Gene Wein 'What High School Athletics Should Be About'
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Top, Gene Wein, bottom left, watches the action at Drury's 2010 Gene Wein Holiday Tournament. Left, he presents the tourney trophies in 2007. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Eugene Wein may have bled Drury Blue Devil blue, but he had a heart for all high school athletes.
"Everyone talks about him being Drury's No. 1 fan, and he was, but he showed you what high school sports fans should be," former Drury athletic director and girls basketball coach John Franzoni said on Monday night.
"He was just there to support the kids. ... Of course, he wanted Drury to win."
Wein, 93, died on Sunday at Williamstown Commons surrounded by his family.
It would taken a larger room to include the extended family of Drury athletes and coaches who knew and revered Gene Wein.
The man for whom the school's holiday basketball tournament is named was a Drury High graduate himself, a World War II veteran and a longtime Eagle Street businessman.
He was also a high school sports fan.
Franzoni recalled on Monday that Wein would regularly return to his other alma mater, the University of Massachusetts, to watch a full day of Western Massachusetts basketball tournament finals — whether or not the Blue Devils were involved.
"He was always positive and always supportive," Franzoni said.
And Wein earned the respect of the high school coaches from Drury's rivals. Often they would go over and shake the hand of the Blue Devils' No. 1 fan when they visited Bucky Bullett Gymnasium, Franzoni said.
"Before our girls game around his birthday (Feb. 7), our girls would go over and sing 'Happy Birthday' to him," Franzoni said. "And the kids from the other teams would go over and shake his hand, too."
Franzoni said one of the highlights of coaching his Drury teams was his postgame handshake with Wein, who would always have positive and encouraging words to pass along.
For Franzoni, that was reminiscent of his high school playing days in the 1980s, when Wein would come into the locker room to shake players' hands.
"Coming back as a coach, one of our first goals was to win his tournament because the kids had such love and respect for him," Franzoni said. "He was always there at the game, always so positive and supportive.
"If you want to see what high school athletics should be about, he exemplified that."
The funeral service for Wein will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 5, at 1 p.m. at the MCLA Church Street Center, 265 Church St., North Adams. Burial will follow in Beth Israel Cemetery in Clarksburg. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Congregation Beth Israel or the Drury High School Basketball Booster Club, in care of Flynn & Dagnoli-Montagna Home for Funerals, West Chapels, 521 West Main St., North Adams, MA 01247.
Shiva memorial observances will take place at Congregation Beth Israel on Lois Street on Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 5-6, and at the home of Paulette Wein, Berkshire Mill, One Berkshire Place, Adams, on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 8-9. On each evening, Shiva will start at 7, with a brief service at 7:30.
