Losing ‘one of the good guys’
Skip Prosser: 1950-2007
John LaFollette
Sports Editor
hamptonroads.com
Skip Prosser’s seven years as Xavier’s head basketball coach resulted in 213 careers wins, an 83 percent graduation rate and immense personal respect that continues to this day. He died of a heart attack on July 26.
This summer brought the sad news of the passing of one of college basketball’s most beloved and respected coaches.
Wake Forest head basketball coach George Edward “Skip” Prosser, who was the head coach at Xavier for seven years, died on July 26, after suffering an apparent heart attack in his office. He was 56 years old.
Fr. John LaRocca, S.J. celebrated a funeral mass for Prosser on August 4 at the James and Caroline Duff Banquet Center that fittingly overlooked the basketball court at Cintas Center.
Known as widely for his dedication and kindness as for his on-court successes, Prosser leaves behind a legacy that extends far beyond basketball.
Xavier assistant coach Chris Mack played for Prosser during his senior season in 1991-92, then took a job at Xavier as Prosser’s assistant coach in 1999.
Mack followed Prosser to Wake Forest, where he was an assistant until 2003 when he returned to Xavier to join Sean Miller’s coaching staff.
As a player and coach, Mack was struck by Prosser’s inspirational brand of leadership.
“He would always demand more; he’d ask ‘Why couldn’t you make all your free throws? Why can’t you block out every possession?’” Mack recalls.
“He never was demeaning, and had a way about him that made you want to want the best for yourself, and to expect more.”
Called “one of the good guys” by his ACC coaching colleagues, Prosser earned a reputation for his personal involvement with his basketball teams beyond his role as head coach.
“There was nobody better in the country that talked to his team on an everyday basis with more passion and more credibility as a coach,” Mack said.
Kings High School athletic director Matthew Koenig, Xavier class of ’97, was a basketball manager on three of Prosser’s Xavier teams, from 1994 to 1997, and remembers Prosser most for the unity he promoted among the team.
Once, before the 1995-96 season, Prosser invited the entire team to his house for dinner, and presented Koenig and the two other managers with their NCAA Tournament rings from the year before, thanking them on behalf of his players and coaching staff for their hard work.
For Koenig, the event had a lasting impact.
“Being in that position at school [as a student manager] I never expected that kind of treatment,” Koenig said. “I was really taken aback.”
Prosser coached Wake Forest for six years, compiling a 126-68 record and taking the Demon Deacons to the NCAA Tournament four times.
Prosser’s 2003 Wake Forest squad won the ACC regular season championship.
At Xavier, he helped the Musketeers to a 255-194 record as an assistant under head coach Pete Gillen for eight seasons.
As head coach from 1994 until 2001, Prosser led Xavier to a record of 213-148, including four trips to the NCAA Tournament and one Atlantic 10 Championship.
Also, 83 percent of Prosser’s players at Xavier graduated in four years.
In all, he coached six NBA players, including Chris Paul and Josh Howard, and former Musketeers David West and James Posey.
By all accounts, Prosser’s coaching record, graduation rate and general good nature made him an excellent recruiter, coach, mentor and human being.
“Coach Prosser worked as hard as he could, 24/7, to make Xavier basketball what it is today,” Koenig said. “He treated people the right way.”
Prosser is survived by his wife, Nancy, and sons, Scott and Mark.
Double-doubles, determination mark volleyball team’s opening weekend
Paul Moeller
Associate Sports Editor
goxavier.com
Rocket Volleyball Classic MVP Jill Quayle helped Xavier breeze past the Butler Bulldogs Tuesday night.
Behind the leadership of seniors Jill Quayle and Jenni Horvath, the Xavier volleyball team won its home opener on Tuesday night, sweeping the Bulldogs of Butler University 3-0.
Quayle recorded a .462 hitting percentage in the win, which moved Xavier’s record to a perfect 5-0.
Horvath posted 13 kills and 12 digs to give her the second double-double of her career.
The team opened its season with a 4-0 record after a tremendous showing last weekend at the Rocket Volleyball Classic in Toledo, Ohio.
The Musketeers’ first contest was against the Bradley Braves.
After winning the first game 30-20, the Muskies were challenged in the second game but squeaked out a 30-28 victory.
The team concluded matters by winning the final game by the score of 30-19.
Junior Jenn Welsh shined for the Musketeers, handing out 32 assists. Senior Jill Quayle also had a great match, recording seven blocks and eight kills.
Xavier’s second match, against the hosting Toledo Rockets, started slowly, as the team narrowly lost the first game 30-28.
In an attempt to avenge their first lost game of the season, the Musketeers jumped out in front in the second game with a 6-1 run followed by a 10-3 run, that left Toledo frustrated and Xavier ahead 24-9.
goxavier.com
Jenni Horvath helped Xavier cruise past the Butler Bulldogs Tuesday night.
After a short burst by the home team, Xavier overpowered them and won the second game 30-19, leveling the score at one game apiece.
Two Musketeer freshmen, Chelsea Campbell and Shannon Voors, made their debuts in the third game and helped the team to a 30-27 win.
Leading 2-1 in games, the Xavier squad used its momentum to close out the fourth game 30-20 and win the match.
Sophomore standouts Lauren Kaminsky and Kelly Ruth each recorded double-doubles for the match, leading the Musketeers to their second victory of the season.
Xavier’s third match of the weekend was a five game thriller against Cleveland State University.
The Musketeers won the second, third and fifth games to improve their record to 3-0.
Ruth topped her previous kill record, notching 17 to add to her 14 digs.
Kaminsky, also with 14 digs, beat her career kill mark, too, leading the team with 20 kills.
Freshman Katie Russell was the third Musketeer to achieve a double-double for the match, as she led the team in digs with 16, and added 12 kills of her own.
Xavier wrapped up the Rocket Volleyball Classic with a 3-0 win over the Jaguars of IUPUI by scores of 30-24, 30-16 and 30-25.
Xavier will host the Xavier Invitational this weekend, starting with a 7 p.m. game on Friday at Cintas Center against the Evansville Aces. Xavier is also slated to play Delaware State and Eastern Michigan.
The Spectator
Weekly commentary on the world of sports
John LaFollette
Sports Editor
It was only a matter of time– as in, a little over a year and a half– before fans of the Spectator came out of the woodwork, with the notable exception of Jerry Springer. In the several days since his return to the Queen City, three unrelated and unsolicited (not to mention unprecedented) compliments were duly paid to the author of this humble column.
This is information that shocked and appalled his colleagues at the Newswire, who had a heretofore unchecked hold on content-related compliments.
For a prominent sportswriter with a special love for enduring rivalries and occasional feuds, such inter-office tension warranted special placement in these hallowed columns of newsprint.
Readers of the Spectator are as legendary for their curiosity as for their patience and trepidation, so it is worth noting that the following recollections appear chronologically according to compliment.
The coincidence between this order and the prominence of the summer sporting news to which the compliments referred is quite uncanny.
It is all too common knowledge that the Spectator is the best sports psychologist since Bob Rotella. Having picked the brains of a diverse cross-section of people, including some athletes, the Spectator thought himself qualified to psychoanalyze (with no amount of certainty) the bizarre behavior of Terrell Owens.
One fan of this column recalled my coverage and deconstruction of Owens’ psyche in the days that followed the Cowboys’ receiver’s suicide attempt last Fall.
Quality coverage breeds quality coverage, so the Spectator feels free to shed some light on former NFL star Michael Vick’s recent mania. After lying to the Atlanta Falcons organization and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about his involvement with Bad Newz Kennels, the embattled quarterback finally admitted to funding an interstate dog fighting consortium and, more disturbingly, to the brutal murders of at least six underperforming animals.
In the eyes of the Spectator, the most maniacal aspect of this story, beyond the grim details of Vick’s murders, is the elaborate, contradictory dance that Vick tried to use in public and private to defend himself.
He lied to the Falcons and Goodell, he lied to his fans, he lied to the court system and it looks like he lied to himself. Vick was quoted as saying “Everybody who knows me knows I care about animals.”
Clearly not. It takes a monster to kill, and the Spectator thinks it would behoove Vick’s future federal prison cellmates to not push his buttons.
The Spectator is especially impressed with the praise he got next, from a fan who had the particular devotion to uncover some early writings from the Spectator’s blog. The post in such high regard was written as a dismissal of doping allegations from the Tour de France as perennial and undeserving of note.
Alarmingly, the Spectator is beginning to think that many sports fans are adopting this attitude towards baseball.
One-time steroid user Barry Bonds (let him sue) hit his 756th home run in early August, amid much discussion of whether the record is tainted.
Official or not, Bonds’ achievement has been damaged by Bonds himself. Baseball purists will gripe about the record book’s compromised integrity if Bonds’ home run record doesn’t get an asterisk right away.
The Spectator is sure, though, that any reference to Bonds as Home Run King will be followed, in very short order, by a disclaimer detailing his juicing allegations.
He is also sure that Bonds and baseball commissioner Bud Selig are going to get to know each other pretty well, as the grueling, concurrent investigations into steroid use in baseball are given sufficient time to reach their conclusions. So purists should not fear, a caveat is surely somewhere on the horizon.
The third and final compliment the Spectator received referred to a private expression of certain views about Notre Dame, which are soon to be seen in public.
Space constraints unfortunately limit him once again, so the Spectator begs his readership to appeal to their legendary patience until next week, when an entire column can be devoted to said subject matter. Until then, devoted readers, slide.
Doug Tifft
Sports Editor
Men’s soccer plays to exhibition tie
After scoring an early goal, the men’s soccer team surrendered an opposing Butler goal, and was unable to break the gridlock, ending their exhibition match with a 1-1 tie last Saturday in Indianapolis.
A goal by senior forward Jon Enders at the 25:49 mark, off an assist by redshirt freshman midfielder Andy Dimbi, put Xavier up 1-0 against the Bulldogs.
Xavier keeper Adam Sokolowski relinquished the lead after a diving attempted save 30:44 into the match.
Neither team could start much offensively, with both squads mustering just three shots on goal each.
Xavier opens its regular season at 7:30 p.m. this Friday with a match against UC Davis in the Ramada Xavier Challenge, held at the Xavier Soccer Complex.
XU grad medals at U.S. Amateur
Former Xavier Musketeer Jason Kokrak earned low medalist honors in the U.S. Amateur last week at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, but lost in the quarterfinal round of match play. The Warren, Ohio native signed for rounds of 68 and 69 in the stroke play portion of the event, which determined seeds for match play.
After disposing of A.J. Oleksak in the first round, 2 and 1, Kokrak defeated Mark Harrell, also by a score of 2 and 1. Playing against the streaky Derek Fathauer of Fla., Kokrak faltered, losing to the University of Louisville senior 6 and 4. Kokrak finished his collegiate playing career as Xavier’s all-time leader with a 71.67 scoring average and fired 18 sub par rounds during the 2006-07 season.
