The tribute to the late Skip Prosser before last night's game between Wake Forest and Xavier struck a chord with everybody.
With several of Prosser's family in attendance at Joel Coliseum, including Prosser's widow, Nancy, the 90-second video presentation had her wiping away a few tears.
"It was a great idea to put this game together," Nancy said from her second-row seat near one of the baselines. "Coach Prosser would have loved this."
Nancy, who lives in Cincinnati and works as an emergency nurse at the University of Cincinnati Hospitals, spent most of the game getting hugs and greetings from seemingly all of the 14,148 in attendance.
"Both schools are great schools and Xavier is where it all began for him," Nancy said at halftime while greeting fans from both schools. "It's wonderful to have everybody here for the game. It's hard to see Coach Prosser on the screen, but it was very well done."
Prosser, who coached at Xavier for 15 years before spending six seasons at Wake Forest before his death on July 26, 2007, had a deep impact on both programs. The 10-year series of the Skip Prosser Classic, which will resume next season at Xavier, includes a trophy awarded to the winning team.
The four seniors for the Deacons -- Chas McFarland, Ish Smith, David Weaver and L.D. Williams -- accepted the trophy at midcourt afterward that was presented by one of Prosser's sons, Scott. They are the only players left who played for Prosser.
During halftime, almost 200 fourth-graders from Forsyth County schools were recognized for a reading program that has Skip Prosser's name on it. Greeting the students and giving them encouragement was Prosser's mother, Laura Jo, who is best known by both Xavier and Wake Forest fans as Grandma Jo.
"All the kids wanted a hug instead of shaking hands, so I tried to hug them all," said Grandma Jo, who is a retired teacher.
Grandma Jo joked that she wouldn't have minded seeing a third overtime. "I just want to thank both universities for what they've done and I know he was flapping his wings from high above," Grandma Jo said.
"And he was up there saying to play hard, and both teams played very hard."
Skip's sister, Cindy Gross, said that for many of the family members it was their first time back at Joel Coliseum since the opening game of the 2007-08 season when the school raised a banner in tribute to Prosser.
"It's always tough and it still tears your heart out, but coming back like this is a good way to remember him," Gross said. "Both schools couldn't have been nicer to our family the last two and half years, and they couldn't have been more giving."
Michael Drum, a former guard for the Deacons, was sitting courtside and had a brief conversation with Nancy Prosser before the game.
"This is an emotional game and I wanted to be here," Drum said. "A lot of Coach's players couldn't be here, but I wanted to be here and support this game because Skip meant a lot of things to a lot of people."
As part of the video tribute, Chris Paul and David West, teammates for the New Orleans Hornets, offered their kind words about Prosser. Paul played for the Deacons, and West played for Prosser at Xavier.
Before the game, each of the Deacons' four seniors gave a short speech in the locker room about what Prosser meant to them. Coach Dino Gaudio of the Deacons said that he couldn't bear to hear what the seniors had to say so he left the locker room.
"I tried to be as brief as I could without getting emotional," Williams said about his pre-game speech to the rest of the team. "I just said, ‘This is our chance to pay back everything that Coach Prosser has given to us. He gave us all an opportunity to play at a high Division I school and this was our chance to pay him back.'"
jdell@wsjournal.com
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