John's -- doesn't it seem he has been there for three wonderful lifetimes? -- and the record book says there have been 334 wins. The division is simple. It works out to more than 20 wins every time out of the box.
He is a bit more than an Italian comic. He is a bit of a college basketball legend. Looie Carnesecca. Wins 20. He was asked about all that yesterday afternoon, between halves of the Villanova - Arkansas game, which he was watching on television.
"I think that theory about me may be in jeopardy," he said, his voice already in February form, which means that it sounded like a fingernail being dragged across a blackboard. By March, his voice will sound, in the words of Raymond Chandler, like sauce pans being put away.
Over the telephone, Looie sighed. It was something that should have belonged to an extremely weary mouse. "I'm not very smart this year, you know," he said. He is 59 years old, perhaps the most amazing statistic of all if you were watching him work the sidelines in St. John's tough overtime loss to Syracuse Saturday afternoon (Carnesecca says, "The feet still work. Haven't lost a step.") He is as smart as ever. Either this week or next, he will get the 335th win and then he will have more than the great Joe Lapchick, his mentor and inspiration, the St. John's sideline legend of a different time. Looie has always talked about walking with kings. He has told his kids to walk with kings. Either this week or next, he will do a little of that himself, even though the current team is not nearly his best.
He was asked if he had been aware of the Lapchick record being imminent before people began to talk about it. "I was not conscious of it, no," he said. "But then you know it is my nature to walk around in a general state of unconsciousness. It is a very nice record, though. It is very nice to be talked about this way with Joe Lapchick. But I can't be too worried about it at the present time, because I am worried about . . . survival." He hit a marvelous high note to end the quote. Big finish.
St. John's is 12-4 right now (3-4 in the Big East), and Looie is hoping for a big finish to a season that has been a giant struggle. He calls this group "a brand new team." It is. Billy Goodwin is gone. David Russell is gone. Kevin Williams is gone. Bill Wennington has been hurt. There are new names at Alumni Hall. Mike Moses is a promising but inexperienced junior. There are two freshmen named Willie Glass and Mark Jackson. Ron Stewart was around last season but didn't play much. Chris Mullin is one of the best college players in America, but he can not carry the team every game. Carnesecca is right about the 20-win theory. It is no lock this time. The Redmen should make the NCAA Tournament, because four teams from the Big East will probably make the Tournament, but it is not going to be easy.
Yesterday, as his team entered a week in which it must face Villanova at home and DePaul on the road, Carnesecca was asked: "Where is your team going to be in a month, when this all gets fairly serious?" He laughed. "What am I? Nostradamus?" he said. "If I was Nostradamus, I'd tell you. I can't think that far ahead. I got kids. I've got injuries. Does it sound like I'm crying? Good. I'm crying. The old coach has had to work this time. My mother could have coached that team last season. Yeah, the old coach is working this time. We'd just like to find some continuity before tournament time."
St. John's will find some continuity. Carnesecca will see to it somehow, work the magic somehow, have some fun in March as always. He has a good team this time, not a great one, and this will not be the year he finally goes to the Final Four. But he is Carnesecca. He remains one of our true sporting treasures, at age 59. He does not change. He does not get older. He never loses his voice completely. He swears he has not lost a step on the sidelines. And he is still a step or two ahead of everybody when it comes to enthusiasm and verve and a passionate reverence for the game of college basketball, as played in the school off Union Turnpike. Yesterday just seemed like a good time to check in with him. I hope he coaches until he is 80. I am glad he will soon pass a king named Lapchick in the record books.
"I still love to come to practice," Looie Carnesecca said yesterday. He had to go. The second half of Villanova-Arkansas was beginning. His team will play Villanova Wednesday night. Looie thought he might see something that would help. "Time to go wring my hands," he said. "I better have a little glass of wine."
There has never been anyone quite like him around here. The littlest king, from Alumni Hall.