Mike Crotty Loved Family, Friends, and Basketball

Middlesex Magic Director and Coach Mike Crotty died suddenly yesterday at the age of 57.  Mike Crotty founded, directed and coached the Middlesex Magic Basketball Club for the last 17 years.   The Middlesex Magic is considered one of the top AAU programs in Massachusetts and has been responsible for producing many quality college basketball players and hosting many quality tournaments.   I was fortunate enough to work with Mike for three years as we were both coaches of the Massachusetts Wildcats.  Mike and I co-coached a 13 year old AAU Massachusetts State Championship team beating the then powerful Greater Boston AAU team in the finals.   I was also fortunate enough to coach against Mike many times over the last seventeen years and can assure you that Mike loved to win.  I can also assure you that Mike loved the kids he coached and always opened his home to all of them.  If there was someone in need, Coach Crotty was there to help.  Through several discussions I had with Mike over the years, it became clear that he felt that coaching was about much more than winning a basketball game, but about teaching the young men he encountered how to win in the game of life.  Scott (Hazelton) would also play for Mike early in his career and get to know and like the energetic coach.  Scott and Mike remained friends and would speak on many occassions through the years.

I last spoke to Mike this Saturday while he was in New York with his wife visiting his daugther and grandchild.  More than basketball, it was the love for his family that I best remember Mike for.   I will remember Mike as a family man, yet as a tough and demanding coach that loved basketball and the excitement of being on the sidelines.  He loved to compete and enjoyed winning, and always asked the young men that played for him to give it their all.  Most importantly, I will remember Coach Crotty for loving the young men that put on the Middlesex Magic uniform over the last 17 years.  He truly cared about those young men and wanted the best for all of them.

I will miss Coach Crotty.  The sidelines of the upcoming Spring AAU tournaments will not be the same without him.  For those of us who knew him, for which Scott and I are two, we will not forget all the good he did on the basketball court, but more importantly, we will not forget all the good he did in the world we live in.   We thank him, and say goodbye until we meet again.