remembering coach petey jacobs
“Got a minute?” Alex Smith asked me one morning recently when our paths crossed outside his office.
Sure, I responded, knowing from years of experience that any visit with Collegiate’s vice-president for development, a friend and colleague for four-plus decades, would be enlightening.
A moment later, Smith pulled from a file folder a piece I’d written when I was a rookie sports writer with the Richmond News Leader.
Published March 2, 1970, it chronicled the Cougars’ 68-49 victory over St. Christopher’s in the championship game of the Collegiate Invitational Basketball Tournament.
As I scanned the yellowing article, I read aloud a quotation from Coach Petey Jacobs: “This team was so good because the players were unselfish. Look at the record tonight. We had 15 assists.”
That’s vintage Petey, I commented. That’s the way his teams always were.
“Yeah,” Smith responded. “That’s the way Petey taught all of us to be: unselfish. Teamwork was a big part of my experience with Petey.
“It’s carried over in my life’s work.”
One of the best things I learned from Petey, I said, was taking the lessons of sports and applying them to life outside the arena
“Yep,” my friend continued. “Fair play. Winning with no attitude. Losing with no attitude. Patting your opponent on the back after the game and shaking hands.
“Petey was great about getting us to enjoy the victory but all in the right way. With Petey, you did try to win. You never wanted to let him down or disappoint him. But if you didn’t win, you had to be a gentleman about it.”
He also said in the article, “We got behind, but you didn’t see us lose our poise.”
Coach Jacobs never, ever, lost his poise, did he?
“That’s so true,” Smith replied. “He sat so quietly on the bench unlike most coaches today. He didn’t pace around. He didn’t throw things. Occasionally, I saw him get up and talk to an official, but he never yelled, and he only talked to him during a timeout.”
Then there’s a line that read, “This is the best Collegiate team I ever had,” added Jacobs. That seems like such an un-Petey-like statement.
“Yeah, but that team was amazing. I remember watching those guys play. They were so well-balanced.
“There was never any doubt about whether they’d win or not. It was always about how much they’d win by.
“Petey didn’t go out on a limb and say things like that, but he was very proud of that team. They were really the best that he ever had that I saw at Collegiate.”
Petey left us more than 16 years ago, but a lot of us still remember his manner, his bearing. He was the gold standard, wasn’t he?
“The role model thing is a cliché, but it certainly applied to Petey. He was a great person to be around. Petey was just special.”
Coach Jacobs was always great about supporting and encouraging his coaches.
It was a kind word, sometimes spoken, sometimes on a 3x5 card. Or, after he retired, it was a note in the mail.
“When I coached, Petey was always there on the sideline and would always comment about games. I always appreciated that he had an interest.
“Once, we had a last-minute, unexplainable, long-shot victory in Cub football. Petey got the biggest kick out of that. He said he enjoyed that as much as any victory he’d ever seen. Of course, that meant a lot to me.
“I remember when I was playing (for Collegiate) and made a tackle on the sideline. Petey picked me up and said, ‘Nice tackle,’ and pushed me back into the game.
“Something as simple as that made a real difference.
“Collegiate and Petey are synonymous to me.”
Do you still see his presence at Collegiate?
“Sure. The spirit of fair play and sportsmanship is still prevalent. I hope it’s being passed down to the younger coaches from the ones who were mentored by Petey.”
A lot of younger coaches never knew him, but they truly get it. The greatest compliment I can give them is, “Coach Jacobs would love the way you coach.”
“I agree. There’re a lot of young men and women out there who are carrying the tradition along.
“That’s what makes me proud about Collegiate.”
