Photos of St. Joseph boys basketball coach Gene Pingatore, who has
999 career wins as of Feb. 9, 2017.
The following article is about the career of Coach Gene
Pingatore, a legendary coach at St. Joseph’s high school. I was first exposed to him as the coach in
the movie Hoop Dreams. This gives a very
different side of coach than what was presented in the documentary. Below are some key parts that I took
away. You can read the article in full here
or after the jump.
- Kathy Taylor excused
herself Thursday at St. Joseph High School because Taylor knew if she talked
any longer about the generosity of her boss, high school basketball legend Gene
Pingatore, the tears would begin to flow.
- The same emotion oozed out of the woman behind
the welcome desk who, unsolicited, shared the memory of Pingatore sending her
son souvenirs at the hospital without even knowing him. Longtime St. Joseph
assistant Bill Riley, at Pingatore's side for 34 years of structuring young
lives, used the word "incredible" at least a dozen times describing
the coach's impact on all those who have been "Pinged."
-
"I have just as fond memories of coaching what we would call the
lesser individuals, not just the great players but all those kids — and my
managers, who were unbelievable.”
-
"It said, 'I am successful because I was part of your program,'"
Pingatore said. "Teachers get that all the time. Don't forget I'm a
teacher. I'm a high school coach, but this is my classroom. … This whole thing
here is more than just basketball. That's what I want to call my book: 'More
than Basketball.'"
- "Longevity was never on my mind,"
Pingatore said. "I never got up one day and said, 'I don't feel like going
in today.' Never. The basketball always was … interesting."
- "They have such high expectations now;
every kid should get a scholarship or go to the NBA," Pingatore said.
"Parents are definitely different, and I never thought I'd say it, but
kids are too. At one time, high school coaches could control everything. Now,
after March it's off to AAU. Some have personal trainers. Everybody's feeding
the kid information."
- "He's the same guy, runs the same stuff
and I bet the tenor of everything he does is pretty much the same as it was in
the 1970s," Fenwick coach Rick Malnati said. "He's sort of like our
pizza recipe. You do something, you do it well. You are the constant."
- "To this day, we do a lot Knight's way:
defense, motion offense, being demanding," Pingatore said. "If I had
to zero in on any one thing why we've been successful, it's that we kept things
simple and did it over and over again … and I attribute that to Knight.''
- "You have to be your own
personality," Pingatore said. "If you're not, kids will see through
that."
- Kids see the same Pingatore every day of
every year, consistency he sought to describe by recalling a young coach in the
1980s asking him how he got his players to perform a complicated pregame drill.
- "Prior
to that, I had been in that coach's locker room to see his team trashed it and
there were candy wrappers everywhere," Pingatore said. "So I said,
'Coach, the first thing you need to do if you want to do that drill right is
have your kids pick up their candy wrappers.' … Little things matter."
Kathy Taylor excused herself Thursday at St. Joseph High School
because Taylor knew if she talked any longer about the generosity of her boss,
high school basketball legend Gene Pingatore, the tears would begin to flow.
The same emotion oozed out of the
woman behind the welcome desk who, unsolicited, shared the memory of Pingatore
sending her son souvenirs at the hospital without even knowing him. Longtime
St. Joseph assistant Bill Riley, at Pingatore's side for 34 years of
structuring young lives, used the word "incredible" at least a dozen
times describing the coach's impact on all those who have been
"Pinged."
"I have just as fond
memories of coaching what we would call the lesser individuals, not just the
great players but all those kids — and my managers, who were
unbelievable," said Pingatore, seated on a stool inside historic North
Gym.
He always will cherish the
experience of one team manager, in particular, 1986 graduate Ravi Rao. With
uncommon confidence, Rao charged into practice one day and delivered Pingatore
advice about a drill.
"I said, 'Would you like to
be a manager?'" Pingatore recalled. "He said, 'Yes,' so I said,
'Great, now get out of my gym and come back tomorrow.'"
Over the next three years, Rao
developed habits under Pingatore he believes helped him on the way to becoming
a pediatric neurosurgeon after obtaining advanced degrees from Johns Hopkins
and Virginia. Rao wrote Pingatore a note that maintains a special place in his
heart.
"It said, 'I am successful
because I was part of your program,'" Pingatore said. "Teachers get
that all the time. Don't forget I'm a teacher. I'm a high school coach, but
this is my classroom. … This whole thing here is more than just basketball.
That's what I want to call my book: 'More than Basketball.'"
Basketball almost took a back
seat forever when Pingatore enrolled in Chicago's Kent College of Law in 1968,
but he realized his passion lay elsewhere when, in the second week, he skipped
class to attend St. Joseph's first football game in Iowa. He quit law school.
His long stint as assistant to
Pat Callahan ended when Callahan, also the school's athletic director, resigned
in December 1969, in part to give Pingatore a chance to prove himself. After
winning just three games that first season, the Cicero native hardly expected
to approach 1,000.
"Longevity
was never on my mind," Pingatore said. "I never got up one day and
said, 'I don't feel like going in today.' Never. The basketball always was …
interesting."
Pingatore
smiled while enunciating interesting. Asked whether players or
parents have changed more in 48 years on the bench, he revealed having to close
practices nearly a decade ago because of too many skirmishes between moms and
dads who meant well.
"They
have such high expectations now; every kid should get a scholarship or go to
the NBA," Pingatore said. "Parents are definitely different, and I
never thought I'd say it, but kids are too. At one time, high school coaches
could control everything. Now, after March it's off to AAU. Some have personal
trainers. Everybody's feeding the kid information."
A
messy hoops culture has changed. Ping the perfectionist has not.
"He's
the same guy, runs the same stuff and I bet the tenor of everything he does is
pretty much the same as it was in the 1970s," Fenwick coach Rick Malnati
said. "He's sort of like our pizza recipe. You do something, you do it
well. You are the constant."
The
disciplined approach comes naturally for a coach with a neatly organized
desktop who acknowledged being a slave to details. Early in his tenure,
Pingatore began patterning much of his program after a no-nonsense coach he met
in the mid-1960s when then-Army coach Bobby Knight was recruiting a St. Joseph
player. When Knight took over at Indiana, that influence grew — as did the
relationship.
"To
this day, we do a lot Knight's way: defense, motion offense, being
demanding," Pingatore said. "If I had to zero in on any one thing why
we've been successful, it's that we kept things simple and did it over and over
again … and I attribute that to Knight.''
To
Knight, who won NCAA titles in 1981 and 1987 thanks in large part to St. Joseph
alumni Isiah Thomas and Daryl Thomas, respectively, the admiration is mutual.
"There's
no better mind I know in the game of basketball than Gene Pingatore, and I'd call
him on thoughts on other kids in the Chicago area and he'd always give me the
best advice," Knight said Thursday on the phone. "As much as anybody
I've ever known, I really enjoyed sitting down and talking basketball with
him."
Knight
paused.
"But
what he really has meant to basketball is that he has been a monumental pain in
the ass to everybody because he has won more games than anyone," Knight
said.
Longevity was never on
my mind. I never got up one day and said, 'I don't feel like going in today.' Never.
The basketball always was … interesting.— Gene Pingatore
Only
14 boys basketball coaches have won more, according to the National Federation
of High School Associations.
Though
Pingatore says he will be relieved when the attention subsides, he has enjoyed
reminiscing about everything from playing on the 1954 St. Mel team that beat
DuSable for the city championship to boarding the wrong plane en route to
college at Loyola Marymount.
He
winced showing off his gnarled fingers from a lifetime of 16-inch softball. He
rolled his eyes recalling the way "Hoop Dreams" characterized him as
the bad guy in the basketball documentary. He bragged about catching a
260-pound bull shark and beamed talking about his three grandchildren, his
daughter and his fiancee, Jill.
Not
your typical octogenarian, Pingatore drives a sporty sedan with the license
plate "PING" and plans to get a Cubs tattoo now that his favorite
team finally won the World Series.
"You
have to be your own personality," Pingatore said. "If you're not, kids
will see through that."
Kids
see the same Pingatore every day of every year, consistency he sought to
describe by recalling a young coach in the 1980s asking him how he got his
players to perform a complicated pregame drill.
"Prior to that, I had been in that
coach's locker room to see his team trashed it and there were candy wrappers
everywhere," Pingatore said. "So I said, 'Coach, the first thing you
need to do if you want to do that drill right is have your kids pick up their
candy wrappers.' … Little things matter."
For
the last 48 years at St. Joseph, that has gone for more than basketball.
Twitter @DavidHaugh
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