JiM SPALDiNG o university basketball team was up to duringThe Knights’ players would hear their names,pposing teams never knew what the Bellarminethe starting lineup introductions in its nationalchampionship season of 2010-11.run out, then sprint to an old guy in the stands and touch his tan “Bu” hat, shake his hand or say a word to him. To know the story behind it, you have to turn the pages back quite a few years and you have to get to know that man, Jim Spald- ing, who died last week at the age of 79 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Sports heroes are easy to find. you can see them praised on any edition of SportsCenter or on the cover any sports magazine. But sometimes the biggest heroes rarely make the front page. Take a few minutes and get to know one of them. Spalding did not set out to be a basketball coach, let alone the Father of Bellarmine Athletics. He actually was on a path to become a different kind of Father. He attended high school at Mount Saint Francis Seminary in Southern indiana but decided against the priest- on Bellarmine’s basketball team, returned toJim Spalding ’55, one of the leading scorers hood to pursue either basketball or girls; family accounts are split. the university in 1957 as assistant basketball either way, he pursued his career in sports as if it were a high head coach in 1966, when the photo at topcoach and biology teacher and became calling. His son Jay said he realized that on the day when he, as a right was taken with his family. teenager, noted to his dad that given all the hours he spent working at Bellarmine, he was probably only being paid $1 or $2 an hour. “Hell, son, the joke is on Bellarmine,” Jim said, without missing a beat. “i would work there for free.” And Jim Spalding did work. He played basketball at Bellarmine as a student from 1952 to ’55, then two years later came back with his Master’s Degree and never left. He taught biology, was an assistant basketball coach and, in 1966 took the head-coaching job. in 1971 he added the title of athletic director and replaced himself as basketball coach with Joe reibel, who went on to become the winningest coach in school history. over 31 years at the school, Spalding would coach cross-country, track, tennis and golf. He expanded the number of sports at Bellar- mine from four to 16. He added women’s sports and worked, always, to fund the teams so that there would be more opportunities for students. in 1977, he wrangled a concert in Knights’ Hall by Jimmy Buffett as an athletics fundraiser. And he instituted the famous Friday night Bingo games in Knights Hall, working long hours to set up and clean up, recruiting volunteers and managing the games, to help raise money. He drove buses and cars, counseled students and coaches, and always infused the athletic department with his own energy. Long before Post-it Notes, his daughter, Nina Spalding Hudelson, 36 bellarmine magazine
Bellarmine Magazine_Fall2012
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