St. Vincent College says goodbye to coach who made a difference
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The funeral for Saint Vincent College basketball coach Kristen Zawacki was standing room only despite ice slicks that closed the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Nearly 1,000 people bade her farewell in Saint Vincent Archabby Basilica.
A Christmas tree twinkling behind the altar and red-trimmed garlands on the archways were reminders that the beloved 52-year-old coach was found dead in her home on Christmas Day. A heart attack is suspected.
"Each of us has the opportunity of making a difference for the better in our sphere of influence. ... And I think Kristen Zawacki has shown us the way. A little more kindness, a little more imagination, a little more courage, a little more teamwork," Archabbot Douglas Nowicki said. He paused several times in his homily as he choked up.
Ms. Zawacki didn't simply create a powerhouse women's basketball team from scratch in 1983, he said. In doing so she helped the school integrate the first female students into what had been an all-male campus. Her first players became role models for other women, setting high academic standards. She looked on her players as family.
"It was important to Kristen that each of her younger sisters would succeed academically, be successful in life but, above all, become the unique person God was calling her to become," he said.
She had a 512-275 record, 13th among active coaches. Her Lady Bearcats made 22 straight post-season appearances and held the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics record for consecutive district wins. They won four American Mideast Conference championships and advanced to eight national tournaments. She coached 15 All-Americans and 22 1,000-point scorers.
Saint Vincent has established a scholarship fund in her name, its eventual recipients to be chosen for their leadership and caring. Archabbot Nowicki and Brother Norman Hipps, president of Saint Vincent College, said she would be the first recipient of the school's Projektenmacher Award for creativity, its name drawn from the German for someone who dreams the impossible and makes it happen.
First Published December 31, 2010 12:00 am
