Howard Garfinkel, who co-founded the famed Five-Star Basketball Camp in 1966 and went on to become one of the most influential and legendary fixtures in the basketball world for the last five decades, passed away in New York on Saturday. He was 86.
Despite battling lung cancer, the man known as “Garf” in basketball circles continued to work untl his final days. He attended the recent Nike EYBL session at Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in mid-April. I saw him on Sunday at the event and asked him how he was feeling and if he needed anything, and although he looked frail, he said he was doing OK. Soon after that, he was hospitalized and his longtime friends like Kentucky coach John Calipari, St. John’s assistant Barry “Slice” Rohrssen and former Seton Hall and Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez visited him in the hospital.
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Garf was still giving Calipari notes on guards to watch up through the Nike event. “Last week in Brooklyn, he was writing down names of guards I should be looking at,” Calipari wrote on his site. “As I looked at him, I thought one thing: Here’s a man in his mid-80s who’s lived a charmed life, who’s had an impact on our sport, who’s had an impact on the lives of young people, who’s changed the direction of people’s careers and has walked people into the hall of fame of our sport, and without reservation I can say did it single-handedly.” The Five-Star Camp featured everyone from Chris Mullin to Michael Jordan. Here’s Garf talking to Jason Curry of Big Apple Basketball about ‘Mike Jordan.’ [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUZd6W3A7o4] When Garf was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014 alongside Shaquille O’Neal, Grant Hill and Darrell Griffith, O’Neal told him: “I didn’t go to your camp, but I know you and what you’ve done.” Of his passing on Saturday, Gonzalez said: “Ironically, because I used to pick him up at OTB every day for years, it’s ironic he died on the day of the Kentucky Derby. Everyone who knows Garf knows that next to basketball he loved the horses. But I guess I would say Garf was the closest thing I’ve had to family next to my wife and daughter in New York City for the last 30 years and I am truly heartbroken today. “I would not have become a head coach in college without him and no one has had a bigger impact on me in basketball or was more loyal to me than Garf . Everyone knows he was the one and only and gave countless coaches a platform to teach, learn and get jobs. What he did for both coaches and players in the game will never be replicated.” News of Garfinkel’s passing hit Twitter and many in the basketball world offered tributes.Harold Johnson from Five Star was also there to visit Garf today. pic.twitter.com/fcQo1KGrjt
– John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) May 1, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsRest in peace to my friend Howard Garfinkel, you will be missed by the basketball world. Thank you for giving … https://t.co/P9MMQAWQwd
– Vince Carter (@mrvincecarter15) May 7, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsA really sad day for all of basketball. Howard Garfinkel, an icon who changed the game in many ways, passed away today.
– John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) May 7, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsHoward Garfinkel known as the GARF a legend in the hoops world just passed May he RIP / helped so so many https://t.co/dXropzbfB1
– Dick Vitale (@DickieV) May 7, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsJust heard about the legendary Howard Garfinkel passing away. One of the most important people in basketball in the last 50 years. RIP, Garf
– Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) May 7, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js@PeterVecsey1 @DickieV @TheVFoundation Imagine the talent assembling in the skies… https://t.co/Ok2ZIB1zaN
– jay (@gamesetmatch5) May 7, 2016
RIP Howard Garfinkel. There will be never be another. A father to thousands of sons.
– Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 7, 2016
Five Star and Garf helped so many make thief dreams become a reality. RIP Garf pic.twitter.com/T39r38ZRJd//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
– Seth Greenberg (@SethOnHoops) May 7, 2016//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsNN
