 |
| Mike Babul, left, and his brother Jon, pose for a photo before the 1995-96 season. |
I learned earlier today that North Attleboro High School and Mansfield High School have agreed to reschedule their upcoming boys' and girls' basketball games from Friday, Jan. 10, to Thursday, Jan. 9 -- the boys playing at North Attleboro and the girls at Mansfield. The reason is to accommodate the calling hours for the late North Attleboro basketball star, Mike Babul, on Friday.
These two schools are fierce rivals, but they are totally united in showing appropriate and deserved respect for Babul, who died earlier this week of a heart attack at the all-too-young age of 47.
Since I heard the news from former colleague Peter Gobis, I've been having trouble wrapping my head around this. Everyone dies, I know. We all will. There are timely deaths and deserved deaths, but of late, there have been far too many tragic deaths of younger people I knew that had bright and fulfilling futures snatched away from them in an instant.
Until today, I have hesitated to offer my thoughts publicly on this news other than to put short posts on social media to inform others of this tragedy. That is my nature. I spent more than a half-century covering the news and passing it along as quickly and accurately as I could, as if it was still my sworn duty to the public to uphold an unspoken oath.
 |
| Mike Babul on the collegiate sidelines. |
Most others reacted as I did -- with shock and sadness at the loss of such a highly regarded individual who had positively impacted multitudes of young people through his coaching and his participation in basketball camps, as well as through his positivity and his energy.
One individual, however, called me a "douche" for having blurted out the bad news before anyone had time to grieve, or so he claimed. I did not. I checked the time stamps. I had not even read Gobis' email to me until two hours after he sent it. Social media accounts from various organizations and individuals were already reporting the news three hours before I wrote my first post.
It did have a residual effect, however. Asked to comment on Mike's passing by other news organizations, I deferred to Gobis, because not only had he written the first story that appeared in The Sun Chronicle about Mike Babul's passing, he was also closer to the local boys' basketball scene in the mid-1990s than I was. I don't always have to have the first or last word on everything that happens, especially when there are others that might have better perspective to offer.
Another such individual with great perspective is Mike Kirby, another former colleague at the local newspaper, who started there as a sportswriter before becoming the big boss in the newsroom over his 40-year career. Mike has always been plugged into the heartbeat of his hometown of North Attleboro, and that was reaffirmed today by a column he wrote for the paper.
Mike clearly states that North Attleboro, usually regarded by the Massachusetts sports community as a football town, surged to the forefront of the basketball community when Mike Babul and his twin brother, Jon, first stepped onto the court inside what would later be known as the Ken Pickering Gymnasium.
Mike scored 1,423 career points over his Rocketeer career, and Jon scored 910 -- I remember pulling openly for Jon to get to the 1,000-point plateau as well because it would have made their legacy even more impressive. But Mike (even at 6-6) was the shooting guard and primary scorer, and Jon (an inch taller at 6-7) was the pivot around whom much of North's halfcourt offense was designed, with him serving as more of a facilitator and rebounder. They averaged 18.8 and 12.2 points respectively as seniors, and almost got the Rocketeers to a state title.
My only quibble with this retelling of history is that North already had some great basketball chops before the Babul brothers' emergence -- the girls' team had already won two state Division 2 titles, in 1987, defeating Athol, and in 1991, defeating the Rebecca Lobo-led Southwick team. But for some unknown reason, the girls don't seem to get the respect they deserve in Big Red Country. I know -- I've had many debates with a lot of individuals about that over the years.
Sadly, we have also lost two members of that 1987 team, center Alyssa Gutauskas in 1997 and shooting forward Heidi Deppisch in 2022. Both are still sources of personal joy from having known them, and deep sadness from their passings.
 |
| Mike Babul, at right, defends Attleboro High's Jason Smith (4). |
There is no denying, however, that Mike and Jon Babul were outstanding ambassadors for their sport and that they did raise North Attleboro's hoop profile significantly. First coached by their father, Mike Sr., and then by Don Johnson, both were hard-working and dedicated young men, personable, and totally respectful of their sport and their places in it. They understood and embraced their responsibilities as role models -- a very difficult thing for anyone to do, no less a pair of twin teenagers.
I remember fondly one particular day, not long before the start of their senior seasons at NAHS. I wanted to create a special design for our annual boys' basketball preview, so Sun Chronicle photographer Mark Stockwell and I commandeered the boys' locker room and posed the two twins -- Mike in his red No. 43 uniform, Jon in his white No. 44 togs. We tried several different poses (one of which topped this column), but we struck gold with a low-angle shot that made the twins look like giants. And of course, the headline to the preview declared them to be the "Twin Towers." I was very proud of that presentation.
Who would have known that about six years later, that title would come to represent a moment of staggering national heartbreak upon the destruction of New York City's World Trade Center?
Both Babul brothers made lives in the sport for themselves after high school. Mike was a defensive standout at UMass and Jon played at Georgia Tech. Mike had been recruited by John Calipari, who had built UMass into a national power, but then raced off to the pros and left Mike to be coached by Bruiser Flint. There was no transfer portal in those days, but Mike held true to his commitment, and I respected him immensely for it.
They both got into coaching and basketball management positions afterward. Jon works in the front office of the Atlanta Hawks. And Mike's résumé included coaching jobs at several colleges and the Brooklyn Nets' G-League team before he decided to accept the North Attleboro High School coaching job before the 2023-24 season.
It should have been a tremendous and hopefully triumphant return home for Mike, who was already familiar to a new generation of Rocketeers because of his work with AAU programs and local basketball camps, including those run by him and his brother. But for reasons that are unknown, and I resist speculating why, he decided to re-apply for the Thayer Academy coaching position and he was given it just before the new season was to start.
He was in his second season at Thayer, and had them on the winning track, when his life came to an unexpected end early Monday morning.
I've been reading most of the heartfelt tributes to Mike that have appeared in social media -- not just from individuals that knew him or may have had children coached by him, but also from elite basketball organizations or individuals whose lives were also touched by him. Even John Calipari weighed in on Twitter/X ... and he only recruited Mike.
Part of me wonders what would have happened if Mike had taken the reins at North Attleboro. Basketball there has been in the doldrums for some time now, but I have to believe he would have used everything he learned every step along the way to restore enthusiasm to the boys' program.
Yet in pondering that, I fear that it might be construed as a criticism of those presently in charge. I intend no disrespect at all to Derek Smith -- himself the son of another famous North Attleboro coach, Rick Smith, who brought that 1987 girls' team to the pinnacle of Massachusetts basketball. I have no doubt that Derek is doing everything he can to reverse North's basketball fortunes, and it is patently unfair for anyone to play the "what-if" game.
More than anything else, Mike's death has reminded me of the preciousness of life.
Too many young athletes of superlative ability have left us in recent years. North Attleboro has suffered more than its share of loss in the deaths of Mike Babul, Alyssa Gutauskas and Heidi Deppisch. Attleboro's Leland Anderson died earlier this year from lung cancer, and Rebecca Hardt passed in her sleep in a few years ago. Many recall the tragedy of Bishop Feehan's Cheryl Warren, who died giving birth to twins. There are others as well, all of whom are forever young in my memory -- pictured in my mind's eye as they were, running up and down basketball courts, joy and determination concurrently expressed on their faces, always looking to improve their skills, to refine them and to succeed.
In a time in which we need to derive positive reinforcement and inspiration from any available sources, I can only hope that the basketball community of the Attleboros and beyond, young and old alike, will embrace the life Mike Babul led and let it serve as a guide for their futures.
MARK FARINELLA wrote for The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, Mass., for 42 years.
