News > August 23, 2007

By Liza Greenspun | News editor

In just six short years at the university, “he did what most people would take decades to do,” Ron Wellman, director of athletics, said of men’s basketball coach Skip Prosser.

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Prosser fans rolled the Quad in memory of the late coach the night of his death. (Nick Babladelis/Old Gold & Black)

Prosser served as the ultimate role model for the university, possessing all the qualities on which the university prides itself.

Although his six years at the university were unexpectedly cut short, Prosser’s presence can still be felt, and not just on the basketball court.

“He was such a part of our fiber,” Wellman said. “I don’t think anyone realizes the impact that he had.”

Growing up strong

While coaching basketball at an Atlantic Coast Conference school can be a tough job, Prosser had been accustomed to hard work from the start.

Growing up, Prosser’s father taught him lessons well-learned, evident through stories of his youth as reported by the Winston-Salem Journal July 27. One of Prosser’s favorite childhood anecdotes revolved around a Little League baseball game. With his father as coach, Prosser hurt his arm and ran off the field crying. His father simply looked at him and said, “You have another one, don’t you?” Young Prosser ran back out on the field and played the rest of the game before finally going to the hospital, where he was treated for a broken arm.

The spirit and persistence that Prosser learned that day stuck with him for the rest of his life, evident in all that he did at the university.

A few years down the road, Prosser left Pittsburgh to begin his college career at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y. The first days were so hard on him that he called his parents to say he was coming home. Prosser’s father said that was fine, although he didn’t know where his son would sleep, as he was about to walk up to his room and destroy his bed.

Needless to say, Prosser stayed at the Academy, where he was on the basketball team but mostly rode the bench, and graduated in 1972 with a degree in nautical science, or as Prosser often joked, a degree in “driving ships.”

After graduating, Prosser sailed for one year but then chose to pursue a different career. He accepted a position as a ninth grade history teacher at a private school in West Virginia, on the condition that he also coach the ninth grade basketball squad and help coach the ninth grade football team.

Becoming a coach

Little did Prosser know that accepting a coaching position for a high school basketball team would lead him to a lifetime of high-profile coaching.

“I didn’t start out wanting to be a coach,” Prosser said in the university’s Campus Chronicle of June 2001. “I started out wanting to be a teacher. There was no grand scheme.”

After 12 years of coaching at the ninth grade level, including a West Virginia title in 1982, Prosser accepted a position as an assistant coach at Xavier University, where he stayed for nine seasons. Then, Prosser became the head coach at Loyola University in Maryland.

After just one year at Loyola, Prosser returned to Xavier as head coach, where he had expected to stay until his retirement.

It was in 2001 that Prosser’s plans changed. He became a Demon Deacon. “This was a challenge that I thought was too good to pass up at this stage in my life,” Prosser had said upon accepting the job. But Prosser rose to the challenge and led the team to success soon after coming to the university.

Saving Wake Forest basketball

In 2001, Prosser brought with him a whole new meaning to the words ‘Wake Forest men’s basketball.’ With Prosser as head coach, the team had several successful years, winning the ACC Championship in 2003, the same year that Prosser received the honors of ACC Coach of the Year.

“He changed the environment and culture of Wake Forest basketball,” Wellman said.

According to senior Tiffany Ingold, public relations chair of Screamin’ Demons, Prosser helped develop the idea of a unified student section in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum wearing tie-dyed shirts to intimidate the visiting teams.

Ingold had the opportunity to meet with Prosser about the future of Screamin’ Demons and the basketball team this past academic year. “I left that meeting thoroughly impressed with him and have the highest regard for him,” she said.

Prosser embodied all things Wake Forest, Ingold said, adding that she was taken aback that he took an hour out of his day to talk to the leaders of Screamin’ Demons as well as by how incredibly humble he was.

In the days leading to his death, Prosser had expressed his optimism for this year’s basketball season, telling people with hope that the men’s basketball team would recover from its two-year slump.

In early July, Prosser signed two of the most sought-after recruits for the 2008-’09 basketball season, another reason for his positive attitude about his future coaching at the university.

A life extinguished far too soon

Hard-working and always optimistic, Prosser’s sudden death from an apparent massive heart attack came as a shock to all. Prosser was a mere 56 years old, seemingly in good physical health and committed to his regular jogs around the Kentner Stadium track at the university.

Wellman said his favorite memories of Prosser were, “The man, in that he was a happy man. He always found the bright side.”

Since Prosser’s untimely death, many events have been held at the university in his memory, including a rolling of the Quad the night of his death and again on July 30, time for prayer reflection July 29 in Wait Chapel, a viewing on July 29 and a funeral mass on July 31, with the assistant basketball coaching staff as pallbearers and the current and future men’s basketball players as honorary pallbearers.

Prosser’s popularity was evident at the funeral. Attendees included all who had played for Prosser, past and present, ex-Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher and all the ACC head basketball coaches, in addition to hundreds of other fans.

Senior Whitney Marshall, Student Government president, said that she went to Wait Chapel for the prayer reflection. She watched while a family with two young daughters entered Wait Chapel and one of the little girls brought flowers and laid them down at the front of the Chapel.

“That really says volumes,” Marshall said, emphasizing the fact that Prosser was a true role model. “He was able to build a bridge outside of the Wake bubble.”

More than a coach

“Coach really had an affect on all of us,” junior Justin Snow, a manager of the men’s basketball team, said. “Coach was the kind of person who learned your name the first day and never forgot it.”

Those who had a personal relationship with Prosser readily discuss how they cared for him, how he meant so much to them as a coach, as a teacher, as a friend. Prosser had the sincere ability to genuinely touch the lives of nearly every person he met, no matter the age or position or on-court rivalry between them.

“He affected everyone he met,” Wellman said.

Snow experienced this quality directly. He said that even before becoming a basketball manager, he saw Prosser running on the track and stopped him to say hello and shake his hand. He said that Prosser asked him questions and showed that he sincerely cared about who he was.

In the past two years as a manager of the basketball team, Snow has truly become a part of the team. One memory in particular stood out for Snow as he recalled Prosser’s humor and how he was treated as a team member.

At practice, Prosser had a rule that anyone who dove on the ball or charged would be picked up by the other team members, Snow explained. One day, Snow dove on the ball, thinking that Prosser did not see his crime.

However, he heard a whistle from across the room. When Prosser saw that Snow dove on the ball and was not picked up, he made all of the managers run suicides, Snow said as he recalled the funny situation.

More than a coach, Prosser was a leader at the university, and not just on the basketball court.

“He basically had the ability to bring students together and create a really strong community,” Marshall said.

Others agreed that Prosser had a remarkable and unforgettable way with people, becoming friends with every person he met. “His major accomplishments were with the people he worked with,” Wellman said, “and that’s how he’ll be remembered.”

“He was like a dad here. He really took on an active role in my life,” Snow said. “He was everything this school could ever hope to be. We’re never going to forget about him.”

A charitable man

Given his high-profile position, Prosser had no ego. Prosser would give back to the community in many ways, ranging from working with charitable organizations to speaking at banquet dinners. One time, Prosser even got down on his hands and knees and scrubbed kennels at the Humane Society, Wellman said.

One of Prosser’s most memorable and appreciated charitable acts was his recent trip to Kuwait, where he taught basketball to USO troops. According to Wellman, Prosser could not stop talking about this trip; he even showed pictures to everyone, like a proud grandfather showing off his grandchildren.

Sympathy from around the nation

The type of person that Prosser was is evident through the responses the university has received from coaches, reporters and fans around the nation. Even North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole offered her condolences in a letter to the university.

Public statements have been made by his peers, other coaches and past players, as well as Prosser fans from around the country, including those who attend rival universities, such as Duke.

“As a coach, you want to be someplace where they care,” Prosser told the Winston-Salem Journal in 2001. The overwhelming responses have proved that Prosser did find a place where they care.