Username | Post: Ray Carazo '64, 1942-2018 |
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Stuart Suss PhD Student Posts 1441 |
09-03-18 02:14 AM - Post#260905
Played at Penn, assistant coach under Dick Harter, retained by Chuck Daly in 1971, head coach of Yale from 1975-1982. In Carazo's first return to the Palestra, his Yale squad upset Penn, leading to one of the great post-game quotes of all time: "There isn't enough Schmidt's in all of Philly for me, tonight." A brief announcement, here. |
SteveChop PhD Student Posts 1156 |
09-03-18 01:24 PM - Post#260910
Sorry to hear this news. He made a contribution to the great Penn teams of that era. RIP Ray. |
Stuart Suss PhD Student Posts 1441 |
09-03-18 01:53 PM - Post#260911
In 1971, as a sophomore, I wrote a letter to the new Penn basketball coach, Chuck Daly, asking to do statistics. I went to the basketball office to drop off the letter. Daly was away from the office, and I was sent in to see the two assistant coaches, the holdover from the prior staff, Ray Carazo, and the rookie, Rollie Massimino. In a short time, Carazo decided he knew all about me. "I know your type. You are just trying to get into the games for free." Carazo threw me out of the office while Massimino watched silently. Daly would return to the office and read my letter. He had no idea what had happened with his assistant coaches. Being polite, he invited me to the intrasquad scrimmage to show what statistics I could do. After the scrimmage, Daly showed me an article, by a man named Paul Keller, in Scholastic Coach magazine, about a concept called the offensive efficiency rating. He asked me if I could build a statistical system based on that article. The rest is history. Years later I would hear from people that Chuck Daly was telling a story about how he hired me after I was thrown out of the office by Rollie Massimino. I told Chuck that it was Ray Carazo, not Rollie who had thrown me out. Chuck thought briefly, then decided not to change anything. "Better story with Rollie," he explained to me. Chuck Daly died in 2009. Rollie Massimino died one year ago, August 30, 2017. Ray Carazo died August 28, 2018. They're all gone. |
Penndemonium PhD Student Posts 1910 |
09-03-18 02:19 PM - Post#260913
Great story. Reading stories like this makes me appreciate the Penn hoops tradition even more.
In 1971, as a sophomore, I wrote a letter to the new Penn basketball coach, Chuck Daly, asking to do statistics. I went to the basketball office to drop off the letter. Daly was away from the office, and I was sent in to see the two assistant coaches, the holdover from the prior staff, Ray Carazo, and the rookie, Rollie Massimino. In a short time, Carazo decided he knew all about me. "I know your type. You are just trying to get into the games for free." Carazo threw me out of the office while Massimino watched silently. Daly would return to the office and read my letter. He had no idea what had happened with his assistant coaches. Being polite, he invited me to the intrasquad scrimmage to show what statistics I could do. After the scrimmage, Daly showed me an article, by a man named Paul Keller, in Scholastic Coach magazine, about a concept called the offensive efficiency rating. He asked me if I could build a statistical system based on that article. The rest is history. Years later I would hear from people that Chuck Daly was telling a story about how he hired me after I was thrown out of the office by Rollie Massimino. I told Chuck that it was Ray Carazo, not Rollie who had thrown me out. Chuck thought briefly, then decided not to change anything. "Better story with Rollie," he explained to me. Chuck Daly died in 2009. Rollie Massimino died one year ago, August 30, 2017. Ray Carazo died August 28, 2018. They're all gone. |
palestra38 Professor Posts 32979 |
09-03-18 02:39 PM - Post#260914
But, like Cher, you're still here, Stu. |
73Quaker Freshman Posts 61 |
09-03-18 03:00 PM - Post#260915
Stuart, great story. Here's a little color. Ray was from my hometown, Palmerton, PA, which was also home for Bob Mlkvy, class of '61, former Penn captain. Mlkvy and Carazo grew up living next to each other in a double house, which also produced Bob's older brother Bill, the OWL without a Vowel. Finally, FWIW Ray's younger brother, Joe, played football at Wake Forest in the late 60s and spent several years as a DB with the Denver Broncos. |
UPIA1968 PhD Student Posts 1122 |
09-03-18 08:38 PM - Post#260917
Ray was a good player for Penn under Jack Mccloskey who was a favorite of my stepfather, Mike Nazarok, the longtime equipment manager. I saw him play. |
Ancient Quaker Masters Student Posts 648 |
09-04-18 07:30 AM - Post#260919
73, if you're going to tout Palmerton refugees, don't forget Steve Honzo. |
SteveChop PhD Student Posts 1156 |
09-04-18 04:40 PM - Post#260932
I remember fondly both Mike Nazarock and especially Steve Honzo, my all time favorite referee along with Allentown's Hal Grossman. |
Stuart Suss PhD Student Posts 1441 |
09-04-18 05:02 PM - Post#260933
To complete the Penn/Ivy connection: Hal Grossman died in 1998. His daughter, Sandy, went to Penn. Sandy married the former George Washington basketball coach, the late Gerry Gimelstob. Gimelstob was the head coach of the American basketball team at the 1985 Maccabiah games in Israel. One of his assistant coaches was Scott Beeten, then at Penn. Among the players on that team were Bruce Lefkowitz and Neil Bernstein from Penn and Josh Wexler from Cornell. |
penn nation Professor Posts 21372 |
09-04-18 07:24 PM - Post#260937
Wexler and I are from the same hometown. One of my only pieces of basketball glory came during a BBYO tournament. I was a late addition to a horribly overmatched second tier team (not even part of my primary parochial school team), while Wexler was basically on an All Star team comprised primarily from his high school (Highland Park). Well, at one point I was guarding him at the point, and flat out stripped him. Raced downcourt and got fouled in the act (I missed the FTs, but why ruin a good story). I later became good friends with Josh's sister (we worked together in the Chicago Jewish community). But to this day, my brother will bring up that one highlight of my basketball career to anyone who will listen. |
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