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Geno Auriemma's Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Speech

May 30, 2021
here to welcome Gino to the Hall of Fame is Dr. Jack Ramsey, ladies and gentlemen, Gino Orma, yes, I am very, very, very nervous, I'm not usually nervous, but I am very, very nervous and I'm going to be brief because Well, when you see who follows me, you'll know why, part of part of all this, I think everyone mentioned the class we're going to and I'd like to close my eyes, you know? I would like to take something from everyone in this class I would really like to I would like to have Dave's Vision, you know, just waking up and being able to see what he sees every day and I like having Dominique's ability to do the things he loves most. human beings can't do and I like to have Sandro's style, you know, he has that Italian style, you know, and I and I would love to have the class, the dignity and the inner strength of Joe that he represents and I would like to have Charles' style. money that he has lost throughout his life and, after all, said and done, I like to wake up and be Jerry Colangelo or someone like that, you know, but when I was a kid, you know,

basketball

for me was not something to whatever I could aspire to. being as a player, um, things still, you know, kept getting in the way when I wanted to be a good player, uh, my number one skill, um, but I never lost that love for the game that I acquired when, um, when I got there At the top. school and I lived in Philadelphia, it was at a time when a lot of great coaches lived in the area and I think the person I always associated with was the father of those coaches and the person that all the coaches wanted to emulate and be like. someone who I thought really personified the teacher coach, the faculty member who trained the person who was a teacher before becoming a coach, as opposed to today when coaches are entrepreneurs who coach and that person is someone I always love.
geno auriemma s basketball hall of fame enshrinement speech
I wanted to be like when I grew up and someone who I am now lucky enough to call one of my friends who brought me into the St Joe's family and made me a hawk by association and someone who I have looked up to all my life and will be. I'll continue to do it as long as I live and that's Jack Ramsey, you know, it's very humbling, uh, when you're standing here and you're trying to think about the things that have brought you to this point and, um, I know, like Joe said, I think we are a reflection of our families and the place we grew up and the way we were raised and the experiences we had as children and the people we associated with and um for me, all my friends and and you can't name them all, but The guys I grew up with and the ones who allowed me to play, the ones who took me to my family didn't have cars, you know?
geno auriemma s basketball hall of fame enshrinement speech

More Interesting Facts About,

geno auriemma s basketball hall of fame enshrinement speech...

So I was a really good teammate because you know. If you take me to the game, I'll pass the ball to you. I mean, it was because I have a way to get to the games. So I had a lot of guys that really took me under their wing and, my high school coach, Bug Garer. They let me play on the team and I said, "You know, if I can be part of a team for the rest of my life, then I'll be a lucky guy and I've been trying my whole life." to be part of a team and I was lucky to work with people who allow me to do what I love to do and that is teach and train.
geno auriemma s basketball hall of fame enshrinement speech
You know Jim Foster first and then Phil Martelli and Debbie Ryan. and then, you know, I was able to go and do my thing in Connecticut and Connecticut is the only place I've been a head coach and Connecticut is the only place I've been able to grow as a person. a teacher as a coach um makes mistakes from the beginning makes mistakes in the middle makes some mistakes even now at the end but from start to finish I've never lost sight of the fact that it's just a game and it's a group of people trying to get together to accomplish something that you individually can't do for yourself and again my players there's a bunch of them here I don't know how many uh but they're all back there um and they're part of being in part of being in the part of being here, you know. , I was telling someone the other day when one of my players was named first team All American or something like that.
geno auriemma s basketball hall of fame enshrinement speech
I always thought, you know, I think I had something to do with it and every time he became player of the year or received some kind of award. I would say I think I had something to do with that and it made me feel really good to see them get an award right now right now. This is their opportunity to sit there and look up and say to themselves, "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be there and you'd be absolutely right. I've been extremely fortunate to have athletic directors." uh, who really valued what we were trying to do and supported us and the university presidents who loved what we brought to the table and wanted to maximize it as much as possible, and you know, despite everything, it wasn't a master plan.
I don't think anyone has a plan, I think it's more the people you surround yourself with and help, are we here today? Well, we are pretty good, how can we be better tomorrow? Let's do that and then how can we be better the next day? that and then you look up and you're here um and if you're a player it's because you had great teammates and great coaches it's no secret it's no secret that Joe's backcourt partner is in the Hall of Fame and his coach is in the Hall of Fame, you know it's no secret that when you're a great player you probably play with other great players and if you're a coach you probably coach great players and that's how we end up here, we're set up by the people we play with. we surrounded each other, my assistant over the years, you know, for a long time, you know Steve Seagrist and Ellen Clark, and you know Megan Patterson and Wendy Davis and all these people who came to the office every day and wanted that we improve. and the ones I have now that have been with me for so long, Tanya Cardoza and Jamal Elliott, Chris Daly and Jack Men, they've been together for a long time and as a head coach, you're probably just as good as your players and your assistants and them.
They've been there from the beginning and they've let me do what I want to do and tell them what to do and then they go and do it and sometimes I don't. I know what they're doing, but they do the right thing and then they tell me what they did and then there's my family, who I'm very, very proud of and I probably don't get the chance to say it enough. how um uh my kids, you know it's not easy living in Connecticut when your dad is around, you know who I am and they have to know when we lose or when things don't go a certain way or when they do something that you know they might be affected. . in a different way than most other children, so, for my daughter, Jenna, who is now in graduate school, and Alyssa, who will be on Broadway one day, and for my son, who loves the game of

basketball

, probably more than anyone I know, and him.
I'll tell you, he's a lot better than I ever was and he's right, and I'm very proud of the way they grew up and the way they handled the whole Yukon thing, and my wife Kathy is responsible for that. because I think she has taught them the right way to be and she has probably been the only person who has been a constant in my life and the only other person is my brother and my sister, but in the end you are the product of your parents and my father is not here but my mother is and Sandra was talking about the war and Sandra was talking about being 12 years old and having bullets flying around and my mother was 11 Sandra, you should talk to my mother because you speak English it is very good and when you speak with her you will see why your English is very good, okay, her Italian is very good, but your English is very good and when you are 11 or 12 you will have to hide from the Germans and move to the hills and you can't go back to your city ​​because they are going to kill you and there are five people you are trying to take care of and you are an adult at the age of 10 11 so when my players tell you Yo how hard it is I just laugh they don't know how hard which is, they don't know what it's like to live in those conditions, but because she lived in those conditions, she made sure that compassion, passion, love and the way.
We hugged people, she made sure, she gave me, she couldn't give me much, she made my clothes and you haven't lived until you go to school wearing clothes your mother made you or you know you're eating sandwiches and dripping tin foil. , you know, sausage oil and peppers, so she gave me a lot of things, a few bruises from time to time too, but when I left Philly for the first time she told me two things: work hard and make a lot of friends and Everything I Ever Wanted of all this game from my Friends acquaintances was respect for how I do things and how I represent my family, my school, my program and this is the ultimate sign of respect and I want to thank everyone who made it possible. you

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