The first time I laid eyes on Dave Constantine was in 1987 at Laval high playing varsity basketball hoping for a trip to provincials. While that didn’t work so well for the 2A Xavier Huskies the rest of the day was spent watching some great see basketball and of course, the tournament was won by the Laval Cavaliers coached by Dave Constantine
It soon became obvious that basketball was taken seriously in over the past 40 years by Dave 40 years of being involved in basketball!
Dave invested in his teams success to the max! Now he was not pulling a bobby knight
and heaving chairs across the court or anything but he was animated that is for sure!
Can you give us an introduction?
Dave Constantine
Brother Rice HS, class of 1974
I consider myself a corner boy from 49 Flower Hill. I left there when I was 13 and moved to 634 Southside Rd.
What hooked you on basketball?
Dave’s Dad was the caretaker at St. Pius the 10th in St. John’s. One of the tasks he had to do was clean-up after Bingo and, when finished Dave
And his brother Randy, Dave could play basketball until the school closed up for the night. Dave began his playing career in Grade 8 in Buckmaster Square before moving to Holy Cross d Grade 9 and Brother Rice for high school. Dave’s dad gets credit here!
(Dave’s words)
Glen Taylor and Ron Tobin are both a little older than me. They were star player’s in the league when I was playing. Glen is also in the hall of fame. Come to think of it - I was always the one on my team who usually guarded these Hall of Fame that was not an easy task….they were very good!! No wonder focus on playing defense, I was to tired!
Glen knew how to come office a screen! It was Important they were great basketball players and great people. We all played hard on that the floor and we always got along off the floor. Oh - Tony is also in the hall of fame as a builder.
Dave also participated in a national basketball clinic with five other coaches where he learned a lot about coaching in general sense and point work on age appropriate skill development.
The WIndsprint Story
So I get the “ great idea” we could use the main corridor in the school to do sprints (seemed like a good idea at the time).
So I told the players to pair up. I would go to the other end of the corridor and yell go, plus drop my hand. Which was before the ramp that led to the glass!!
So who would you expect to win?
I yelled out and dropped my arm. This is where I give the slow motion recap of the race. They both took off and were sprinting neck to neck. At the half way mark ( which just happened to be the centre block in the school) they were still tied. At the 3/4 mark they were tied. I thought “great” they were given it there best!
Coming up to the finish line “still tied”. This is when it hit, neither one was slowing down and the ramp was next.
I yelled out “STOP”’ say Sonny stopped first - just before the glass door. Peter stopped 2nd - just after he hit the glass door.
Peter did managed to turn his back to the door as he hit it. Thus, his shoulder made contact with the door.
Yes the glass in the door broke. I said are you all right Peter. . The response - they both ignored their coach, they were both more concerned about who won the race than about the glass door being broken.
So we started to walk back up the corridor. I was giving the them the talk about following directions and “stop means stop”. When we get to centre block I notice Peter had a little bit of blood on his shoulder blade.
I tell Peter to lift up his shirt so I can see his shoulder. Sonny was standing in front of me and to the side. I could see Sonny’s face as Peter lifted up his shirt.
When Peter lifted his shirt I could see a 2-3 inch slice of skin hanging from his shoulder blade. Next to Peter was Sonny and he (Sonny) was turning green. I thought Sonny was going to throw up.
Peter was fine.
I then told Peter he had a “ small cut on his shoulder“ , but just to be safe we should get it checked out. At the same time I gave Sonny the look - do not say a word.
Subsequently, I took Peter to the hospital and had the injury taken care of. Peter felt great and wanted to go to the next practice. Unfortunately for us, he had to sit out the next practice and miss the next tournament.
We never did sprints again in the corridor.
Who did win the race - I will leave it up to you to ask Peter and Sonny. You may get different answers!!
Dave’s Favourite Teammates/Players
Dave lists All Canadian Peter Benoite and Sonny Ennis as his two favorite ballers over the years. These guys could heat up quick! Dave had a lot of coaching/teaching experiences over the years and had been exposed to many great ballers such as Clarence Sutton0 Tobin, Glenn Taylor, Tony Wakeham and Brother Martin Cull to name a few.
Dave lists Ron Tobin and Glen Taylor as his favorite teammates and Br. Cull ( now Martin Cull( also in the Basketball Hall of Fame) coached me at Br. Rice in grade 11. Later on we both taught at Laval High Scool together for a number of years. He is now out of the brothers. Martin was one of the good ones. Still is a good friend.
Most memorable basketball moment
Dave’s dad didn’t go to his games. Don’t know why he just didn’t. It was in the championship versus Saint Pats where Dave looked up in the bleachers and saw his Dad!! Dave played awesome and was all over the court! They took home the championship and when Dave looked up in the stands to see his father with tears streaming down his face made this a memorable moment for sure!
Some Epic Bball Adventures with Dave
Watching his Bulls, with Jordan playing
Rodman diving into the stands after the ball, when they were up 30 points!
Villanova vs UNC in march madness finals
National Bball tournament lost by 4 points to Quebec just missing out on a trip to the semi finals!
Best advice for a young Baller starting out
Pay it forward —- one request for my players. When opportunity arises become a volunteer in your community. It does not have to be as a sports volunteer, but you should “pay attention” and provide opportunities, for others as was provided to you.
Conclusion
Dave is one of the good guys! I learned so much from his interview! Thanks so much Dave for all your help! You certainly have had a great history and still lots left to write about yet Dave Constantine!
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