Take On Life

Hi everyone,

Before I started writing “Take on Life” for The News-Times in May 2007, I spent 14 years covering the UConn men’s basketball program for the paper.

During that time, I had my share of run-ins with Jim Calhoun, the team’s Hall of Fame head coach, the man with two national championships and more than 800 career victories.

Calhoun didn’t like everything I wrote about him or his team. But then again, that’s not how it works. My job was to cover the Huskies, not promote them.

And yet, I also saw a side of Calhoun — a private, compassionate side — that never made it into print.

I remember this one time, there was a high school kid from Greater Danbury who was having a tough time, after his father had died from a massive heart attack.

This kid loved the Huskies, by the way – almost as much as he loved his dad.

I knew that Calhoun’s father had also died when Calhoun was just a kid in Braintree, Mass. So one day after practice, I went up to Calhoun and asked if he would sign his book for this kid from Greater Danbury.

The book was called, “Dare to Dream: Connecticut Basketball’s Remarkable March to the National Championship.” Calhoun wrote it with Leigh Montville, a great storyteller via The Boston Globe and Sports Illustrated, among other publications.

Anyway, once I told Calhoun about this kid’s story, he grabbed my pen and started writing. And writing.

I expected an autograph. Calhoun gave me — and this young man — a full page of honesty, encouragement and hope.

Here’s another story: A few years ago, I took part in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life in Newtown with my family.

For a fundraiser, I asked Calhoun and UConn football coach Randy Edsall if they would autograph balls for me as raffle prizes.

They pretty much agreed on the spot.

Edsall, who also uses his high-profile position to help people, even had the football mailed to my house. But that’s Randy. He’s a good guy that way.

As for Calhoun, when I went to his office to pick up the basketball, he told me to wait a minute.

Suddenly, he reached into a shelf behind his desk and pulled out locker room baseball caps from UConn’s 2004 national championship team.

A few Sharpie swirls later, Calhoun had autographed four or five caps for me.

“Here you go,” Calhoun told me. “Raffle these, too.”

So while some folks speculate about when Calhoun should retire — and yes, I understand UConn crashed and burned down the stretch this year — Calhoun has earned the right to retire on his own terms, whether it’s this year. Or next year. Or five years from now.

Jim Calhoun deserves that much. It’s time to give it to him.