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`If Jan wins . . . I'm going to have a smile on my face, turn around and give him a shot in the butt.' - Butch van Breda Kolff
THOUGH BOTH have spent their lives immersed in the game, their basketball paths rarely have crossed. Butch van Breda Kolff has been coaching for 40 of his 70 years. He watched from afar as his son, Jan, became a collegiate star at Vanderbilt and then spent 11 years playing professionally. Similarly, Jan learned to walk - and dribble and jam - largely while Butch was away.
Tomorrow night, for the first time, the van Breda Kolffs meet in a real father-and-son game. Butch and Jan will be opposing coaches when Hofstra plays at Cornell, where Jan, 41, is in his second season as coach. Butch has envisioned a scenario.
"I remember the first time I played against Princeton," Butch said. "I was the Lafayette coach at the time and I was coaching against Cappy Cappon, who had been my coach. He beat us a couple of times and we finally beat him. He came up with a big smile after the game and turned around and kicked me. If Jan wins, I'll feel like doing the same thing. I'm going to have a smile on my face, turn around and give him a shot in the butt."
Ironically, it is the game they both love that has kept them apart all these years. "I think I could count on one hand the number of times he saw me play in college," Jan said. "I think between college and the pros - that's 15 years of basketball - he saw me play five times."
Does that mean Butch had time for his players, but not for his son? Jan doesn't sound resentful when he says, "It was a situation where I...