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Kenneth A. MacDonald started his head coaching career at St. Teresa of Avila School in Albany during President Lyndon Johnson's administration. He coached his last basketball game more than 30 years later. He died March 23 at the age of 70.

Ken amassed 64 tournament titles and 16 league championships. Dozens of his players went on to become standout high school stars; many even went on to play in college. But those titles won't be what he's remembered for.

During those 31 years on the bench, Ken selflessly volunteered his time, coaching both the biddy and junior boys' teams. In some years, as many as 20 players would try out. I'm sure many worried if they would make the team.

They should have saved their energy. Ken rarely made cuts. Not every kid played, but every player suited up. Ken felt that if kids were part of a team and attending practice on a regular basis, they were busy, out of trouble and off the streets.

Many things changed for the players during those 31 years, but the important parts of Ken's practices never changed. I'll bet Ken's first team and his last ran the same drills and kept the same schedule.

Each team practiced twice a week. When I played for St. Teresa of Avila in the early to mid-1980s, I can recall the days each team practiced, with league games on Sundays. That meant Ken dedicated at least five days a week for more than three decades to coaching and mentoring, in addition to his work as a real property tax auditor.

Discipline was a major tenet of Ken's coaching. When he spoke, you didn't. If you did speak, you ran laps. You didn't miss practice or show up late. I remember kids waiting for Ken's car to pull up to the school so we could get into the gym for practice. That's the kind of enthusiasm his players had for the game: We couldn't wait to get into the gym.

Ken was my coach, but he also coached my three brothers and two of my nephews. There are a lot of families out there who could make the same claim. He was part of the St. Teresa of Avila family, part of our families - a positive influence to everyone who was fortunate enough to play for him.

He was also one of a kind. I guarantee Ken was the last youth basketball coach in history to smoke a pipe during practice. He took players to college and high school basketball games, always followed by pizza.

Ken was ahead of the "fantasy sports" craze, as well. He had players track the shots, rebounds and assists in every game. At the annual year-end dinner, he would have statistics ranking every player who had ever played in the program by category. He knew young players loved to compare stats (for the record, I was ranked eighth in scoring).

Since his death, many emails and phone calls have been exchanged. When I spoke to family and former teammates, many of our conversations started with, "I was just talking about him a couple weeks ago;" or, "Outside of family, I can't name a more influential man from that era."

For some, those memories were formed decades earlier, when getting to practice on time was the biggest challenge they would face all week. Only later, when many of us became parents ourselves, did we realize the lessons Ken was teaching us: responsibility, teamwork, dedication to working toward a goal.

Although not a Catholic himself, Ken gave so much of his adult life to St. Teresa's and its families. For that, he won't be forgotten.

(Mr. McCarthy is a managing partner with Patricia Lynch Associates in Albany and a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist and St. Joseph's parish in Rensselaer.)[[In-content Ad]]

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