A day befitting a legend

Saturday was a very cool day. At halftime of the UMass-Dayton basketball game, the court at the Mullins Center was dedicated to Jack Leaman, the former UMass coach who built the program into a Division I contender, and helped the Minutemen "go bigtime" long before John Calipari and Marcus Camby came to town. Leaman is, as many have said, the face of UMass basketball. The night he died, I met up with a few friends, and we spent the whole dinner telling stories and remembering the funny and wonderful moments from our time with Jack. It's a night I'll never forget, which might sound too reverential for a man's death, but if you knew Jack, it makes sense. I have written twice about Jack since his passing. I'm posting them here, not to promote myself, but so that I can hopefully explain how important the guy was, to me and to anyone who ever cared about the Maroon and White.

here's my story from Sunday's Eagle, just a quick feature on the dedication, etc.

And, here's my column from the Collegian written shortly after Jack's death. Sorry for the alignment, looks like the ol' MDC is still working out some kinks on the new website design.

If you'd like to read writers with a little more talent and cachet than me, check out Marty Dobrow in the Globe (thanks for burying that story on the website, Globe), Ron Chimelis in the Republican, and of course Matt in the Gazette, who I know will have something for Monday's paper, and I'll try to remember to link him when I get to it.

You'll notice in all of the stories that Calipari made it to the ceremony, which was a surprise since his Memphis Tigers had a game that night. But a welcome surprise, of course. IT's very interesting, Cal creates a buzz around him when he shows up in Amherst. As someone who followed the Minutemen pretty closely from 1993-1996, it was cool to listen to the guy talk, to get to know him that little bit. Anyway, the day was very nice, and I'm glad my alma mater finally made Leaman's legacy a visual part of the experience at the arena.

Also, if you're interested in learning more about Leaman, Cal, and UMass basketball, please check out Dobrow's excellent book, "Going Bigtime: The Spectacular Rise of UMass Basketball." I finally got around to starting it, and it's been great so far. Marty's also a pretty cool cat, so there's that, too.