New York Basketball Legend Lou Carnesecca Dies

Per longtime basketball journalist Peter Vecsey, New York City basketball legend Lou Carnesecca has passed away at the age of 99.

Carnesecca, the longtime face of the St. John’s University Redmen/Red Storm men’s basketball program, was just over a month shy of his 100th birthday.

Born in New York, Carnesecca’s metropolitan basketball career began at St. Ann’s Academy, now known as Archbishop Molloy. He served as the head coach of his alma mater St. Ann’s for eight years after a tour in the United States Coast Guard before joining the St. John’s bench as an assistant under former Knicks boss Joe Lapchick in 1958, eight years after he graduated from the Queens-based college. In high school, Carnesecca earned two Catholic High School Athletic Association championships.

Carnesecca began the first of two terms at the helm of the SJU program in 1965, amassing a 160-62 record in five season. Of note, the team made a run to the National Invitational Tournament’s championship round in 1970, shortly before Carnesseca began a three-year tour with the American Basketball Association’s New York Nets. That included a visit to the ABA Finals in 1972, where they were defeated by the Indiana Pacers in six games.

Ultimately, Queens proved too tempting for Carnesecca to remain on the pro level, as he returned to St. John’s in 1973.

“I’ve had my whack at pro ball and I’m very happy with it,” Carnesecca told Sam Goldaper of the New York Times in 1973. “But when the opportunity arose to return to St. John’s, I wanted to go back.”

To this day, Carnesecca ranks fifth in coaching wins in the history of the New York/New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets franchise and is one of only five to earn at least 100 wins (114).

Carnesecca’s teams dominated the early days of the Big East Conference, as St. John’s took at least a share of the regular season conference title in four of its first seven seasons of play. St. John’s also won the first Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament held at its part-time home of Madison Square Garden in 1983, defeating future Knicks star Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas in 1983. Carnesecca repeated the feat against Syracuse in 1986, one year after he guided the program to its first men’s Final Four in 1985.

Under Carnesecca’s watch, St. John’s won at least a share of five Big East regular season titles as well as the 1989 NIT, also earned at MSG. Carnesecca walked away from the game in 1992 as one of the primary pioneers of the original Big East Conference. Carnesecca remains the program’s all-time leader in wins (526) and has guided the program to 18 of its 30 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament appearances.

In 2004, St. John’s on-campus basketball home was renamed Carnesecca Arena in his honor. There will no doubt be a tribute in store for Carnesecca when the Red Storm faces Kansas State in Queens on Saturday (11:30 a.m. ET, Fox).

Carnesecca is survived by his wife Mary and daughter Enes.

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