Clark University’s Dan Trant was putting on a first-half show against Nazareth College on that chilly March 1984 evening in Rochester, N.Y. — so much so that Nazareth coach Bill Nelson decided he better do something. The stakes were too high to wait too long — it was, after all, the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Tournament — and so Nelson made a defensive tweak that involved the realignment of his star guard, Jeff Van Gundy.
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As the next day’s Rochester “Democrat and Chronicle” would note, “When Trant hit his 12th point with 12 minutes still left in the first half, Nelson motioned Van Gundy to overplay him on his right side.”
It worked to the degree that Trant was held scoreless the rest of the half. But it didn’t work in that Clark shot 57 percent for the night — including 20 points apiece from Trant and Rick Cole — to power the Cougars to a 90-84 victory. Clark went on to advance to the national championship game.
Jeff Van Gundy has never forgotten that night.
#OnThisDay in 1984 | Led by All-Tournament Team honoree Dan Trant and Rick Cole, #ClarkMBB took down Nazareth (and future NBA head coach Jeff Van Gundy) 90-84 in the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars would go on to advance to the Nat’l Championship game #ClarkUHoopsOTD pic.twitter.com/Xy7lsvfTjK
— Clark Men’s Basketball (@ClarkUHoops) March 10, 2021
“Even now,” Van Gundy told me, “when I just see the name Dan Trant it evokes so many memories.”
Pleasant memories, poignant memories.
Van Gundy, 61, has had a distinguished NBA career as a head coach (New York Knicks, Houston Rockets), network analyst and his current role as a senior consultant with the Boston Celtics, but his days at Nazareth will always be special. A member of the Nazareth Hall of Fame, he remains among the school’s all-time leaders in field goal percentage and assists, and he scored 16 points (on 8-for-13 shooting) in that loss to Clark.
And yet when Van Gundy sees that name — Dan Trant — it’s impossible not to recall the terrorist strikes that rocked our nation on Sept. 11, 2001. Trant, a bond trader with Cantor Fitzgerald, just 40 years old, perished in the attack. Van Gundy also lost a close friend, Farrell Lynch, 39, a former teammate and roommate at Nazareth who, like Trant, worked for Cantor Fitzgerald. Lynch’s kid brother, Sean Lynch, 34, a vice president of equity trading for Cantor Fitzgerald, lost his life as well.
I always thought of Dan Trant who was lost on 9/11 as the anthem played before tip and I said a prayer for him until the end of my career. I loved his trash talking and competitive spirit. Rest In Peace brother. pic.twitter.com/S7tHRtZLDT
— Tim Doyle (@TimDoyle00) September 11, 2020
That Van Gundy now works for the Celtics brings an added connection to Trant. After finishing his college career, Trant, a proud native of Westfield, Mass., was selected by the Celtics with the 228th — and last — pick in the 1984 NBA Draft.
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In what is widely agreed to be the greatest draft in NBA history, four future Hall of Famers were selected in the first 16 picks. Hakeem Olajuwon of Houston went No. 1 to the Rockets, followed by Michael Jordan of North Carolina (No. 3, Chicago Bulls), Charles Barkley of Auburn (No. 5, Philadelphia 76ers) and John Stockton of Gonzaga (No. 16, Utah Jazz). Before the lights were dimmed at Madison Square Garden’s Felt Forum, Dan Trant of Clark University went to the Celtics with the last pick of the 10th round.
The selection didn’t go unnoticed by Van Gundy.
“When you see a guy you actually played against suddenly get drafted, it’s like, OK, now I know why we lost,” he said. “I was not a draft pick and he was. That’s it.”
Jeff Van Gundy, a member of the Nazareth Hall of Fame, is among the school’s all-time leaders in field goal percentage and assists. (Courtesy of Nazareth athletics)Jimmy Rodgers, an assistant coach with the Celtics at the time, told “The Boston Globe,” “We like to give kids like this a chance to come into camp. It’s good for the kids and good for us.”
The kid got his chance. He didn’t make the team. But the selection only added to the legend of Dan “The Man” Trant, whose dazzling jump shot and abundant confidence during his days at Westfield High School had made him a Western Massachusetts celebrity.
“Because he wasn’t big he played with a bit of a chip on his shoulder,” said Todd Marcyoniak, who played basketball and soccer with Trant at Westfield High. “And at the end of the game, he usually made sure you knew he had that chip.”
Perhaps it was because he was undersized in high school — he was listed at 6-2, 175 pounds by the time he was a senior at Clark — that Trant didn’t land at a Division I school. But Van Gundy sees it this way: “He was a Division I player playing Division III basketball. And that’s how you win at Division III. You have a Division I player playing Division III basketball.
“Yeah, they beat us,” Van Gundy said. “And they beat us right from the start. And Dan was obviously the central figure in that. In that game.”
Van Gundy, 61, has had a distinguished NBA career as a head coach, network analyst and now a senior consultant with the Celtics, but his days at Nazareth will always be special. (Courtesy of Nazareth athletics)Trant went on to play professional basketball for a few years in Ireland, where he was wildly popular. He returned to the United States and landed at Cantor Fitzgerald. He married, began raising a family and lived on Long Island. He coached youth soccer.
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“I never met Dan Trant,” Van Gundy said. “I never spoke to him in my life. Even in that game we played against each other, I don’t even remember speaking to him.”
But remember him he did, from that night in Rochester to the 1984 draft, to the horrible news that Trant, Farrell Lynch and Sean Lynch had died at the World Trade Center.
In keeping with ongoing tributes of the victims of 9/11, Dan Trant’s wife, Kathy, and their kids, Jessica, Daniel and Alex, were invited to the Knicks’ Nov. 10, 2001, game against the Golden State Warriors at Madison Square Garden. Young Daniel was made an honorary ball boy.
Van Gundy spent time with the family before the game. It was not the first time he spoke glowingly about Dan Trant, a basketball player he never met. It would not be the last time.
(Top photo of Nazareth guard Jeff Van Gundy (11) defending against Clark University’s Dan “The Man” Trant: Courtesy of Nazareth athletics)
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