The strength of Skip Prosser: 1950-2007
We don’t often enough hear sports and poetry mentioned in the same breath.
Consider the life of Skip Prosser, who died last Thursday of an apparent heart attack at age 56.
He spent 21 years as a collegiate basketball coach. More than most coaches, he encouraged his players to be good students. He was known for his keen intellect and his sense of humor.
In a Baltimore Sun story of remembrance about Prosser, John Boylan, the athletic director at Loyola, said that Prosser was a “renaissance man coaching basketball.”
Stories of Prosser’s death and subsequent reflections about his career were featured on sports fronts around the world. As for his being mentioned here, he had the poetry going for him, and he had West Virginia ties.
Born in Pittsburgh, he earned a graduate degree from WVU. His first coaching assignments were at West Virginia high schools — Linsly Academy in Wheeling for two seasons and five seasons at Wheeling Central. What some here in West Virginia and elsewhere might remember about him is that he was probably one of the best-read coaches ever.
According to David Glenn of ACCSports.com, Prosser “particularly seemed to enjoy quoting Geoffrey Chaucer, William Wordsworth or the man he liked to call ‘Billy Shakespeare.’ ” He would quote people like Henry David Thoreau or Friedrich Nietzsche to make a point or to inspire his players.
One of Prosser’s favorite Chaucer quotes, Glenn said, reflected the coach’s priority — that of a teacher’s perspective:
“Seeke out ye goode in everie man, and speke of alle the beste ye can; then wil alle men speke wel of thee and say how kynde of hearte ye bee.”
Rest in peace, Skip Prosser — one in whom the roles of teacher and coach coalesced admirably.
