Humble ex-Royals star Bobby Wanzer loved basketball, people
On May 5, 1987 when Bobby Wanzer was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame with three other former NBA star guards — Rick Barry, “Pistol” Pete Maravich and Walt Frazier — the former Rochester Royals star in the 1950s left no doubt about how important the game was to him.
“In his speech, he said he owed a lot to basketball,” recalled Wanzer’s son, Bob, 62. “Because of it he never had to get a real job.”
Wanzer died on Saturday at home in Pittsford “gently in his sleep,” his son said. He was 94.
Rochester basketball legend Bobby Wanzer dies at 94
Calling hours for the former St. John Fisher College men’s basketball and golf coach are from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Anthony Funeral Chapels, 2305 Monroe Ave. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Church of the Transfiguration, 50 W. Bloomfield Road, Pittsford.
Wanzer tried other jobs. He worked as an investment broker and was a parks director locally in the 1950s. But basketball was his passion, and although he rarely tooted his own horn about a career that included being the straw that stirred the Royals to the 1951 NBA title, being NBA MVP in 1953 and a five-time NBA All-Star, everyone knew his affection for the game.
“He did what he really wanted to do, stay with basketball,” Wanzer’s son said.
“Grandpa was a young spirit in an old man’s body,” Bob’s daughter, Madison Wanzer, 20, told her father on Saturday.
Nicknamed “Hooks,” the 5-foot-10 Wanzer was known for being a great shooter, using a set shot. In the 1951-52 season, he became the first NBA player to shoot better than 90 percent from the free-throw line (90.4 percent). He had a great feel for the game and also was a very good rebounder for his size. He coached the Royals for three-plus seasons, two in Rochester and then in Cincinnati when the franchise moved after the 1956-57 season.
They moved to Kansas City and have been the Sacramento Kings since 1985.
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Wanzer, a Brooklyn native who starred at Seton Hall after serving in the Marine Corps, was asked to start the basketball program at Fisher. He coached basketball there from 1963-87. His Cardinals weren’t always winners. They posted 15 winning records in his 24 seasons and a record of 311-239.
“But he taught them how to play the game the right way,” said St. John Fisher Director of Alumni Engagement Bob Moline, 68, a 1968 graduate of the private college in Pittsford.
Wanzer was also Fisher’s golf coach for 32 years (1993 was his final season) and men’s athletic director.
“Such a fun guy to have around all the time,” said Moline, who served as Fisher’s first sports information director from 1969-78, working closely with Wanzer.
“He played for the love of the game. It wasn’t for the money. It wasn’t for the fame,” said Wanzer’s son, who lives in Atlanta. “He loved basketball. He loved people and people loved him.”
Nowadays, it’s all about pro athletes building their brand. Wanzer never operated that way. If you wanted to know about his NBA career, you had to ask. He didn’t act like a big shot. “So unassuming for his résumé,” his son said. “He didn’t think he was a big deal.”
Wanzer’s retirement included half the year in Florida, mostly playing golf, and May through October back in Rochester, where he was an Oak Hill Country Club member until recently.
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A lot of colleagues shared the same affection for Wanzer, who into his late 40s and 50s always invited Fisher faculty every Friday to the school’s cozy gymnasium for half-court pickup games.
Former Fisher communications/journalism professor Tom Proietti was a regular at those. When Proietti had a small basketball court built at his home in Macedon Center, Wayne County, in 1974, he asked Wanzer to “baptize” it and make the first shot. Proietti invited many Fisher students and friends, too.
“I asked Bob if he would make a free-throw while the crowd looked on. He said sure. Swish,” Proietti wrote on his Facebook page. “I then asked him if he would make another. Swish! And another. Swish!”
Wanzer kept shooting and shooting and shooting until he hit 88 in a row. Those gathered kept “roaring louder” with each make, wrote Proietti, who is retired.
After the 88th, wrote Proietti: “(Wanzer) looked at me and said, ‘I need a beer. I’m going to stop here at 88. If anyone gets past that, call me and I’ll see what I can do.”
Everyone roared again. That was Wanzer. He loved to see the ball go through the hoop and see people around him laugh.
“Love you, Hooks,” wrote Proietti. “You are a giant among giants in so many ways. You made my life richer and you did that for so many at Fisher. And just so you know, no one ever made it past 22 at that foul line in Macedon Center.”
Services for Bobby Wanzer
Tuesday: Calling hours are 4 to 7 p.m. at Anthony Funeral Chapels, 2305 Monroe Ave.
Wednesday: Funeral mass at 10 a.m. at the Church of the Transfiguration, 50 W. Bloomfield Road, Pittsford.
Memories: Friends are invited to bring a written memory of Wanzer to calling hours for the family’s memory book. Memorial donations may be directed to the Wounded Warrior Project or to Pittsford Volunteer Ambulance.