(Main photo: Tom Thibodeau, Head Coach, Salem State University, 1985.)

A little known fact: when he wasn’t coaching basketball, Tom Thibodeau played baseball in the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League. The New Britain native manned third base for the Manchester Community College team in 1976 and for Tom Abbruzzese’s Society for Savings in 1977.

Thibodeau went on to become a prestigious basketball coach at the collegiate and professional levels. He won NBA Coach of the Year Award 2011 with the Chicago Bulls. Then he served as Assistant Coach for the United States men’s national basketball team from 2013-2016 and helped Team USA win a gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games. Most recently, Thibodeau was named Head Coach of the New York Knicks.