Lou Carnesecca, beloved St. John’s coach and patron saint, dies at 99

Lou Carnesecca poses with former players in 2021 at statue dedication in Carnesecca Arena lobby. The beloved St. John’s coach died Saturday, weeks before his 100th birthday. (Photo by Corey Sipkin/New York Post)

Mention Lou Carnesecca to any New York sports fan, and you will receive a response that is equal tones reverent and awe-inspiring. Mention him to St. John’s fans—or especially alumni—and each one will line up to defend his honor like any man or woman would for the patriarch of his own family. Regardless, each reaction elicited at the drop of Carnesecca’s name would be warm, heartfelt and welcoming, much like the legendary coach of the then-Redmen was throughout his life, whether he was on the sideline or at his regular table down the street from the St. John’s campus at the old Dante’s on Union Turnpike.

Carnesecca, the affable and beloved icon who took an already successful St. John’s program to new heights over his 24-year career, died Saturday at the age of 99, a mere 36 days before he would have turned 100 on January 5.

The patron saint of St. John’s basketball, Looie—as he was often and lovably dubbed—was truly a saint in life as well. The son of blue-collar Italian immigrants who owned a Manhattan grocery store, Carnesecca instilled the same work ethic into his own career, and by extension, his players. It began in 1950 at the old St. Ann’s Academy, now Archbishop Molloy, where he preceded a fellow member of New York City hoops royalty, Jack Curran. After serving as Joe Lapchick’s assistant coach at St. John’s for seven years, Carnesecca replaced him when a university policy forced Lapchick into retirement at age 65. A three-year run as head coach of the New York Nets interrupted Carnesecca’s time in Queens, but after Frank Mulzoff was released from his contract in 1973, Looie returned to the one place he truly called home.

It was that run that was the most memorable for fans of the Johnnies and for Carnesecca as well. Mullin. Jackson. Berry. Wennington. Glass. Russell. Sealy. All of those legendary names, and countless others, spent time under his learning tree. And through it all, from the iconic sweaters to the 1985 Final Four run that St. John’s fans wax poetic and nostalgic about on an everyday basis with good reason, Looie remained true to who and what he was, the Everyman who represented the people who made the city go.

There was a reason St. John’s became known as New York’s team, and it was due to Carnesecca’s effervescent personality and warm-hearted, but determined and tough, street-smart persona. In an era where the Red Holzman Knicks, Bronx Zoo Yankees, and 1986 with both the Mets and Giants competed for headlines in the local papers, Looie didn’t just carve out his own niche, he held court and made a college team relevant in a pro market in a way very few coaches could. Moreover, he did it by being himself and not a replica of someone else, which garnered him more respect in a town synonymous with being able to spot a fake a mile away.

Even after he retired in 1992, Carnesecca’s legend only grew exponentially thereafter. No matter who you were, what you did, or where you came from, if you sought him out for just a moment, Looie made time for you. He made you feel special, like you were his own. Even a 10-second encounter would last several minutes, a testament to the grandfatherly aura Carnesecca carried with him and endeared him to so many.

Growing up in an Italian family myself, the only child of a mother whose father emigrated from a small village outside of Naples in 1927, I was taught two things first and foremost: To always treat those you encounter the way you would want them to treat you, and to always conduct yourself with honor and respect, especially around those who came before you. Lou Carnesecca was undoubtedly instructed the same way, and never compromised his integrity or credibility in his century on this earth.

It’s hard to pay a proper tribute to a man who had so many words for so many moments, but one particular quote from Carnesecca always resonates with me, especially working in an unforgiving business where one’s job security is not always guaranteed.

Today a peacock, tomorrow a feather duster.

For those unfamiliar, it essentially means you should never take anything in life for granted, for you could be on top of the world right now, but be stripped of it at a moment’s notice. Today, Lou Carnesecca is neither a peacock nor a feather duster, he is now an immortal, an angel who receives his wings and now reigns on the hardwood up above.

In 2004, Alumni Hall was renamed in his honor, in 2021, a statue dedicated in the lobby of what is now Carnesecca Arena. On a wall behind the statue reads a quote that says the following:

To all the players that made my life a wonderful dream, I thank you.

St. John’s fans and New York sports fans alike have Lou Carnesecca to thank for not only a charmed existence, but for making their own lives so colorful, memorable, and enriched with the love and compassion of someone who—at his core—was a part of the family, no matter how small.

As we say in Italian, a buonamina (God rest his soul), Looie.