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It seems like everyone had wonderful encounters with Flip, as he was such an amazing and approachable man. I'll start...

Flip was on the NCAA Tourney trip in 2005 to Charlotte with Nate and I (and obviously, many others). I remember Coach Mo telling me that leadership is a very lonely position. I saw that 1st hand with Flip. He had just been fired by the Timberwolves, so was able to go on the trip...and everyone just flocked around him, asking him everything, like he was god. He was so gracious and kind to everyone, but we were even getting annoyed with everyone constantly bothering him.

We didn't really talk to him much on the trip, but as we were waiting at the airport on the way back, one of the boosters asked me to show Flip my NCAA binder. At the time, I was a nutjob, I was in about 30 pools, printed out every single team's scheduled, reviewed it for wins and losses I thought were decent, and diversified my brackets like a portfolio. I handed this over to Flip, and he just looked and me and laughed - he thought I was a little psycho and intense...this, coming from a guy who's lived and breathed basketball every second of the day. After that, he kind of got away from his fans, and hung out with Nate, myself, and our friends as we had hours in the airport. He never acted like the rich, famous and talented person he was. He got generic chips out of the vending machine just like us (I want to say they were thunderchips), and we just chatted with him like he was a real person.

As people kept on asking him for his autograph, interviews, pics, etc. I joked to him and said "Flip, can I have your photo, autograph, 1st born, and a million dollars?"...he said, "for you, you can have anything you want." and just laughed. On the way home, it was a super late night flight and everyone was sleeping. Not Flip, he just seemed to have such a love for the game, and was reviewing plays, and other bball info...even though he wasn't coaching.

The world lost a wonderful man. I feel like he was one of those people, that even people who had brief interactions like me, adored him and he made everyone feel like a friend. That's a rare gift, on top of all of his other accolades.
 

I was working as a bellman at the Whitney Hotel when Flip was named Head Coach of the Wolves. He stayed there for quite a while as did other new Wolves players. He was a kind and unassuming guy who treated us all well. Thoughts go out to his family.
 

WorkingMyTailOff said:
I was working as a bellman at the Whitney Hotel when Flip was named Head Coach of the Wolves. He stayed there for quite a while as did other new Wolves players. He was a kind and unassuming guy who treated us all well. Thoughts go out to his family.
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Unassuming is a great word to describe him, thanks for sharing.
 

Nice stories.

I never met Flip, but I have to believe he was finally in the place he wanted to be. The Timberwolves show was finally his(owner, coach and GM). Didn't get a chance to see it through.

As the saying goes..........the good they die young.
 

I was a student at the U when Flip played during the Musselman era. They brought in a semi-pro to do the fancy dribbling during the famous pre-game warm-ups,but I think Flip could have handled it just as well.You could see he loved helping to put on the show that had everyone on their feet screaming their lungs out.
 


Really sad to hear that Flip didn't make it. I attended one of the first "Flip Saunders Basketball Camps" that was held at Totino-Grace in the early 80s. Had to leave the camp a half day early for some reason. Besides getting a t-shirt for attending everyone also received a free poster of an NBA player. When I had to leave Flip personally walked me to where the posters were in this big bundle back in an office. As we were walking he started talking about my game and complimented me on a couple of things and also suggested that I not be afraid to shoot more as I was kind of a pass first guy (even though I could shoot pretty well:)). I was amazed that he had paid attention to my game to such an extent that he was able to observe these things and thought it was really cool. It was just a really nice personal gesture by him and really made an impression on me. The poster I chose was George "Iceman" Gervin, not exactly a pass first guy. Flip laughed and said "Good choice."
 

I attended Flip's Basketball Camp in 1986 at Benilde-St. Margaret's. It happened to be the week that Len Bias died. The morning after his death, Flip was beside himself. He gathered all of the campers in one big group and just paced back and forth for a few minutes gathering his thoughts. He then went into an impassioned 30 minute or so speech about staying away from drugs and how a single bad decision can change lives forever. It was first thing in the morning at the camp so many parents were there as well, including my Mom. She must have brought that speech up to me a dozen times over the years. My buddies and I who were at the camp still talk about that speech. We were never the type tempted by the hard stuff, but every one of us mentioned to each other through the years that Flip's speech stuck with us, and came to mind when presented with different choices.

RIP Flip. Godspeed to your family.
 

Unreal.
I saw someone in another thread describe Flip as "unassuming", and they were spot on. I remember the first time I met Flip. I was sitting on his couch in his house and I was so incredibly nervous. I couldn't believe that I was going to meet Flip Saunders. After a few minutes of Flip asking me questions about myself and being genuinely interested in my mundane high school life, I felt as comfortable as if he was my favorite uncle. Flip was that kind of a person. He had an innate ability to make you feel as if you were the most important person in the world.

Flip was just a regular guy who loved the game. He was a great husband and father.

RIP Flip.

Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk
 

Loving all of these stories. I heard so many at the scrimmage today as well...just an incredible man.
 



Flip came out to my high school to speak to our summer basketball camp. I think it was the summer of 1982. It was the coolest thing ever to 11 year old me that not only was he there but that he gave such an energetic speech and even did some ball handling tricks. It's testament to his work ethic and how he climbed the ranks that he went from a guy putting in the effort to help a bunch of nobodies out in the sticks to highly respected NBA coach.

About 15 years ago my parents did a major house cleaning and of course that meant giving me a lot of childhood mementos to sort through. Among the items was a certificate from that camp. Did I keep it? Damn right I did. It has Flip's signature on it.

Not sure if this has been posted already but this article from Steve Rushin is just wonderful.

http://www.si.com/nba/2015/10/25/fl...noring-minnesota-timberwolves-coach-president
 

BleedGopher said:
I attended Flip's Basketball Camp in 1986 at Benilde-St. Margaret's. It happened to be the week that Len Bias died. The morning after his death, Flip was beside himself. He gathered all of the campers in one big group and just paced back and forth for a few minutes gathering his thoughts. He then went into an impassioned 30 minute or so speech about staying away from drugs and how a single bad decision can change lives forever. It was first thing in the morning at the camp so many parents were there as well, including my Mom. She must have brought that speech up to me a dozen times over the years. My buddies and I who were at the camp still talk about that speech. We were never the type tempted by the hard stuff, but every one of us mentioned to each other through the years that Flip's speech stuck with us, and came to mind when presented with different choices.

RIP Flip. Godspeed to your family.
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Great story--thanks for sharing. Fits right in line with my idea of the type of person he was.
 

I met Flip while working at the Brickhouse, now the Big Ten. He was good friends with a couple of teammates from the Gophers, Dan Kosmoski and Micheal "Bones" Cervony, that I was friends with. Like all other stories, Flip was down to earth and very genuine. Enjoyed several beers with him that night. By this time he was coaching at Golden Valley. I ran into him several times after that and he always remembered my name. Very saddened by this news.
 

I was on a weekend getaway in Annandale with the fellas and we'd been having more than our share of fun when we decided to swing over to a place at which Flip was known to eat. As I was walking in, he was walking out. I held the door open and put my hand up for high five and said "Go Wolves". He looked at my hand, looked at my face, looked at my well-developed gut, smirked and rubbed my belly (Buddha-style) on his way out. It was way better than a high five. And quite a bit more funny.
 



I never met Flip so I don't have any stories. The loss that I feel this morning is from my belief that he was an important part of the fabric of our life in Minnesota and that he won't have the opportunity to see what he was building hopefully come to fruition. Players and coaches come and go, usually quickly forgotten. Flip was with us for nearly forty years, an almost daily presence in some capacity. I don't think that he will be quickly forgotten. By all accounts, as reported during his life, a really good guy. A sad day.
 

jamiche said:
I never met Flip so I don't have any stories. The loss that I feel this morning is from my belief that he was an important part of the fabric of our life in Minnesota and that he won't have the opportunity to see what he was building hopefully come to fruition. Players and coaches come and go, usually quickly forgotten. Flip was with us for nearly forty years, an almost daily presence in some capacity. I don't think that he will be quickly forgotten. By all accounts, as reported during his life, a really good guy. A sad day.
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Yes to all of this. It has been said before, but I really do feel like I knew him. I saw him play at the U, at Golden Valley (my dad took me a couple of times) and with the Wolves. I have been a Flip guy from the get-go. I have never rooted for a coach more in my lifetime and probably never will.
 

I had the good fortune to sit next to Flip for a few games during the 2005 Big Ten Tourney at the United Center. He was extremely cordial and accommodating to all the Gopher fans.

He was not used to sitting down for games so he stood for quite a bit of the action, to the point that it bothered a few Indiana fans sitting behind us. In no uncertain terms though a few Gopher boosters defended his right to stand whenever he so pleased. Good times.
 

Love these.
One thing I remember about Flip was the fact that after being fired by the Wolves in 2005, there he was the next week at the Barn watching the Gophers. Seeing him there really impressed me. He didn't hide out in shame, which I think a lot of us would have been tempted to do, to avoid the media and looks and sympathy. This of course fueled a lot of Flip for gophers coach talk, which I think we've all enjoyed over the years. I'm so very sad for everyone close to him, for his community, and a bit for us - we'll never be able to say, "Let's get Flip" again.
 

I still remember laughing as hard as possible in my car on the way to a softball game, when he was on with Barriero on the Monday between Game 6 & 7 of the Sacramento series in 2004, talking about Anthony Peeler punching KG in Game 6. About the Peeler punch, Flip quipped "It's the first thing he's hit all series!"
 

Appropriate time to watch this again: 1975 Gopher pregame

And that's a Barn crowd rockin' well before tipoff.

 

I don't know Flip, not a Minnesotan other than about a 7-year stint between college and early professional life. I remember him as a basketball fan but never really read up on him or followed any of his career stops. Not a Wolves fan by any means, I tried to like them while in the Cities, but they were god awful back then.

That all said, in life, I think one of the great compliments you can give a person whether in sports or in life, in general, is to call someone a great coach. So much of life, especially later in life, is about how well you can coach those around you to be better people/professionals or have a better perspective on life. Often it comes in academics via teachers, or through sports with real "coaches" and even through bosses you can have a great leader/coach in the business world.

I've read many articles on Flip the last couple days and I think Sid said it best when he said that even when he was on the court Flip was a great coach. That's the ultimate compliment in my book and it's quite obvious the world lost a great man.
 

Never met him but read this story a few years ago. In the early 1980'2 St Cloud St was looking for a new basketball coach and the president of the school and AD wasted different men The AD wanted to promote the assistant while the president wanted the hot young coach at Golden Valley Lutheran College who was Flip The hangup with Flip is because he didn't have a masters degree they couldn't pay him as much ih he had one(it was a faculty position with a light teaching load too) Anyway they found a coach and for all sees it worked out
 

Flip worked the Jim Dutcher Basketball camp in the summer of '78. He was my basketball hero because he was great and a little guy. I had one of those attributes. I loved the alley-oop pass he tossed to Thompson and tried to mimic to our eighth grade big guys. It was surreal to have an audience with him at the camp. While not perhaps as impassioned as the later Len Bias anti-drug talk that Bleed heard, I remember the constant preaching about working hard at hoops being an investment in your future. He connected his hard work to a college scholarship at a world class university. He encouraged a lot of us who weren't going to get a free education from hoops to work hard in hoops and everything else. The lessons were universally transferable.

We are provincial in Minnesota and it is a common experience for those who come from elsewhere to have a hard time breaking in here. There is no greater compliment from a Minnesotan than to call someone from the outside "one of us." Flip was one of us.
 

Holy Man said:
Flip worked the Jim Dutcher Basketball camp in the summer of '78. He was my basketball hero because he was great and a little guy. I had one of those attributes. I loved the alley-oop pass he tossed to Thompson and tried to mimic to our eighth grade big guys. It was surreal to have an audience with him at the camp. While not perhaps as impassioned as the later Len Bias anti-drug talk that Bleed heard, I remember the constant preaching about working hard at hoops being an investment in your future. He connected his hard work to a college scholarship at a world class university. He encouraged a lot of us who weren't going to get a free education from hoops to work hard in hoops and everything else. The lessons were universally transferable.

We are provincial in Minnesota and it is a common experience for those who come from elsewhere to have a hard time breaking in here. There is no greater compliment from a Minnesotan than to call someone from the outside "one of us." Flip was one of us.
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Wow. I love this post. "He was great and a little guy. I had one of those attributes." So well said for many of us. He might have been small in stature but he was a giant when it comes to loyalty and character. Simply put, you cannot replace a Flip Saunders.
 


go_gophers said:
Great stuff. Can we please bring back the "RAH!" at the end of the Rouser?
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It never went away in our family, though we're old school with Gopher sports traditions. The PA announcer at football games used to try to re-incorporate it as well.

Go Rah at End of Rouser!!
 

Funeral service

Has it been announced when and where the funeral will be?
 


BleedGopher said:
It never went away in our family, though we're old school with Gopher sports traditions. The PA announcer at football games used to try to re-incorporate it as well.

Go Rah at End of Rouser!!
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Same with our family. The Rah! never died with us either. Maybe we should ask Gopherhole to help with the cause?
 


They don't do the "Rah" anymore? When did this happen? Sacrilege!!! We need to start a movement and form a committee! A study group to see why current students cannot say "Rah"! Call your congressman, we need an investigation!

Just don't tell me they don't sing "Minnesota, Hail to Thee" after victories anymore.
 

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