Deaths of Walsh, Prosser Reverberate Locally

The grievous ripple effect of the deaths of Wake Forest men's basketball coach Skip Prosser and NFL Hall of Famer Bill Walsh reached at least two Bay area coaches with especially close ties to one or the other.

Berkeley Prep volunteer assistant Andre Kirwan, a 1992 Jesuit graduate who played three seasons (1992-94) for Walsh at Stanford, described Walsh today as the "consummate professional" whose presence and three Super Bowl rings evoked awe from Cardinal players.

"To me, the thing that stands out about Coach Walsh was, when he walked into the room it was instant respect," said Kirwan, who caught 57 passes as a Jesuit senior. "He was just a legend, and the room was always full of NFL people. ... And he treated us like professionals who were capable of taking care of our responsibilities on and off the field."

Kirwan said he had already made his official visit to Stanford when Walsh was lured from retirement to replace Denny Green as coach of the Cardinal. Ten minutes after hearing of Walsh's hiring on TV, Kirwan recalled, the coach phoned his house.

"He said, 'This is Bill Walsh of the San Francisco 49ers. Oh, I'm sorry, Bill Walsh of the Stanford Cardinal,'" Kirwan recalled.

Days earlier, Tampa Catholic boys basketball coach Don Dziagwa was sent reeling by Prosser's sudden death of an apparent heart attack.

Prosser, among five groomsmen in Dziagwa's wedding, hired the Crusaders coach on his staff at Wheeling (W. Va.) Central Catholic High in 1979. When Wake Forest traveled to Tampa last March for the ACC Tournament, the Demon Deacons practiced in TC's gymnasium.

"Stuff like that puts everything into perspective," Dziagwa said. "Maybe a month or two ago I talked to him. My son (Matt) is going to North Carolina Wesleyan and we talked about maybe seeing each other."