Hall of Fame
John Beilein – Class of 2003
Knowing what’s important…
Down on one knee he shouts, his voice cramming consonants into staccato to carry across the gym. He is a conductor; his orchestra is spread across the hardwood. He is as tense as the string on a violin’s bow. Bang. He slaps the floor as a pass goes awry.
A meticulous planner and hard worker who knows what’s important, he demands no less of his charges. His teams routinely achieve stellar shooting percentages… because they play as a team because they shoot from selected spots, and because their plays are based on squad’s talent and practiced constantly.
He will not lose his cool. He will have a plan. No matter how anxious the moment, how crucial the game he will be able to focus on executing a plan. Anxiety will recede as each player concentrates on his role in achieving success.
John Beilein is the only collegiate coach to record twenty victories in a season at virtually every level – junior college, NAIA, NCAA Division I and II. In nine seasons on the Heights, he built the best winning percentage in the program’s history, recording 163 victories against 94 losses. The 24-6 record of his 1987-88 squad tied the record for most wins in a season.
The skills observed in Syracuse have been honed and his fame has grown as he has progressed through the Division I coaching ranks after leaving Le Moyne. He rejuvenated the Canisius program, restored the Richmond Spiders’ bite and now is moving the Mountaineers toward a title in the Big East.
Yet a place in this Hall of Fame is earned by more than won-loss percentage. John Beilein is about values. He is about family. He is about getting his players to religious services. He is about remembering his friend who can’t drive – picking him up at Henninger Athletic Center in the Richmond team bus and sitting him on the Spiders’ bench at the Carrier Dome. He is about knowing what is truly important.
He returned Dolphin basketball to prominence after a period of decline and consistently represented the best in the Le Moyne Athletic Tradition on and off the court. He established an unequalled record of success based on preparation and hard work. For this, and for a career that reminds us that success need not limit our ability to recognize what’s important,
John Beilein, is an honorary member of the
Le Moyne College Athletic Hall of Fame.
February 8, 2003
