MBB : Providence honors former coach, Big East founder Gavitt
PROVIDENCE, R.I. Flashing across the jumbotron was an image that told of the future. Kneeling front and center before his youth basketball team was an adolescent Dave Gavitt.
Years later, he would be front and center with a basketball again this time as the creator of the Big East conference.
‘I don’t think people realize what Dave Gavitt did for them,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said following Wednesday’s 87-73 win over Providence. ‘I’d be playing golf in Florida right now in a retirement home someplace, and I would have been down there 10 years ago because I wouldn’t be coaching. He made us all.’
The legendary Gavitt, who almost singlehandedly constructed the Big East back in 1979, passed away on Sept. 16, 2011, and he was honored Wednesday throughout the city of Providence. Earlier in the day, Service Road #8 was renamed Dave Gavitt Way. He was paid tribute before the game and at halftime with a video tribute.
Gavitt’s two sons, several former Providence basketball players, the mayor of Providence and school officials were in attendance for the halftime ceremony.
Syracuse and Providence are two of the original seven charter members of Gavitt’s Big East conference, and in addition to putting the league together, he coached the Friars from 1969 to 1979.
‘There’s absolutely nobody that could have got that group together,’ Boeheim said. ‘None of us wanted to go into the league in the first place, that’s how stupid we are. And he got it, somehow, together and pulled guys in and made it stronger.’
Boeheim said that without Gavitt, Syracuse never could have won a national championship. He explained that without the Big East, SU was never ranked in the polls and rarely made the NCAA Tournament.
Gavitt’s Big East made all that possible through the formation of a stellar reputation. He brought together the original seven schools for a basketball-focused conference that has since morphed into one of the best leagues in the country year in and year out.
And so with more than a hint of emotion in that voice, Boeheim made it known just how monumental of a legacy Gavitt left behind.
‘There would be no Jim Boeheim, no Jim Calhoun, Syracuse wouldn’t have won a national championship, Connecticut wouldn’t have won three, there’d be no No. 1 rankings,’ Boeheim said.
‘ … He’s the greatest man I’ve ever known, and we owe everything to him. Everything.’
Published on January 4, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13
