Thomson: Sons a living tribute to McGuinness' legacy

• Longtime coach and Albertus Magnus athletic director Joe McGuinness passed away Feb. 12.
• Like their dad, Pat and Conor McGuinness were team-first point guards and gym rats.

There were the calls and letters from Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. The mourners from as far off as Ireland and Singapore. And the note of thanks from the pen of a former player 22 years in the making. Even still, perhaps the best moment of Joe McGuinness' final days came, fittingly, in a gym, surrounded by family.

On Feb. 10, two days before he passed away from cancer, McGuinness brought those closest to him together for one last basketball game. He had recruited his wife, daughter, brothers, sister and nieces and nephews together to attend younger son Conor's game at Adelphi that night. In a lifetime of them, he also made one more humble request, asking Pat, a junior guard at Bridgewater State in Massachusetts, to skip his game that night and join them.

"He didn't pressure me into it. And after everything my dad's done for me, I wouldn't have been able to go back and miss that last game with him," Pat McGuinness said. "I knew it would be special with everyone there to support Conor, so I went. I'm really glad I did."

By all accounts, Conor, as the McGuinnesses do, played his tail off and delivered clutch plays in the final minutes. Both in the stands and on the car ride home, Joe McGuinness and his family talked about the game, sharing in the unbridled joy of one last night they will never forget.

Of course, that the McGuinness boys and basketball produced a final memorable moment was no shocker. In both Pat and Conor, Joe McGuinness and those who knew him best saw McGuinness himself: The smallish boy with the ball who outplayed his appearance and devoted himself to making those around him better.

In Joe's sickness and eventually in his death, McGuinness' sons have embodied a lifetime in lessons of selflessness and commitment. They were central themes when they eulogized him earlier this week at the Church of St. Augustine in New City and, they say, will continue to be their guiding lights.

"The big thing with him was that whatever you do, you have to do it 100 percent," said Conor McGuinness, a freshman guard at Adelphi. "I used to play football and he didn’t want me to stop. He was never forcing us to do something we didn't want to do. But me and Pat, we just wanted to be like my dad. You know, you want to be like your father when you grow up. So I always knew basketball was what I wanted to do."

And both did and still do it well. Conor, all of 5-foot-9, capped a four-year varsity career as a Clarkstown South giant. He was one of Section 1's top players as a senior, the highlights including a semifinal buzzer-beater that spread through social media like wildfire. Two days later, he gave Mount Vernon all it could handle in the championship game.

Pat finished his varsity career equally acclaimed. He started at the point for back-to-back Section 1 champions at Albertus Magnus, his dad's school, and later landed at Le Moyne. The 22-year old quit after a year when painful knee tendinitis sapped some of his love for the game. But he resurfaced last year recommitted after learning to better prepare and manage the pain.

As Pat's career resumed and Conor's senior year began, McGuinness was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer. As he suffered through chemotherapy, then radiation, then more chemo, McGuinness connected with his sons and established whatever normalcy he could through basketball.

The approach was familiar, but it was also especially helpful for Pat, who was away at college as his father's health deteriorated.

"It was tough, but he made it better," Pat said. "He was always checking in with me. He was always calling me after games and putting my focus off of him being sick and on me. He didn’t want me to be sad or worried and to be focused on what I needed to do."

These moments all came into clearer focus for the McGuinness boys in their father's last weeks. They saw what he meant to them, but also what he meant to so many others. Krzyzewski, the legendary Duke coach who coached McGuinness at Army, called last week through McGuinness' uncle Jack. Jeff Brown, the Middlebury College coach, left his team and spent several days mourning the loss of his old Clarkstown South teammate. And there were others who followed suit who had either played with or been coached by McGuinness at home and abroad.

Even before seeing the full scope of their father's reach, Pat and Conor McGuinness shared something else other than a family, a face and a game: Both of them want to coach. If you know the McGuinnesses at all, that may be the least surprising element of their development as people and as Joe McGuinness' sons.

"As I said in the eulogy, I remember my freshman year of high school when I told my dad I wanted to coach," Conor said. "He told me, 'You better make room for me on your staff as an assistant.' He was always very supportive of us, and I know he'll still be there next to me in one way or another."

Twitter:@lohudinsider