Rick Majerus
Hundreds of friends and fans gathered at
Marquette University on Saturday to remember Rick
Majerus, the impassioned college basketball coach who died
of heart failure at 64.
Al Jensen, who played for Majerus at Utah
and coached with him at Saint Louis University, recalled the portly man who loved food as much as basketball a
demanding coach and loyal friend.
"There
wasn't a man as unique as Coach. You can't compare him to anyone else,"
Jensen said.
Majerus was 517-216
over a 25 year career in which he had 15 seasons with at least 20 wins, plus
two30 win seasons. He led Utah to the NCAA championship game in
1998 and also coached at Marquette,Ball State and Saint Louis.
Majerus died of heart failure Dec.1 in a Los Angeles hospital.
Jensen said no one ever made him as angry as
Majerus occasionally did but he always respected his coach’s passion and intensity
“He pushed you to
your utmost limits.”
The
funeral was held at the Church of the Gesu at Marquette the Jesuit school where
Majerus
began his coaching career as a student assistant to Al
McGuire.
The Majerus
family released a statement expressing thanks for the out pour of sympathy.
”We
cannot begin to express our sincere gratitude to everyone for their thoughts
prayers and
well wishes during this difficult time for all of us” Rick
was certainly a public figure with a terrific sense of humor a competitive spirit and a love of family especially
our mother Alice his friends players fellow coaches and especially fans.”
I
was living in Bailiff Hall on the University of Utah campus at the time Majerus
was coaching at Utah. He lived a short walk away at the University Apartments.
Around 6:00 PM, I would sometimes walk over to the University Apartments visit along with a
group of his friends and other basketball enthusiast in the foyer just outside the dining room. He was
single,outgoing and very much enjoyed visiting about basketball. It was a pleasure.He was very humorous. I remember on one of my
visits he said,
"If I fell
down, I’d rock myself to sleep trying to get up."
To be continued...
DR. KARL WALLACE D.D.S.
To read more go to:
w.w.w.karlwallaceblog.blogspot.com
