Randy Smith: Mocs Lose A Great Friend

I first met Henry Dickerson when he was an assistant coach for coach Rick Huckaby at Marshall. It was the late 1980s when the UTC-Marshall rivalry was at its best. In 1989 Mack McCarthy hired Henry away from Marshall and it proved to be an outstanding move. Henry coached under Coach Mack for six seasons before becoming the Mocs' first black head coach in school history. His first year was the 1997-98 season when he was faced with the challenge of totally rebuilding the UTC team. In 1997, which was Mack McCarthy's final season, the Mocs were SoCon champions and advanced to the NCAA's " Sweet 16." After losing practically everyone off that '97 squad his first team at UTC went 13-15, which is admirable. And even though he won a couple of divisional titles, he never had a team to win the tournament...thus no NCAA appearances.

Forget about basketball and coaching for a moment. Henry Dickerson was a first class human being who was loved by everyone he ever came in contact with. In all the years I knew him, I never, ever heard anyone say anything negative about him. In his five years as a head coach, I never saw him be inappropriate with game officials...however I did see him angry a few times. He was always considerate of other people, including those game officials.

Henry was a sounding board for his players. When they would be screamed at by Coach McCarthy, he would be the one who would console them, put his arm around them and say positive things that never went against what Coach Mack had said. There were very few times if any that player didn't walk away feeling better. As the head coach of any sport, you had to wear several different hats and Coach Henry wore them all very well.

I ran into Henry a few times after he left UTC and on one occasion we discussed Davidson's highly regarded guard Steph Curry. He was not recruited very hard at all, and Davidson's Bob McKillop took a chance and signed him. The main reason he wasn't looked at very much was his body type. Steph was beyond skinny but Henry told me, "Don't worry about that kid. He can flat out play, and he shoots it better than anyone." Those words were prophetic and they let me know once again what a good basketball mind he had and what a great judge of talent he was.

Henry Dickerson passed away last week at the age 71. He was just a few months younger than me so his passing really hits home. He had been very sick for a long time after suffering complications from hip replacement surgery. He was a good friend to many people, a positive role model and a super basketball coach. He was also a trailblazer at UTC...opening the door for guys like LaMont Paris , who coached UTC before leaving for the job at South Carolina a little more than a year ago.

Henry can now rest, relax and swap stories with his old buddy Bill Gleason, also another Mocs' basketball coach. Tell him I said hello my friend.