Gene Pingatore – More Than Basketball

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.

dhaugh@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @DavidHaugh