Amherst College named its basketball court after longtime men’s basketball coach Dave Hixon in a ceremony Saturday at LeFrak Gymnasium in Amherst. STAFF PHOTO/KYLE GRABOWSKI

Two-time Olympic silver medalist Michael Hixon, left, congratulates his father, longtime Amherst College men’s basketball coach Dave Hixon. STAFF PHOTO/KYLE GRABOWSKI

Longtime Amherst College men’s basketball coach Dave Hixon acknowledges the crowd after the school named its basketball court after him in a ceremony Saturday at LeFrak Gymnasium. STAFF PHOTO/KYLE GRABOWSKI

Longtime Amherst College men’s basketball coach Dave Hixon gathers with his former players after the school named the LeFrak Gymnasium court after him in a ceremony on Saturday in Amherst. STAFF PHOTO/KYLE GRABOWSKI

Longtime Amherst College men’s basketball coach Dave Hixon acknowledges the crowd during a ceremony Saturday at LeFrak Gymnasium where the court was named in his honor. STAFF PHOTO/KYLE GRABOWSKI

Longtime Amherst College men’s basketball coach Dave Hixon, center, and his wife Mandy Hixon, left, listen to speakers at a ceremony dedicating the court in his honor Saturday at LeFrak Gymnasium in Amherst. Mandy coached diving at Amherst and UMass for decades. STAFF PHOTO/KYLE GRABOWSKI

Longtime Amherst College men’s basketball coach Dave Hixon delivers a speech during a ceremony naming the LeFrak Gymnasium floor after him in Amherst on Saturday. STAFF PHOTO/KYLE GRABOWSKI

Amherst College president Carolyn “Biddy” Martin speaks during a ceremony naming the basketball court after longtime men’s basketball coach Dave Hixon on Saturday at LeFrak Gymnasium. STAFF PHOTO/KYLE GRABOWSKI

Longtime Amherst College men’s basketball coach Dave Hixon, with his wife, Mandy, left, a former diving coach at the school, acknowledges the crowd during a ceremony Saturday at LeFrak Gymnasium. STAFF PHOTO/KYLE GRABOWSKI

Longtime Amherst College men’s basketball coach Dave Hixon gathers with his former players after the school named the LeFrak Gymnasium court after him in a Saturday ceremony in Amherst. STAFF PHOTO/KYLE GRABOWSKI

AMHERST — Dave Hixon would have remained a part of Amherst College whether or not it named anything after him.

The longtime men’s basketball coach arrived on campus as a freshman in 1971. After graduating, he spent two years as an assistant before former athletic director Peter Gooding named him head coach in 1977 at age 24. Over more than four decades, Hixon built a legacy that included 800 wins, seven final fours and two national championships — a legacy that entwined itself with the school’s history long before he retired in 2020. Along the way, he built a family of former players, assistants, colleagues and friends that wanted to mark the place permanently.

The floor at LeFrak Gymnasium was named “Hixon Court” on Saturday in a ceremony attended by many of the people Hixon brought together. He greeted them as they filtered in, many wearing name tags but none needing them. Hixon said he could tell “three or four stories” about everyone in the gym.

“I almost think people shouldn’t say such nice things about you until maybe at your funeral or something like that,” said Hixon, 69. “It’s been overwhelming. It’s just amazing to hear the stories.”

A large contingent arrived on May 6 to start the festivities. Around 50 of them played a round at Amherst Golf Club before gathering for dinner to tell stories and watch old games and moments cut together by Hixon’s oldest son, Matthew, who edits video for a living.

At one point Hixon asked all of his former assistant coaches to stand. Northampton High School boys basketball coach Rey Harp rose to his feet, stunned by the level of talent around him, some of whom continued coaching and some who pursued other avenues.

“I’m standing up with these guys, and this is such an honor,” Harp said. “Guys have different ways of being part of that program and for me to have been a piece — a small piece — of that was a really powerful moment.”

They all went out for drinks Friday at the Inn on Boltwood (formerly the Lord Jeffery Inn) and stayed out past midnight. Hixon was up at 5:30 a.m. answering texts and emails from people who couldn’t make it.

“I’m surprised that more people weren’t there and more people weren’t able to get there,” Harp said. “We could have filled that place.”

Hixon was grateful so many could attend at all. He first stepped away from Amherst in 2019 to spend more time with his father Wil Hixon, a hall of fame basketball coach at Andover, in his final year. During that sabbatical, Amherst assistant and all-time leading scorer Aaron Toomey took over the first seat on the bench.

“He gave me a chance when I didn’t have much going on. I was overseas playing hoops professionally and got hurt and came back and didn’t exactly know where my life was gonna go,” Toomey said. “I got a call from Hix, and he wanted me to come work for him. Six months after I graduated as a player for him, for him to kind of have that belief in me that I could come in and help the program as a coach right away meant a lot, and it got my career started as a coach, so I owe a lot to him for a lot of things.”

Dave Hixon retired in April 2020, right as the reality and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic settled in. That timing didn’t give the program much opportunity to recognize him in the moment. It did afford everyone time to plan.

“In some ways it was obnoxious because we had to wait for this moment, but it allowed us to all settle in, build some momentum and start thinking about how we wanted to do it and experience it together,” Harp said.

Bill O’Malley opened the proceedings with stories from Amherst’s 1984 team that needed to win its last five games to qualify for the postseason.

“We didn’t win any of them,” O’Malley said. “Coach was really extraordinary during that time. We stopped learning about X’s and O’s and he put on his educator hat. He lifted us up because we were hurting and talked about adversity and things that are gonna happen in our lives and how to power through it. Coach hasn’t had a lot of basketball adversity, but those tools are in the toolkit.”

In his time at Amherst, Hixon taught and was an assistant track and women’s soccer coach. He mentioned that he outlasted eight university presidents, seven admissions directors and — most pointedly — six Williams College coaches. Hixon won 17 of his last 21 games against the school’s archrival.

The one president he didn’t stay longer than was glad to witness the ceremony. Carolyn “Biddy” Martin, herself stepping down next year, commended Hixon’s dedication to the college when he had regular opportunities to leave.

“He’s an institution,” Martin said. “He remains an Amherst icon.”

David Wasserman formally introduced Hixon from the lectern, even though in that room he needed no introduction. The class of ’89 graduate remarked that among coaches who spent their entire career at one institution, Hixon trails only fellow college basketball legends Dean Smith of North Carolina and Adolph Rupp of Kentucky in wins and winning percentage.

“You created a system of trust and camaraderie that forced all us players to step up and be leaders,” Wasserman said. “Coach had an enormous impact on the Amherst community at large. His basketball program brought pride and a sense of belonging to the fans in the school.”

Hixon quipped that everyone before him had taken much of what he had to talk about. He thanked his players, colleagues and administrators before remembering his parents, who both passed in the last few years. Then Hixon thanked his family, his wife, Mandy Hixon, longtime diving coach at Amherst College and UMass, and his sons Michael Hixon (a two-time Olympic silver medalist diver) and Matthew, a sought-after film editor in New York.

“She really is a truly remarkable coach but a better mother and wife and partner,” Hixon said of his wife. “You hope the best for your kids, hope they have all the success in the world. To watch my boys, each of them, follow their passions have been unbelievable. I’m so proud of them for what they’ve done.”

After Hixon concluded, the assembled players took the court with Hixon one more time and lifted the purple cloth between the sideline and 3-point line on the home bench side to reveal an enlarged Dave Hixon signature in purple and block letters that read “Hixon Court.”

He posed for pictures with the large group then shook hands and took more pictures with individuals, families and smaller groups. The throng slowly filtered out of LeFrak Gymnasium and up to an awaiting lunch, many taking large strides to avoid stepping on the newly revealed signage. When only a handful remained, Hixon sat down in a plastic folding chair near center court. He looked over the now empty bleachers, the banners he helped hang and the court that now bore his name.

After two days surrounded by other people, Hixon took a moment for himself. It’s not like anyone would kick him out.

.@AmherstMammoths named the LeFrak Gymnasium floor after Dave Hixon, who coached there for 42 years pic.twitter.com/6Xt9WnYPlS

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