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July 26 - We Still Miss You Skip

Deaconblue

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It has been 12 years since Skip Prosser died while serving as Wake's basketball program. It has not been the same since.

Raise a pint of Guinness in Skip's memory.
 
12 years. Wow. I still remember reading a post on this board (or its predecessor) from someone that Prosser had been taken from the bball offices via ambulance
 
RIP Skip (and hence unfortunately our basketball program)
 
Still get choked up thinking about learning of his passing. Taken from us all way too early.
 
Will always remember where I was when I found out. I broke the news to my dad when he was on a golf trip in Ireland and happened to randomly be sitting beside Arnie and his wife. Arnie was really broken up when my dad told him.
 
I still remember meeting him in Barnes and Nobles the summer prior to Paul joining the team and talking to him briefly about the upcoming season. He was very approachable and seemed genuinely excited about the team and prospects for the future.

By all accounts, he was a very kind soul and is still missed by many.
 
Sipping a pint of Guinness in Skip's memory.

Someday, that I hope is sooner rather than later, Wake will have a basketball team that Skip would be proud of.
 
Jim Grobe was never quite the same coach after Skip died. Really good men cast large shadows. His death was a devastating loss in many ways. In some respects it seems so very long ago.
 
All the shitty basketball aside, I remember this day 12 year ago. My boys were 6 and 2. Man time passes quickly. And to wrap it around, my sons have not gotten to remember a really good wake team in their lifetime. Sad.
 
I always remember this date as it is my mother's birthday as well. The family was all vacationing together in Kiawah when the news came in. I'll admit it, I cried. I only knew him from a few short conversations but he had that way of relating to (almost) strangers that only a few people have. I don't have it. Much more than a basketball coach.
 
Not a beer drinker, but had my Guinness.

RIP my friend...
 
Mike DeCourcy Sporting News:

Not this time, folks.

If I could be objective about the passing of Skip Prosser, I would not be typing through tears. Prosser, the head basketball coach at Wake Forest, was as fine a person as I -- or you, or anyone you know -- will ever meet. And he is gone, with no warning. How does one remain objective about such a thing?

Prosser, 56, suffered an apparent heart attack Thursday afternoon in his office on the Wake campus in Winston-Salem. Attempts to revive him were not successful there or after he was transported to a hospital. Prosser's son, Mark, an assistant coach at Bucknell, was informed of the news while scouting prospects in an AAU tournament in Orlando.

Skip had spent the early part of this week recruiting in Las Vegas, then traveled to Orlando. Wednesday night, he had dinner with Mark and Wake assistant coach Dino Gaudio. A Wake official said Skip flew home Thursday morning, later took a jog on the track in the athletic complex and complained of not feeling well when he returned to his office and later was found there, unconscious.

This had been a wonderful week for Skip. Along the recruiting road, he had been watching three gifted players who had committed to join the Demon Deacons: centers Ty Walker and Tony Woods and forward Al-Farouq Aminu. Skip was in a delightful mood, as it was clear the Deacs soon would be back among the elite ACC programs after a couple of tough years.

Skip, though, always was in a delightful mood. He walked through life with a poet's soul and an Irishman's wink. He was a devoted father to his two sons, Mark and Scott, and deeply in love with his wife, Nancy. Skip was an avid reader of literature and frequently quoted his favorite authors and philosophers.

He was a fantastic basketball coach who got his players to perform with passion, who handed his point guards the basketball and all the trust a coach could invest. He was tough and stern when he needed to be, but never mean. He was as genuinely concerned about his players' education as any college coach could be.

I was privileged to spend one final hour this week with Skip in Las Vegas. I sat next to him during a summer tournament game. After discussing how the Deacs were able to achieve this recruiting success -- first, of course, always concerned about remaining within the boundaries of NCAA rules, he reminded me he couldn't comment about the particular players -- we happened to speak about so many things important in his life.

We talked about the Pittsburgh Steelers. Both natives of Western Pennsylvania, we shared that passion. Skip had wanted to call Bill Cowher this week to see if he were getting itchy about leaving coaching, but had lost Cowher's number by leaving his cell phone behind in Kuwait while visiting soldiers as part of the Operation Hardwood program.

We talked about basketball players and trying to assure they would gain a quality education and graduate. He mentioned being proud he coached at three universities -- Loyola (Md.), Xavier and Wake -- that all made sure learning was a priority for the players he coached.

We talked about Mark deciding to make coaching his career. Skip teased about the challenges of such a choice -- "I asked him if he was sure he wanted to do this," Skip said -- but made it clear he wasn't doubting his own decision. When I made a comment about my own eventual retirement, hopefully a few years down the road, Skip said he was in no great hurry to get there himself. "I still love it," he said.

There never will be a coach who is more cooperative with writers like myself with less concern about promoting his own agenda. Skip talked to writers and broadcasters for the simplest reason: He was a nice man.

Back in 2002, we at Sporting News had the idea to write a story about the uncommon challenges of preparing to defend Duke All-America guard Jay Williams. We called college after college, and none would agree to open their pre-Devils preparations to be dissected later in the magazine. Then I called Skip. I should have known to call him first. "Come on down," he said.

When I arrived in the Wake basketball office, we went into a film room and he took out a marking pen and began explaining how everything with Williams started with defending the pick-and-roll. Does that seem a trivial memory now? Not to me. It is something I will treasure.

Skip Prosser alone with me, talking basketball.

That was a very good day."
 
I remember that day well. I was running the coffee cart at Baptist before I bought it, and some of my ER nurse customers came for a break and told me that their morning "would leave a major mark on Winston-Salem", and as the day wore on, more rumors flew around the medical center. I came home, got online, and found that in fact Prosser had died after his morning run on campus, and it all fell into place. Bummer of a day.

Just goes to show that you should live every day to it's fullest, as no matter how "healthy" you are, the human body is a fickle bitch.

Evan raised to, for all I've heard and read, a real stand-up guy, and the best coach WFU has had since Bones McKinney, who was before my time.

Sidenote- I know Pack Pride gives y'all shit because Bob Denver died at Baptist, but they don't know that also they probably gave Ravi Shankar several more years when he had a near-stroke when in town for a performance.
 
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A rebound is like a letter that starts "to whom it may concern". It better concern you.
 
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