Free Republic

A job title usually tells what we do, not who we are, but it was different with Ray Meyer. He was a husband for 46 years and a father of six children. Most of all, though, he was a basketball coach. For Meyer, who died of congestive heart failure Friday afternoon at age 92, his job description was his life description. That's why his late wife, Marge, and his six kids didn't call him Ray or Dad. They called him "Coach." It was a tribute to his dedication to the game and the young men who played it for him...

Meyer guided the Blue Demons to 21 post-season appearances in 42 seasons of coaching at the school and led the school to its only post-season title in 1945. Meyer was born in Chicago on Dec. 18, 1913. He graduated from St. Patrick’s High School in 1933 and Notre Dame University in 1938. He played two years in high school and won the National Catholic High School Basketball championship. In college, he played three years and was a two-time team captain. He began coaching at DePaul University in 1941 as an assistant coach. He became head coach in 1942, a position...

Pictured below in the dark jersey is DePaul hoopster Raymon Caplis, playing shortly before Christmas in 1951 under legendary Blue Demon Coach Ray Meyer. Caplis is fighting for the ball with Kentucky's Clifford Hagan. Hagan, like Ray Meyer, would later be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame. It looks like Caplis got the ball, but Kentucky won that game. And what does that picture have to do with DePaul and Churchill? On Tuesday, a very well-poised blogger Nick Hahn, a DePaul political science major and Republican, was interviewed by KHOW Denver's Dan Caplis, son of ex-Blue Demon basketball player...