WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
The lawsuit recently filed against Bill Gibbons alleges incidents of verbal and physical abuse. If there is any truth to these allegations, then we trust the College of the Holy Cross will take appropriate action. However, Ashley Cooper is not the voice of the more than one hundred women that have played for Coach Gibbons in his nearly 30 year tenure. These allegations are far from the Coach Gibbons that we know. Our hope in writing this letter is to tell the story that the media has, thus far, ignored.
From the moment we set foot on the Holy Cross campus as recruits, the idea of being a part of something bigger than ourselves took hold. Each year we had one goal – to become a “true team.”
While wins and losses were a barometer of our success, what mattered most was how we treated our teammates, our opponents, and our family and friends. The familiar words of post-game locker room speeches after a loss resound, “we tip our hats to the other team.” It was always about sportsmanship, and understanding the bigger picture of moving through life with determination and integrity. And it was always about us becoming our best selves.
He was, and still is, a father figure for those of us without fathers, and a sounding board for some of us with critical life decisions. His family took each and every one of us in and made us feel at home. Above all, he was a leader who always taught us to do right and – more importantly – to be “men and women for others” in the Jesuit tradition.
There were never just fifteen players on a team each year. There were always the stories of those who came before and an understanding of the legacy we had the responsibility to leave for those yet to come. It does not matter that many of us never set foot on the court together – the bond that brought us together as Holy Cross Women’s Basketball players transcends ages and the person who brought us together and guided us every step of the way was Bill Gibbons, a man that we will forever call “Coach.”
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