Lou Carnesecca Passes Away At 99
Legendary St. John’s left an indelible mark on basketball
Luigi Carneseca, better known as Lou or Looie, who graduated from St. John’s and had two stints as head coach there, died on Saturday. He was just a few weeks short of 100.
The son of Italian immigrants, Carneseca was a born and bred New Yorker. He coached at St. Ann’s High, in town, then was an assistant at St. John’s. He took the head job in 1965 before moving to the pros in 1970 - with the New York Nets, also in town.
Always living a bit of a charmed life, he got his old job back in 1973 and stayed with the Johnnies until he retired in 1992.
About the only time he lived away from New York was when he served in the Pacific during World War II.
He also was at St. John’s when the original Big East was born - and wanted no part of it. Later he admitted he was wrong about that. St. John’s was a key part of the huge initial success of the conference. The Johnnies also had some memorable battles with Duke while he was coaching.
After his retirement, Carnesecca continued to live a full life and seemed to be in good health fairly recently. When we saw him, he seemed cheerful and, as always, seemed to live a charmed life.
That’s from a distance of course. You never know what someone else deals with and everyone has their share to deal with. We’re sure he did too.
But he leaves with a lot of affection and respect, and that says that while he may or may not have lived a charmed life, he certainly was loved and will be missed.
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