Coach K's brother, Bill Krzyzewski (1942-2013)

[davekay1971]

Condolences to Coach K and his family. Everyone who follows the program closely knows the special relationship Coach K had with his older brother, and the way he looked up to him. My family's prayers will be with him and his family.

[Mike Corey]

In October 2003, Coach and Mickie Krzyzewski made a $1 million gift to the Duke Basketball Legacy Fund in honor of Coach's brother, a man who in 38 years of service at the Chicago Fire Department never missed a day of work. Not one.

The gift fully endows a men's basketball captain's scholarship every year.

At the time of the gift, Coach K said the following:

I have always looked up to my brother as a great leader of men and women. What he has done as a captain in the Chicago Fire Department is truly inspirational. I would hope that every Duke Basketball captain in the future that holds this scholarship would try to uphold those same standards of dedication and honor.

In Coach's book, Beyond Basketball, he wrote that Bill was the "Iron Man of our family." With apologies to the mods and to Coach K for excerpting to extensively from his book, I wanted to share this passage about Coach's relationship with his brother:

Whenever I would go to the firehouse for a visit, some of Bill's men would take me aside and tell me how lucky I am that he is my brother. "He is always there for us," they would say. "We would follow him anywhere."

Bill is three and a half years older than I am and we didn't really run in the same circles growing up. Our interests and talents were different and so were our friends, but we were always brothers. I could always count on that. If there was a problem, Bill would take care of it. He would handle it in the best possible fashion and he would never, ever say, "You owe me." He didn't do it because he wanted anything in return, he did it because he was my older brother and he loved me, and that is what older brothers are supposed to do. We all need heroes. My older brother is my hero.

Dependability is not only about being there physically, but being there at your best. It is about loyalty and commitment, about being someone on whom your teammates can count. You don't have to have a master's degree to teach dependability; you teach it by example. I learned it from Bill.

I have often told my brother, "I could never be as good a brother to you as you have been to me. You are the guy I have counted on and looked up to for my whole life."

My greatest honor is when my hero, my Iron Man, looks back at me and tells me, "I love who you've become." Knowing that my brother was always there for me has helped me immensely. I tell Bill, "I love who we have become." All this would not have happened unless Bill was there.

[Dukeblue91]

My prayers and sincere condolences to the entire Krzyzewski family.

[ricks68]

In October 2003, Coach and Mickie Krzyzewski made a $1 million gift to the Duke Basketball Legacy Fund in honor of Coach's brother, a man who in 38 years of service at the Chicago Fire Department never missed a day of work. Not one.

The gift fully endows a men's basketball captain's scholarship every year.

At the time of the gift, Coach K said the following:



In Coach's book, Beyond Basketball, he wrote that Bill was the "Iron Man of our family." With apologies to the mods and to Coach K for excerpting to extensively from his book, I wanted to share this passage about Coach's relationship with his brother:

Quite a tribute. What a tremendous loss for so many people. My sincerest condolences to all.

ricks