The sports world took one on the chin this week as one of the more popular broadcasters in the NBA announced a personal tragedy.
Kimberly Van Gundy, the wife of Stan Van Gundy, passed away unexpectedly last week, reported the New York Post.
She was only 61 years old.
Tragedy Strikes
Van Gundy literally spent his entire adult life as a coach.
He started out as an assistant coach at Vermont in 1981, and he worked his way from program to program until he took an assistant coaching job at the University of Wisconsin in 1992.
In 1994, he took over the program, staying as head coach for two seasons, finishing his college coaching career with a 135-92 record, not bad when you consider some of the programs he took over.
In 1995, Van Gundy moved over to the NBA, landing an assistant job for Pat Riley with the Miami Heat, after the Heat refused to allow Riley to hire Jeff Van Gundy.
When Riley’s tenure was ended, it was Stan that took over the Heat. After a 15-67 record, Van Gundy resigned and sat out for two seasons before landing coaching jobs with the Magic, Pistons, and Pelicans.
He finished his professional coaching career with a record of 554-425, then moved to the broadcast booth, where he became far more popular than he ever was as a coach.
By his side for all of this was his wife, Kim, who just passed away.
While Stan did not comment on her death as of this report, her obituary stated, “Kimberly’s kindness and love for all around her was shown through her charitable works and activism.
“In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando or Crossroad’s Corral in Kim’s memory.”
Her cause of death was not published.
