Hundreds of mourners bid farewell this morning to former Central Connecticut State basketball coach Bill Detrick, who died last week at the age of 87.
Detrick's basketball teams won 468 games. After he retired he coached the golf team at Trinity College.
One of his former assistants, who went on to spend more than 40 years coaching and scouting in college basketball and the NBA, said of all the people he met in the game, Detrick was the most competitive.
"He wanted to play badminton, tennis, basketball, golf, and he wanted to beat you every time," said Bob Zuffelato. "He was a wonderful man and he influenced so many people."
That influence continued with people who followed in Detrick's footsteps at Central, where the gymnasium is already named for Detrick.
Paul Schlickmann, the athletic director, praised Detrick as a mentor.
"I always felt like I was in the presence of a very special man," he said.
After Detrick retired from Central he joined what was then called the board of trustees for Connecticut State University, and he took a hand in hiring the president of Central, Jack Miller, who also praised him.
