People in Aberdeen and beyond will remember Don Meyer for his authenticity.
Meyer, retired men’s basketball coach at Northern State University and one of the winningest coaches in college basketball history, died Sunday morning at his Aberdeen home after a several-year battle with carcinoid cancer. He was 69.
Imagine losing the love of your life.
Imagine that, plus having to share your pain with the rest of the world. And if you don’t, someone else will tell your story whether you want them to or not, fuzzy facts included.
I saw some of that Sunday morning around the Meyer household where their beloved husband and father, Don, had died an hour earlier. By the time I arrived — only to offer my condolences — the media storm had started.
I could not imagine having such a private moment, and having so many wanting to take it immediately to the public stage. Including me.
For that, I am sorry.
His was the kind of fame Aberdeen has seldom seen, if ever. The man even had his own bobblehead.
Don Meyer gave Northern State, Aberdeen and South Dakota a national platform to tell their stories.
Over and over again.
Don Meyer’s legacy in basketball may best be seen in all the future coaches he mentored.
Retired Northern State athletic director and men’s basketball coach Bob Olson said the Meyer proteges are living examples of what Meyer stood for.
Don Meyer, one of the winningest coaches in college basketball who came back from a near-fatal car accident and liver cancer before closing out his career, died Sunday in South Dakota. He was 69.
Meyer led his teams into the playoffs 19 times and compiled a 923-324 during his 38-year career, most of which he spent at Lipscomb in Tennessee and Northern State in South Dakota.
Don Meyer, one of the winningest coaches in college basketball who came back from a near-fatal car accident and liver cancer before closing out his career, has died in South Dakota. He was 69.
Don Meyer reached 700 wins faster than any coach in NAIA history and never looked back.
Today, those who played for him, cheered for his teams and whose lives he touched are looking back with heavy hearts.
Very few phone calls change the course of a university, city and state.
“It was in the middle of July, I want to say it was July 15 (1999),” said Aberdeen’s Bob Olson, retired Northern State athletic director, men’s basketball coach and former Wolves player. “My phone rang.”
Duke University coach Mike Krzyzewski Sunday said Meyer shared his knowledge with coaches and “helped the game become better at every level.”
“His players benefited from his teachings both on and off the court,” Krzyzewski said in a statement. “His goal was for them to be successful as players and as men.”
ESPN baseball analyst Buster Olney, who wrote the biography “How Lucky You Can Be: The Story of Coach Don Meyer,” remembered Meyer’s many rules for his teams, such as “everybody picks up trash.”
“I suspect that what he really meant was that everybody should strive to leave a place better than when you arrived,” Olney said in a statement Sunday.
Don Meyer, a legend of college basketball, died Sunday in Aberdeen, South Dakota, at the age of 69. Meyer fought carcinoid cancer in the last years of his life.
Don Meyer has set a wonderful example of service. Honor his legacy and join in following his example. Consider a gift to one of the organizations at the link below.
Foundation info / Donate