Many people know Dick Van Scyoc, the coach: 826 career victories in
a 45-year career that culminated with the 1994 Class AA state championship to cap 28 basketball seasons at Manual.
But when I think about Coach Van, the man, I think about racquetball. I think about his own work ethic that he instilled in generations of young men beyond the basketball court.
My friends and I worked out in the weight room at Bradley’s Haussler Hall during the 1980s and ’90s, and the racquetball courts were connected to The Sweatbox (no air conditioning!).
More often than not, when the racket from the balls hitting the walls halted, Coach Van and a Who’s Who of area coaches would walk out for a water break. Drenched to the bone, Van and his buddies would walk right back through the tiny door for another game.
Most impressive for us young bucks to see the “old man” who guided our Rams to take such a physical test over and over again. He had no quit. And word has it he won most of those matches.
The spirit of that attitude was captured at Manual High on Aug. 20 during a Homegoing Celebration of Life for Coach Van, who died at age 98.
“He taught me the value of hard work,” said Jamere Jackson (Manual, ’86), who spoke second on that Saturday afternoon. “He was the first person who introduced me to what I call The Flywheel of Success: Practice builds confidence and confidence builds success. And the more success you have, the more you should want to practice. And the more you practice the more confidence you have and the more success you have. ‘It becomes a vicious cycle,’ he said.
“Those words changed my life. He taught me the value of hard work, tenacity, grit, integrity, character. And those lessons extended far beyond what I did in this gymnasium. Those lessons stayed with me my entire life.”
Jackson went on to be a captain on the University of Notre Dame basketball team and is now the chief financial officer for Autozone — after similar positions at several other Fortune 500 corporations — and sits on the board of directors for Eli Lilly.
David Booth (Manual, ’88) is now the NBA Vice President of Basketball Operations. He spoke first and introduced the lessons of the value of preparation with the last words he heard from his beloved mentor.
“ ‘I want you to speak at my Homegoing Celebration,’ ” Booth’s voice cracked as he captivated the audience with Coach Van’s profound request. “I was so honored.”
“How do you say thank you?” was Booth’s theme. “For seeing something in me that I didn’t see in myself? For giving back and not getting something in return? For always opening your house to hundreds of kids and treating them like your own?
“For teaching me the meaning of hard work?”
Both Booth and Jackson — the men — are two pillars at the pinnacle of Van’s pyramid of success (“If you’re 15 minutes early, you’re late!”). But it rests on a far wider foundation of so many young souls “The Godfather” put to the test.
Ken Meischner, who played for Van in the 1960s while at Washington and then coached with him at Manual, spoke last and told the story of having his shoes stolen before a game. “Kenny, what size do you wear?” Van Scyoc yelled out of his office as he was taking off his own pair so this freshman he barely knew could play that day.
Another testament to the impact — and success — Coach Van had at Manual is that the coaches who succeeded him ran his same system. The late Wayne McClain took the torch and rode the horse to three more state championships to complete the historical four-peat after Van retired. And Tim Kenny, Derrick Booth and Willie Coleman ran Van’s exact same system, which is practically unheard of in the profession.
“It was his system,” Derrick Booth said. “The legacy continues.”
Van Scyoc wrote the book “Manual Labor: Feet and shoulders square, elbow in, eye on the target.”
“Fundamentals, switching on defense, forward denial,” explained Fred Lee (Manual, ’86), who moonlighted as a longtime assistant for those next generations of head coaches. “They are all a byproduct of his coaching. So all of their wins go to Van, too. That’s more than a thousand wins.”
New Rams coach Marvin Jordan, who was still in diapers when Manual won that first state title, will most definitely follow in those fabled footsteps on “Dick Van Scyoc Court.”
“Tradition,” said Jordan, who takes the reins from Coleman this season. “It’s the blueprint. We already know what to do.”
It’s the Manual Way. Meischner noted that MHS was known as a football and baseball school before Coach Van went to work down on Griswold St.
It is unquestionably a bastion of basketball now. Talent was secondary, though, to “how to be a good person. How to be a good character,” Jackson said.
There were always at least five guys who were better at basketball walking the halls, but they didn’t have what it took to play for Dick Van Scyoc.
“Just because you were a starter at Manual didn’t mean you were always better,” former Bradley star Curtis Stuckey (Manual, ’87) wrote on Facebook, “but you were on time, kept your grades up, stayed out of trouble and had your attitude in check!”
A great man from the Greatest Generation with a lasting legacy: “We are the branches and extensions of his teaching,” David Booth said.
“We were super competitive, but there was always a love and a respect — saying ‘Thank you, I love you,’ and giving back,” Jackson finished.
“His body is gone,” Meischner concluded at Coach Van Court, “but his spirit will always be here.”
— Brian Ludwig is Managing Editor
of The Community Word