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July 26 = Anniversary of Skip's Death

Met Skip only once very briefly at a New York alumni event. It was in the Plaza Hotel on the edge of Central Park a couple of floors up. While taking the elevator up, I bumped into Lawrence of Arabia coming out of the elevator. He needed a lot of help and it appeared he was with a nurse. Get on the elevator, go up, there is a buffet or something and I hop in line only to bump into Skip. I blurted out, "I just saw lawrence of Arabia in the elevator" He said, "Me too. How old is Peter O'Toole? He can't be that old can he?" And we proceeded to beat around the logic/logistics of whether he was 70 or 90. I felt pretty sure he was closer to 90 and Skip was pretty sure he was closer to 70. He asked where he could get a good pint of guiness in the area and I was just about to answer him (not a fucking clue, know a place on 16th street that is pretty good) when we were interrupted by some schmo wanting to talk about the Jamaal Levy free throws in the West Virginia game (I kid you not).

I think he said, "everyone has good days and bad days and that one wasn't my best" or something like that, but I was distracted by how fucking pissed I was that we were interrupted by that question.
 
jaybone said:
Met Skip only once very briefly at a New York alumni event. It was in the Plaza Hotel on the edge of Central Park a couple of floors up. While taking the elevator up, I bumped into Lawrence of Arabia coming out of the elevator. He needed a lot of help and it appeared he was with a nurse. Get on the elevator, go up, there is a buffet or something and I hop in line only to bump into Skip. I blurted out, "I just saw lawrence of Arabia in the elevator" He said, "Me too. How old is Peter O'Tooole? He can't be that old can he?" And we proceeded to beat around the logic/logistics of whether he was 70 or 90. I felt pretty sure he was closer to 90 and Skip was pretty sure he was closer to 70. He asked where he could get a good pint of guiness in the area and I was just about to answer him (not a fucking clue, know a place on 16th street that is pretty good) when we were interrupted by some schmo wanting to talk about the Jamaal Levy free throws in the West Virginia game (I kid you not).

I think he said, "everyone has good days and bad days and that one wasn't my best" or something like that, but I was distracted by how fucking pissed I was that we were interrupted by that question.
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I read this and totally thought you were FOS until the part about the Levy FTs.

Thing about Skip is that convos like that actually happened with him and random fans like us. He was that kind of guy, and that's what everybody liked so much about him. So unbelieveable happenstances (lawrence of Arabia in a nyc elevator???) are totally believable when skip was involved.
 
Deacon2002 said:
A great coach and an ever better man. I miss Skip Prosser.

Will never forget one of the last times I saw skip. He walked up to the baseball field with his dog, watched a couple of innings with us, and then said alright guys I have to go home and check on Nancy, she's mowing the grass. We laughed and he said something like "what, she loves to and I don't complain..."
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I can vouch for this! One afternoon, I was on my way home from a friend's house on the same street as their home. I was just going to stop to ask about the dog (they had just lost their airedale and she was looking to get another). I pull into the driveway and there she is with one of those leafblower back-pack things on. It was one of those moments where I thought, "no one is going to believe the wife of a highly paid ACC basketball coach is doing her own yard work." I'm told she also cleaned the gutters....:thumbsup:

They were both good for us.
 
If nothing else, my time at Wake was truly blessed to have him as a coach. I would have followed that man to the ends of the Earth.
 
Deacfreak07 said:
If nothing else, my time at Wake was truly blessed to have him as a coach. I would have followed that man to the ends of the Earth.
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Idk if this was intentional, but this makes it sound as if you were on the team. And that also was part of what we miss about Skip. Whether you suited up and played or not, he was YOUR coach. OUR coach.
 
I had the privilege to attend Skip's Father/Son basketball camp with my dad when I was still a kid. That was an amazing experience that I will never forget. I was out of town when Skip died and it was my dad who called to tell me the news. You're truly missed coach, Rest in Peace.
 
Such a great man. I feel so lucky and so cheated at the same time.
 
One of my favorite pictures was with Skip the day before my graduation... eerily enough, near the track.

He died 2 months later.
 
One of my favorite memories of Skip was when he tried to get 04 to quit smoking.
 
A very sad day. I remember getting a phone call that coach Prosser had died. Remember it like it was yesterday. We really miss you coach.
 
kennylogginsfan said:
A very sad day. I remember getting a phone call that coach Prosser had died. Remember it like it was yesterday. We really miss you coach.
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ditto. mom called me during the day (rare, given my summer job- she knew the schedule). i pulled over when i could to call back; i was sitting in the parking lot of the Do It Best hardware store in Oneida, TN. Just shocked.

RIP Skip, thanks for your genuine spirit, dedication to WFU, and real appreciation of the banditos.
 
Not sure about the "going to be good again" but thought this was a good video recap of that point-in-time.

 
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Semi-Tough Deac said:
Remember exactly where I was and how I felt when I heard. RIP Skip.
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Same. I had just landed in NYC for a business trip and my phone was blowing up. Had I been at work at Baptist that day, I'd have most likely been involved with his care. Probably for the best, because I'm not sure I could have handled my last memory of him like that.
 
Deacfreak07 said:
One of my favorite memories of Skip was when he tried to get 04 to quit smoking.
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That wasn't the same night when 04 was on TV too was it? Skip was going around w/ pizza for everyone in the tents.

I'll never forget him yelling at me from across the court to stop arguing w/ Teddy Valentine. It was CP3's freshman year and we were playing a very physical Bobby Huggins Cinci team and my friend had courtside tix. Skip saw me jawing w/ Valentine and yelled at me "Hey, knock that off!" or something like that...

Just seeing him almost every day on campus was a thrill. Grobie didn't hang out as much but if you ever saw him he'd take the time to talk and stuff as well. A unique and great man.

The last convo I had with Skip was when he was at the Orange Bowl. He was leaving w/ the basketball team and I asked him if he couldn't stay 3 more mins to finish the game. He said "No I wish but I got kids to put to bed."
 
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