Happy Birthday Gary

TigerBlog starts today by wishing a happy birthday to the one and only Gary Walters.

The Ford Family Director of Athletics Emeritus, Gary is as big a Princeton Athletics fan who has ever lived. He has been completely invested in the Tigers since he first came here from Reading, Pa., in September of 1963.

He was brought here by his father and dropped off in the courtyard outside of Dillon Gym as he moved into 345 Pyne, his first room here. More than 59 years later, there was Gary, in the Princeton Stadium press box, watching Princeton and Lehigh play football.

How many Princeton games must he have seen in his life? Has anyone ever seen more? 

Gary's time at Princeton has included being a student, a psychology major whose senior thesis was entitled: "Stereotyping by College Students Re-Examined: A Replication and Extension of the Katz and Braly (1932) and Gilbert (1950) Investigations."

He also was the point guard on the basketball team, which reached the NCAA Final Four in 1965, his sophomore year. As a senior, he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, along with his teammate Chris Thomforde.

He would be an assistant coach at Princeton as part of the 1975 NIT championship team. He became the AD in 1994, starting a 20-year run that can be summed up by his favorite phrase: "Education Through Athletics And An Unmatched Tradition Of Athletic Success."

Gary isn't on campus too much these days, but he's completely plugged into the Princeton teams and the people who work with them. It's been more than eight years since he's been the AD, so there have been several years worth of Princeton athletes and staff members who weren't here under his leadership. Hopefully, though, they've gotten to know the name and his legacy, even if they haven't known him.

So happy birthday to Gary.

Of course, his connection to Princeton predates even his time as a student and athlete in the mid-1960s, though he couldn't have known it at the time. His basketball coach, and American government teacher, at Reading High School was none other than Pete Carril.

Gary and Pete are cornerstones of the great legacy that is Princeton men's basketball. Pete's coach his senior year at Lafayette was Butch van Breda Kolff, who coached Gary as a player at Princeton. Pete replaced van Breda Kolff at Princeton, and since then, every head Princeton coach — Bill Carmody, John Thompson III, Joe Scott, Sydney Johnson, Mitch Henderson — played for Carril and was hired by Gary (except for Carmody, who coached with Carril but played for Gary when he was the head coach at Union).

That's quite a straight line for one program. Is there any other program in any sport at any college that can match that? 

Coach Carril passed away last month. There was a small, private family funeral, and it was announced that there would be a public memorial in Jadwin Gym at a later date.

That later date is Friday, when Coach's life will be celebrated in Jadwin. It's the fitting setting for such an event.

Celebrating Coach.

At 11 a.m. on September 30, we will gather as a community to celebrate the life and legacy of Pete Carril in Jadwin Gymnasium.

We hope to see you there. pic.twitter.com/9rJmY3X6LL

— Princeton Men’s Basketball (@PrincetonMBB) September 26, 2022

The main court is named for him, of course. He talked often about watching as the building was constructed early in his 29-year tenure as head coach. He'd tell the story of how he used to get a six-pack and go down to watch the building go up. "I knew I had to put a team on the court that was worthy of the building," he'd always say.

He did, of course. He put a lot of worthy teams on the court. 

TB will be at the celebration. He'll try to focus on the speakers and the videos and the tributes, but he knows his mind will drift, to all the times he and Coach spent together in the building. He's sure he won't be the only one in attendance who will be doing the same.

The event is free and open to the public. It starts at 11.