Lute Olson 1934-2020

[cochrane]

This news actually brought tears to my eyes.

Lute Olson, the legendary basketball coach of the University of Arizona Wildcats, passed away yesterday at the age of 85. He coached the Cats for 24 seasons, bringing national respect to Arizona, reached the Final Four four times, and won the NCAA championship in 1997. He was a member of the James Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Many of his players, such as Steve Kerr, Sean Elliot, and Tom Tolbert went on to successful NBA careers. He was very popular in southern Arizona, and was widely regarded as a gentleman.

Lute Olson, Arizona coaching great, dies at 85

Olson went 589-187 in 24 seasons at Arizona and guided the Wildcats to four Final Four appearances, 23 consecutive NCAA tournaments and 11 Pac-10 titles, as well as the national title in 1997.

He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006, and a statue of Olson was erected outside the McKale Memorial Center in Tucson in 2018. The Wildcats’ home court inside McKale was named in his honor in 2000, then became “Lute and Bobbi Olson Court” a year later to honor his late wife.

So long, “Coach O”.

[PastTense]

He is still remembered in Iowa even though he left 37 years ago:

Lute Olson’s time at Iowa was Basketball Camelot

[kitap]

One of the local news reporters was quoting someone about Lute, calling him the epitome of a great coach. Epitome. Pronounced Ep-ih-tome (rhymes with home).

Needless to say this is huge news here in Tucson.