Taking a Moment

Wake Forest men’s basketball coach Skip Prossel died Thursday afternoon, collapsing from an apparent heart attack after jogging. It’s possible this is the first some of you have heard about it, since today was Michael Vick’s arraignment and I’m fairly certain that dominated the headlines on ESPN through much of the afternoon and evening.

But Prossel’s death proves sudden and tragic – he was just 56, and ESPN.com’s Andy Katz instantly recalls talking to the man just 24 hours earlier … about their families, of all things.

I never knew Prossel personally; hell, until today, I wasn’t 100 percent certain how to spell his name. While Wake Forest has been on the college basketball map since I began following the sport a little over six years ago – undoubtedly a by-product of being in the ACC – I can’t say he was as prominent or visible as a Roy Williams or a Mike Krzyzewski, but Prossel was someone I saw quite often on the sidelines.

My first thought was back to Army women’s coach Maggie Dixon, who died suddenly just weeks after taking her team to its first NCAA tournament appearance. I thought of how her death shocked everyone in the college basketball world, and how I’d spoken to her just weeks earlier, seen first-hand that infectious smile of hers.

My second thought was that I have no personal stories to share of Prossel; just that I feel for his family and his team and his coaches and the entire Wake Forest community. So often colleges and universities are intertwined with their athletic programs – especially a school as small as Wake Forest. Just look at the football team’s run to an ACC title last season; the way that gripped the school was amazing.

So in that regard, I feel for Wake Forest. I think about how I would feel if one of Old Dominion’s coaches were to suddenly pass away. How it would feel to lose a member of the Monarch family, how it would feel to possibly lose someone I once dealt with on a weekly, if not daily, basis.

Considering how it hit a few years back when ODU athletics legend Bud Metheny died, I shudder to think of what it would be like. Much like I shudder to think what the Demon Deacon faithful are feeling today.

For today, power conference vs. mid-major conference doesn’t matter. We aren’t arguing over which team in the ACC is the best, or how many bids the league deserves in the tournament. We’re probably not even worried about what recruits are coming in and who might be the next to commit … because this is something that goes so much deeper than the sport Prossel coached.

If Prossel was anything like the other big-time college basketball coaches I’ve dealt with over the years – namely Williams, C. Vivien Stringer and Pat Summit – then I’m sure he was a delight, someone who’d just as gladly talk to you about your family as he would about hoops. I’m sorry I won’t get to meet him someday, and I feel for his team and those who follow it so closely.

Amid all the scandal and controversy, I say we pause for a moment to remember someone who was successful at his profession, someone who undoubtedly shaped lives and affected others for the better.

Rest in peace, Skip. I’ll be pulling for your Demon Deacons this year.