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Prosser's Memory Is Alive At Wake

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By SCOTT CARTER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 20, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - Skip Prosser is gone, but his memory thrives in the rafters at Lawrence Joel Coliseum, home of the Wake Forest basketball team.

Prosser spent six seasons at Wake Forest, coaching his final game in March in downtown Tampa at the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. The Demon Deacons lost to Virginia Tech that day, and four months later, they lost their beloved head coach due to a heart attack.

Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton took over the Seminoles a year after Prosser arrived at Wake Forest. The two didn't know each other very well, but when Prosser passed away in his office following a jog on a warm summer day, Hamilton remembers a sick feeling in his stomach when he first heard the news.

Hamilton attended a memorial service for Prosser a few days later in Winston-Salem, N.C., a trip he called "an eye-opener." Hamilton will be back there today when FSU travels to face the Demon Deacons and first-year coach Dino Gaudio, a longtime Prosser associate who took over the program after his mentor and good friend died.

When the teams take the court, they will do so underneath a larger banner with Prosser's name inscribed on it. The banner is just one of the reminders of what Prosser meant to Wake Forest.

So is this year's Wake Forest team, the youngest in the ACC. The Demon Deacons start two freshmen and three sophomores, but with 11 wins already, they are well on pace to eclipse last season's 15-16 record.

When Gaudio was named Prosser's successor eight days after Prosser's death, he made clear his dream for the Demon Deacons.

"We want to be the greatest story in college basketball this season," Gaudio said. "Ninety percent of what I learned about the game, I learned from Skip."

There are no official rankings, but the Demon Deacons are clearly trying to make their former coach proud.

"They are doing their best to honor Skip's memory with the way they are playing this year," Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman told The Baltimore Sun recently. "I'm not talking about wins and losses as much as I am about their intensity and their work ethic and their attitude and all the things that Skip stood for."

Gaudio reminded the players of that following a 112-73 loss at Boston College eight days ago in the Demon Deacons' first ACC road game of the season.

"I hope it was a learning experience," Gaudio said Monday. "They got punched right in the nose very early in this process, and hopefully they will learn from it."

Prosser's memory is still around to help.

Reporter Scott Carter can be

reached at (850) 294-3088

or scarter@tampatrib.com.

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