Bernie Schneider (middle) during his playing days at the University of San Francisco in 1957.
Photo courtesy of USF
Before this season,
Bellarmine College Prep (San Jose, Calif.) basketball coach Patrick Schneider never wore a watch on game day. It was uncomfortable, plus there are enough clocks, buzzers and officials to keep tabs of time on the hardwood.
Besides, Schneider said, "I'm not really into things."
But clearly he was into and inspired by his father Bernie, also a lifetime educator and high school basketball coach, the patriarch of the large Schneider family, an upbeat, classy, detailed, live-every-moment-like-it's-your-last sort, who did just that, before succumbing to a long bout with cancer in August.
Bernie wore a watch and left it to the oldest of his eight children, so Schneider, in the middle of his 27th varsity season at Bellarmine, where he recently won his 500th game, wraps the brown leather band holding the handsome, gold-platted Movado time-keeper around his left wrist just before game time.
"It's a great reminder of him," Schneider said.
Bernie Schneider
Courtesy USF
Not that he needs mementos.
His dad was everything to him. He patterned his detailed life and coaching style after him, and included him in all endeavors, right down to Bernie's last breath.
At his father's packed funeral on USF's campus in August, Schneider quoted Dan Fogelberg's most famous song during a memorable eulogy: "The leader of the band is tired and his eyes are growing old. But his blood runs through my instrument and his song is in my soul. My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man. I'm just a living legacy of the leader of the band."
Schneider included how each of his father's best traits were instilled and then enhanced by each of his siblings. He said "the sacred purpose to all our lives carries within each of us no small dose of how we give witness to the gratitude, grace and generosity we learned from dad."
For each sibling, he mentioned specific characteristics, ones of compassion and mercy and kindness (Meghan).
Of wisdom and sensitivity and empathy (Moira).
Of warmth and determination and grit (Deirdre).
Of companionship and joy and inclusion (Kevin).
Of insight and truth and loyalty (Brendan).
Of enlightenment and faith and hope (Kathleen).
Of passion and enthusiasm and fearlessness (Brigid).
"It was one of the most beautiful eulogies I've ever heard," USF senior associate athletic director Frank Allocco said. "Clearly, Bernie was at the core of everything for his family, his community, his church and school and students."
Allocco was so moved, he helped plan and organize a tribute for Bernie at Saturday's 1 p.m. USF men's basketball game against Loyola-Marymount.
Just before halftime, public address announcer Joe Hallisy will ask 35 Schneider relatives to take the same court that he first took back in 1957, the first year War Memorial Gymnasium was built.
He played basketball and baseball and USF, and eventually wrote a book "Glory and Heartbreak" about the history of Bay Area basketball that included a deep dive into the 1955 and 1956 national championship teams with Bill Russell and K.C. Jones, and legendary coach Phil Woolpert.
Bernie Schneider with Bill Walton during the promotion of the book, "Glory and Heartbreak."
Photo by Dan Schneider
"He so deserves to be honored — he was so loyal and faithfu to USF and continued to be right to his final days," said his longtime friend, coaching rival and golfing buddy Bob Drucker, who coached Patrick and Brendan at
St. Ignatius (San Francisco). "The book was beautifully done and sort of his final chapter that will leave a lasting memory. He showed his tremendous determination and loyalty and love for the university and the game to get it done.
"That book was a real gift he left us. Bernie was a gift. He was a wonderful guy and a great friend."
The book was certainly part of the reason Bernie will be honored on Saturday, Hallisy said. But certainly not the only reason.
"He christened the gym all those years ago, so it's only right we honor him now," Hallisy said. "He was a great man who did great work for so many."
Especially high school kids, whom he coached at
Marin Catholic (Kentfield),
Redwood (Larkspur) and
Tamalpais (Mill Valley), starting in the early 1960s. His reputation for details, organization and fundamentals were second to none. Even as a junior varsity coach.
Tom Seidenberg was a promising sophomore in 1966 with a chance to go to varsity. "My goal was to make varsity as a 10th grader, but I wasn't going to play a ton and Bernie's reputation was so good I asked to stay down. It was the best decision I ever made. He taught me every facet of the game."
Seidenberg went on to earn All-Marin County Athletic League as a senior, and after a stint at College of Marin, he finished out his college career at Whitworth University in Spokane (Wash.) He went on to coach high school basketball and teach math in Washington and New Hampshire for 45 years.
"I owe so much of my life to Bernie," Seidenberg said Thursday. "He was just a great man. I've never forgotten him."
Either has Will Garner, probably Bernie's best high school player, a two-time MCAL Player of the Year, who played college hoops at Utah and professionally overseas for 20 years. Garner transferred from El Paso, Texas, in the late 60s to Tamalpais, where Bernie took the head job.
"I didn't know anyone," Garner said by phone Thursday. "It was all so different for me. Bernie took me completely under his wing. It didn't take me but a week to feel good. Everything fell into place. He was a great man and a great coach."
Garner, a high-flying 6-foot-4 forward, noted how Bernie taught him the fundamentals and how to play the right way. "He actually had to take me down a notch," he recalled. "I could play well above the rim, but there was no dunking in those days. He made me a much better basketball player."
But that's not what got Garner choked up. Well beyond the jump stops, bounce passes and defensive drills, Garner recallled Bernie's humanity. "He told me right away we could talk about anything and if I needed any help outside of basketball he was there for me," Garner said. "And he was. Many times we never talked about basketball and that's what I remember most. That's why I loved the man. He really was like a second father."
Bernie Schneider and Bill Walton enjoying some basketball down memory lane.
Photo by Dan Schneider
Larry Moyer was Bernie's assistant coach during that time. Upbeat and humorous, Moyer said he transitioned "to the dark side," after coaching to join the referee ranks over the last five decades. He recalled "Bernie had an offense for every defense and a defense for every offense. He was extremely detailed and organized. But what I remember most is that he loved kids and treated them with respect.
"He was a treasure, an absolute treasure. I think about what a wonderful human being he was and how passionate about the game he was too. He was always heading out to a game whether scouting for Patrick or just to watch one of his grandchildren play."
Moyer said Bernie often called just to catch a random game. "He'd say 'Hey Larry, I'm heading to the East Bay to catch a JV girls game, wanna join me?' I'd say, 'no thanks Bernie. You're a better man than I.' "
Which is what Patrick Schneider, with a gleam in his eye, has been saying for years.
At his dad's funeral he mentioned Bernie's meticulous dedication to lists, notes and plans — from tracking destination points and visited friends, to cutting out news clipping, to most prominently, jotting scouting reports and general observations on 3x5 index cards from each quarter of each game he ever witnessed.
Schneider said he has kept hundreds of those cards treasured away in his office.
"While there is no denying that dad's plans were not God's plans, it is no surprise that dad was a man with a plan," Schneider mused in his eulogy. "Dad was so committed to plans the he had plans about his plans."
Which is perhaps why Schneider is committed to wear his dad's watch. It serves as a reminder that time, and life, is precious, and we never know quite when it will stop ticking, so it's best to have a plan.
To make the most of time.
Capture the moment.
Seize the day.
Bernie was surely a master of all of those things and why Schneider largely ended his eulogy like this:
"Whether we knew him as his brother or his sister, as child or grandchild, as a student at Epiphany or a playmate in the Excelsior, as a classmate in high school at Riordan or on the hilltop at USF, as his player or his peer, or if you met dad in a gym or on a golf course, his spirit invited us to be the best version of ourselves, the persons we were created to be."
The apple doesn't fall from the tree. Patrick Schneider (left) is also a keen family man, enjoying another championship moment in 2015 with his son Noah.
File photo by Doug Stringer
