Lou Campanelli, RIP

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ncbears
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4:25p, 1/31/23
Per Eric McDonough - who is very gracious.
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KoreAmBear
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In reply to ncbears • 4:25p, 1/31/23
Oh no RIP Lou. He was head coach when I was introduced to Cal Basketball as a freshman in 88.

I recall walking by Harmon Gym and seeing Lou watching practice from outside the gym in the lobby. He yelled out "that was a f-ing foul!" like it was a real game, then looked at me as if to say "what you want from me?"
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bearister
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In reply to KoreAmBear • 4:37p, 1/31/23
Me and a buddy, by chance, got hooked up with him 4 years ago at Callippe golf course in Pleasanton. I reintroduced myself, having met him many years earlier when our firm did his legal work.

It was an enjoyable round. We talked some non controversial Cal hoop. I told him how much I loved Keith Smith's game. Lou said Keith was one of his favorites as well and that he was a wonderful young man.
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Big C
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In reply to ncbears • 4:37p, 1/31/23

Lou Campanelli brought Cal Basketball back to relevancy. I had some really good times in Harmon during his tenure at Cal.

RIP, Coach
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UrsusTexicanus
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4:40p, 1/31/23
The first Cal basketball game I saw was an exhibition against the Australian national team. It was also Lou's first game. Lou was called for a technical foul during the game. I figured any coach who could get that passionate during an exhibition had to be different.
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oskidunker
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5:09p, 1/31/23
Great times not forgotten. Thats when I got season tickets in 1986

361-226 (.615) coaching record in 21 seasons.
Go Bears!
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GoOskie
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5:12p, 1/31/23
Damn it. Rest in peace.
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Ursine
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5:55p, 1/31/23
Lou was the first coach who ever got me excited about Cal sports. Shame how it ended right as we were about to take the next step. Probably some coaches are meant to coach certain kinds of players, but not others.

He lifted us out of some serious duldrums largely through force of will.
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stu
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6:08p, 1/31/23
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gooski
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6:18p, 1/31/23

RIP Coach Lou

He brought the energy in his first few years and was never afraid to let the refs know of a poor call
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bearister
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In reply to stu • 6:24p, 1/31/23
stu said:


As kids we were told that the Kingsmen cover had obscene lyrics (which we all knew by heart).* Paul Revere and the Raiders also covered it.





…and I never knew until just now that one of my favorite bands covered it:




* Are the Lyrics to 'Louie, Louie' Obscene? | Snopes.com


https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/louie-louie/


*With apologies to the memory of Lou for going down this Dwinelle Hall like hallway
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prospeCt
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8:37p, 1/31/23
https://www.louielouie.net/blog/?page_id=2683



https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/berkeley-ca-january-25-1986-lou-campanelli-head-coach-of-the-of-picture-id1006119852?s=612x612
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SBGold
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In reply to Ursine • 9:07p, 1/31/23
Ursine said:
Lou was the first coach who ever got me excited about Cal sports. Shame how it ended right as we were about to take the next step. Probably some coaches are meant to coach certain kinds of players, but not others.

He lifted us out of some serious duldrums largely through force of will.
Yes, me too. He had his warts, but he brought Kidd here and he had that great UCLA win. RIP Lou
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hoop97
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9:33p, 1/31/23
Harmon was electric for that UCLA win. An unforgettable experience.
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HoopDreams
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9:38p, 1/31/23
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calbear80
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In reply to Big C • 9:59p, 1/31/23
Big C said:

Lou Campanelli brought Cal Basketball back to relevancy. I had some really good times in Harmon during his tenure at Cal.

RIP, Coach

+1

And, Lou is the one who broke the 52 game UCLA streak.

I liked Lou's results (although many have correctly described his shortcomings).

Go Bears!
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wifeisafurd
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10:06p, 1/31/23
Well said Eric. Hope you are well.
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ncbears
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10:58p, 1/31/23
A friend of mine interviewed Campanelli on KALX shortly after he was hired. That was when Campanelli decreed that Harmon Gym would be known as Harmon Arena and Campanelli said it was going to be full of fans. My friend smiled and thought "yeah, right, Coach - you are in for a rude awakening" but Campanelli was right.

Despite his faults, Campanelli changed the program. I have video of, I think, Jeff Huling, after the first win against UCLA saying "Last year we showed up to play the game. This year, we show up to win the game".

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BigDaddy
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8:57a, 2/1/23
He was a good one. R.I.P.
“My tastes are simple; I am easily satisfied with the best.” - Winston Churchill
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southseasbear
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10:35a, 2/1/23
I met Lou Campanelli at the Pac 12 at Staples back when he was supervisor (don't recall the exact term) of referees. I was in the section below me, and I called out "Lou!" He turned around and saw me clad in blue and gold and had a look on his face that said, "I should not have turned around; now I'm going to get abused." I told him I wanted to thank him, that it was his efforts that turned around the program, so that our recent success was due in part to him. His facial expression and body language showed relief. We chatted for several minutes and he was gracious and friendly. He said he was now "coaching referees," and enjoying it. I told him I disagreed with Bockrath, and he thanked me. He may have been abusive in a way that was tolerated a decade or so before. I recognize that times change, but he deserved an opportunity to correct himself. I'm sorry we never had him return to Harmon Arena (I used that moniker intentionally) to bury the hatchet and honor his accomplishments. He was among the best coaches in the 114 year history of the program at Cal; indeed, the best other than Price, Newell, and Montgomery,

Rest in Peace Coach.
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oskidunker
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In reply to southseasbear • 10:39a, 2/1/23
southseasbear said:
I met Lou Campanelli at the Pac 12 at Staples back when he was supervisor (don't recall the exact term) of referees. I was in the section below me, and I called out "Lou!" He turned around and saw me clad in blue and gold and had a look on his face that said, "I should not have turned around; now I'm going to get abused." I told him I wanted to thank him, that it was his efforts that turned around the program, so that our recent success was due in part to him. His facial expression and body language showed relief. We chatted for several minutes and he was gracious and friendly. He said he was now "coaching referees," and enjoying it. I told him I disagreed with Bockrath, and he thanked me. He may have been abusive in a way that was tolerated a decade or so before. I recognize that times change, but he deserved an opportunity to correct himself. I'm sorry we never had him return to Harmon Arena (I used that moniker intentionally) to bury the hatchet and honor his accomplishments. He was among the best coaches in the 114 year history of the program at Cal; indeed, the best other than Price, Newell, and Montgomery,

Rest in Peace Coach.
Yet many here hated him. Hard to understand.
Go Bears!
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bearister
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In reply to oskidunker • 10:42a, 2/1/23
At his core he was a decent and honorable man. Old school ways have not cut it for the last few decades. He was trapped in a time warp. It didn't work out for P. J. Carlesimo either…..or ultimately for the Alloccos at DLS (but they had a run).
*Please do not report Your Humble Servant to the American Italian Anti-Defamation League. It is not my fault there appears to be a pattern here.

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BeachedBear
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12:56p, 2/1/23
I started my season ticket run at the end of the Kuchen era, so Lou was a revelation. On a personal note, I got to know Lou as a neighbor and somewhat of a mentor when I was coaching youth basketball and he was extremely generous with his time and introduced me to many local college and high school coaches. My two favorite conversation memories of Lou:

On why not return to coaching: He acknowledged the game had passed him by and he didn't have the patience to deal with a lot of it. (Boy does that comment about patience resonate in my late 50's)

On officiating: At the time, he was head of P12 officials and I was considering becoming a college ref (which I quickly ran away from). He stressed that he didn't want the P12 officials to think the game was about them. It was about the players first, the fans second, the coaches third, the officials last. Not sure he was able to change much in this regard, but he articulated it and honestly felt that way (of course, after he had stopped coaching - I'm sure he may have felt differently, when he was a head coach).
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SoFlaBear
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3:17p, 2/1/23
Lou Campanelli became Head Men's Basketball Coach at Cal when I was a Junior. He replaced Dick Kuchen who was aptly summed up in one sentence by our family friend Dawn Erdelatz (through whom I got to meet Joe Starkey) - "Nice guy; can't coach."

My now- wife's cousin attended James Madison, and had had seen Campanelli coach and had good things to say. So I was at least somewhat excited.

Campanelli inherited a team with Kevin Johnson and a number of others -- Chris Washington & Ernie Sears lived lived down the hall from me at Norton Hall as a freshman. Leonard Taylor, Dave Butler, and some names I can't dredge up at this moment. We all know about KJ, and several of the others went on to have careers of varying lengths overseas.

Before it was remodeled and rebranded as Haas Pavilion, we had Harmon Gym (which Coach rebranded as Harmon Arena) and once he started coaching, it was packed most every game, and it was deafeningly loud.

Coach Campanelli took us from the cellar to a competitive team that made the NIT within a space of a year, and within two years of his arrival, we broke the 56 game/25 year-long losing streak to UCLA. I was there - sort of. An AP card wouldn't get you into that one - you had to have tickets. My roommate Paul Maurer and I watched with a mob at LaVals - where it was also louder than Hell. Once we won, we literally sprinted down Durant and turned right and ran into Harmon. All the doors were open - everyone was still there (including the UCLA players) and it was pandemonium - that's the only word for it. An amazing moment.

It's hard to imagine how excited we were to make the NIT in those years, but Cal had been in the cellar for so long.

He was 123 - 108 overall and made 2 NCCA appearances. Some of my best memories at Cal were watching those teams.

Rest in Peace, Coach. Go Bears!!
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Cal Junkie
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4:07p, 2/1/23
Of course I remember his bravado and accomplishments on the court, but for what it's worth, I have a very unique memory of Lou Campanelli, which was kind of a window into his approach to the day. When I was a Cal undegrad in the 1980s, a good friend of mine was a student at the University of Hawai'i (I had lived out there for a few years). I went to visit him for Christmas Break and Cal was playing at what I think was called the Chaminade Basketball tournament, of course I went to the games.

My friend and I liked to bodysurf over at Makapu'u Beach on the SE shore - in fact we were both really good at it. I'm chilling on the beach and out of the blue, I saw Lou Campanelli in swimming surf shorts skipping into the water with none other than Cal legend Kevin Johnson. Both looked ecstatic as they loped into the water, delighting like little kids at the tropical environment in the middle of winter.

I thought it was exceptionally cool that the coach would take his athlete to the beach just to see something beautiful and to go for a swim in the surf. RIP Coach Lou.
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oskidunker
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4:18p, 2/1/23
Go Bears!
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JimSox
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5:06p, 2/1/23
Joe Fonzi told a story about the team bus arriving at a hotel one day when on the road and there being a banner at the hotel entrance saying "Welcome Cal State Berkeley Basketball." According to Joe, an enraged Coach Campanelli immediately ordered the bus driver to take the team to a different hotel.
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bearister
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In reply to HoopDreams • 5:14p, 2/1/23
HoopDreams said:


Is that Elliot Gould?

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oskidunker
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5:18p, 2/1/23
I have the ticket stub from the 1986 win over ucla. Tried to post it but ibb is down today. Hope they don't go out of business.

Lou had a sign on his desk. " The Streak Stops here"
Go Bears!
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bearister
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In reply to JimSox • 9:14p, 2/1/23
JimSox said:
Joe Fonzi told a story about the team bus arriving at a hotel one day when on the road and there being a banner at the hotel entrance saying "Welcome Cal State Berkeley Basketball." According to Joe, an enraged Coach Campanelli immediately ordered the bus driver to take the team to a different hotel.


That was a harbinger of Cal State Bakersfield kicking Cuonzo's anemic Bears' arses in front of 1500 fans in the 1st round of the NIT.
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Bobodeluxe
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In reply to bearister • 9:59p, 2/1/23
bearister said:
JimSox said:
Joe Fonzi told a story about the team bus arriving at a hotel one day when on the road and there being a banner at the hotel entrance saying "Welcome Cal State Berkeley Basketball." According to Joe, an enraged Coach Campanelli immediately ordered the bus driver to take the team to a different hotel.


That was a harbinger of Cal State Bakersfield kicking Cuonzo's anemic Bears' arses in front of 1500 fans in the 1st round of the NIT.
You disparage the Con?
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SBGold
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In reply to hoop97 • 10:23a, 2/2/23
hoop97 said:
Harmon was electric for that UCLA win. An unforgettable experience.
That and the Play were 2 misses from my childhood that I wish I could go back and see in person. Maybe the also the Muncie days against SC and Stanfurd
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bearister
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In reply to Bobodeluxe • 11:06a, 2/2/23
Bobodeluxe said:
bearister said:
JimSox said:
Joe Fonzi told a story about the team bus arriving at a hotel one day when on the road and there being a banner at the hotel entrance saying "Welcome Cal State Berkeley Basketball." According to Joe, an enraged Coach Campanelli immediately ordered the bus driver to take the team to a different hotel.


That was a harbinger of Cal State Bakersfield kicking Cuonzo's anemic Bears' arses in front of 1500 fans in the 1st round of the NIT.
You disparage the Con?


….the game where our coach took a cab waiting on Bancroft with 4 min. left in the game to take him to Oak Airport on a flight to Missouri.
….at the end of the season that cost Ivan Rabb millions because he was overvalued in the prior year's NBA Draft, but sunk deep after another year in a rudderless program exposed his downside.
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Big C
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In reply to SBGold • 1:04p, 2/2/23
SBGold said:
hoop97 said:
Harmon was electric for that UCLA win. An unforgettable experience.
That and the Play were 2 misses from my childhood that I wish I could go back and see in person. Maybe the also the Muncie days against SC and Stanfurd

You make me feel like I'm the perfect age, not an easy feat!
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ducky23
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In reply to JimSox • 1:47p, 2/2/23
JimSox said:
Joe Fonzi told a story about the team bus arriving at a hotel one day when on the road and there being a banner at the hotel entrance saying "Welcome Cal State Berkeley Basketball." According to Joe, an enraged Coach Campanelli immediately ordered the bus driver to take the team to a different hotel.


Is anyone else amazed joe Fonzi is still at it? Guy seems like such a curmudgeon
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