When it comes to Lynn’s Dennis Skeadas, who died Saturday night at age 72, the game of basketball was one of those live-and-breathe hobbies.
Scratch that. For the longtime coach – Salem High (girls) and North Shore Community College (men), to name a few – it was a lifestyle.
“He enjoyed it as much as any coach I’d ever seen,” said Kevin Moran, former St. Mary’s and Bishop Fenwick boys basketball coach who assisted Skeadas for two years at NSCC. “It was something else – the effort and the passion.”
Skeadas attended and played basketball at Lynn Tech, then known as Lynn Trade. From there, whether it was with the Salem High girls or down in Beaumont, Texas, the game never left his side.
“Dennis and I became good friends. We would talk all season and he would give me ideas. He was just so smart about basketball,” said former Lynn Classical girls basketball coach of 19 years Gene Constantino, who then became principal at the school. “He was the coach at Salem at the time and we finally had a couple of good teams. They always had good teams back then.”
That they did. Missing the state tournament was a rarity in Salem.
“It was there, I can tell you, where he enjoyed that run with those girls as much as anyone,” Moran said.
Trophies and tournaments were one thing, but the impact Skeadas had on his players was a win in itself.
“I know a lot of parents whose kids played for him, and it was the best time of their lives,” said former Item Sports Editor Steve Krause. “No matter where he went, he made friends and everybody loved him. He was a genuinely good guy.”
Constantino couldn’t have agreed more.
“He became so invested with his players and they loved him. Even through graduation and throughout the years, they would keep in touch,” Constantino said. “He wasn’t just their coach, but their mentor, advisor, and someone they looked up to.”
Jeff Newhall, current girls basketball coach and athletic director at St. Mary’s, originally knew Skeadas through golf (Skeadas was, at one time, a professional caddy) in the ’90s.
“And when I first began coaching in the early 2000s at Marblehead, I always looked forward to seeing Dennis every Friday after our games,” Newhall said. “At Bertini’s, which was the place to go back then for basketball coaches and officials. He always had some advice or constructive criticism that I always valued, and he certainly will be missed by many.”
Truth be told, when it comes to Skeadas’ other favorite places to go, look no further than high school gymnasiums across the state.
“If he wasn’t coaching, you could find him at the hottest high school basketball game around. When he showed up at a game, you knew it was a good one,” Krause said. “He could take a game apart like nobody I’d ever met. He was a very, very astute student of the game and loved his basketball.”
So fierce was his love of the game, and his loyalty to Moran, that when Moran’s St. Mary’s boys team was playing at the TD Garden in the state tournament, Krause – who was covering the game – had to relay, via Facebook, play-by-play to Skeadas, who waited anxiously in Texas.
“Every play, for four quarters,” Krause said. “Dennis really wanted to know. He was that interested. St. Mary’s won, which made me happy.”
Krause also admired his relatability, sense of humor, and genuine personality. Moran jumped to Skeadas, the family man.
“He was an incredible father to his son, Matt,” Moran said. “Twenty-five years later, the girls still invited him to their weddings. A great father and a great coach whose legacy could span 25 years later.”
