SOUTHINGTON — It had been a tough loss Monday night in Berlin for the Southington girls basketball team. They were about to learn it meant nothing compared to the sudden death of their assistant coach, Bill Queen, just as practice began Tuesday.
Head coach Howie Hewitt woke up in the wee hours Tuesday morning, couldn’t fall back to sleep, so he watched the game film of Southington's 47-40 loss to Berlin and did the stats.
He emailed those stats to Queen, who replied that he wanted to show the girls some film clips before the start of that day’s practice at 12:30 p.m., earlier-than-normal due to exams going on at school.
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The Blue Knights stretched, then gathered in a classroom just off the gym. Queen fired up the video and pointed out — in a gentle, positive way Hewitt said he'd come to admire, — where corrections and improvements could be made.
“Coach, what do you think?” Queen called out.
“Let’s go practice!” Hewitt replied with gusto from where he was seated in the back of the room.
The players rose and headed back to the gym.
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By the time Hewitt got to the front of the classroom, however, Queen was experiencing what Hewitt called a 'medical emergency' that ultimately would claim his life later that afternoon at age 59.
While Monday night was tough, Tuesday’s became unfathomable for a family, a team and a town that had been Queen’s home for all but a decade of his life.
“???????You just wake up and you hope you dreamt it last night and it was just a bad dream,” Hewitt said Wednesday. “But the kids, we’re going to stick together."
The Blue Knights were supposed to play Thursday at South Windsor. That game has been postponed. A makeup date has not been announced.
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Instead, Hewitt said his team will meet for a light practice in the afternoon, grab something to eat, then go watch the boys home game Thursday night. There will be a moment of silence for Queen before tip-off.
The Blue Knights will get back to more structured work on Friday, Hewitt said, and they will decide on how to honor Queen as they complete the rest of the season without him.
So, too, was a Southington community Queen had been a member of all his life.
“There are a lot of broken hearts out there,” said Chris Buck, who coordinates the Southington Community Services holiday food drive for which Hewitt, Queen and the girls basketball team served as volunteers last month.
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Like so many Southington residents who are mourning his sudden passing, Buck had known Queen since childhood.
“It really leaves you reeling,” she said. “Just so many positive, complimentary accolades to give to Billy: a gem, a gentleman, a sweetheart, just so kind. It makes it hurt so much more. You have somebody here who is just top notch.”
While Queen’s sons Billy and Alex flew home from Chicago on Tuesday night to be with their mother, Patricia, Hewitt reconvened with his players and their parents at the high school.
While the players had not witnessed the episode, they were dismissed early from practice and were aware something had happened to their assistant coach. After the team was notified of Queen’s death, Superintendent of Schools Steve Madancy sent out a email to all families in the school district.
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“I’m glad we got together, the parents and the kids,” Hewitt said. “Many people contributed stories. It started out and it won’t end. There were plenty of tears.
"He brought so much positive energy and joy to every situation he was in. ... There are so many great things to say about him they roll right off your lips. He’s in your head, in your heart. As soon as you meet him, he’s always with you.”
Queen grew up in Southington, played basketball at Southington High School, graduated in 1982 and went on to have a four-year career playing basketball at Wesleyan University. He parlayed a degree in Mathematics and Economics into a successful career in the insurance industry.
With his expertise in basketball, Queen coached his sons as they came up through the ranks of the Southington Youth Basketball Association.
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Queen continued to volunteer in the town's youth league even as his boys passed on to the high school program. When Mike DeFeo, the director of SYBA, was short of coaches for the girls teams, Queen stepped in.
“He’s meant a lot to our program, for sure,” said DeFeo. “Just a good man, a generous human being, a guy who loved basketball and gave a lot back — and unnoticeable, quiet, behind the scenes.
“It was a sad day yesterday. We lost a good person.”
Hewitt and Queen were only in their second season coaching together, yet had developed a good synergy. Queen was a terrific listener, Hewitt said, and was effective at giving players and fellow coaches advice — even hard advice — through patience and tact.
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“(There was) a lot of one-on-one (instruction)," Hewitt said. “He would get you to a spot to make you feel comfortable enough to say what was on your mind, even if you weren’t that kind of person. He’d get you there and then let you go.
“I can’t tell you how many times he did the same thing for me. I should have been thinking about things differently and he would never say, “Howie, are you stupid? What are you thinking?’ He would always prompt me to tell him what I was thinking and he would always help get me to understand there was a better way to make a decision. He didn’t just do it for me. He did it for everybody.”