Jim Bolla's Impact on the World Lives on Through Those of Us He Led
Last week, legendary UNLV Lady Rebels basketball coach Jim Bolla died after a long and courageous battle with cancer. His impact on the world he leaves behind extends far beyond the basketball court.
It was 1994, and I was traveling with the UNLV Lady Rebels basketball team were had just won a road conference game. As an assistant sports information director, my role included media relations duties and ensuring our coaching staff had game stats and other game information at halftime and during the postgame.
We were in a hurry to get back on the bus to continue to our next game and the local stats crew took quite a bit of time.
“Hey Scott, where’s my stats?” head coach Jim Bolla asked me.
“Sorry, coach, they’re taking forever, so I don’t have them yet,” I said.
Bolla pulled me aside away from the team and taught me the first of thousands of life lessons as a mentor and later friend.
“Scott, you’re doing a great job,” Bolla said. “But I am going to teach you something important for your life. Never wait on anyone to find a way to make things happen. Be bold and position yourself, so you’re not waiting on anyone.”
Bolla then proceeded to tell me that when we got back, he would call a donor and get them to buy us a then-rare mobile printer (this was 1994 and technology was much more expensive) so I never had to wait on a local stat person to print them out for our staff.
That following Monday, when I returned to the office after the road trip, sitting on my desk was said printer with a note from Bolla.
“Independence,” it said.
I share that story because it was one of the earliest interactions I had with Jim that taught me something I still use today. And that was Jim Bolla. An accomplished basketball player and legendary women’s basketball coach, yes. But an even better man and mentor to thousands of us who crossed his path.
His death has hit me hard. Jim and I talked regularly, and recently those conversations were a struggle. For anyone who knew coach Bolla well, one thing he never had a problem doing was talking. When he’d call me in recent years, I’d always set aside 60 minutes because there was no way I was getting off the phone any faster.
In the last few months, those conversations got uncharacteristically shorter. He was losing his battle, and one of the strongest men I have ever known spoke with a greater sense that his battle was nearing its end. Jim Bolla was the ultimate warrior in life - he didn’t quit anything. He was a fighter and to hear the fight leaving him shook me.
A Pittsburgh native, Jim played basketball and graduated from Bishop Canevin High School to star at the University of Pittsburgh, serving as the team’s starting center from 1973-75, and included a 1974 trip to the Elite 8 and a Top 10 national ranking.
His love of the sport eventually led him to women’s basketball at Pitt as an assistant and then as the head man at UNLV.
Despite his accomplishments on the court as a player and a coach, Jim saw his role as much more significant. The young women he coached at UNLV (and later Hawaii) understood this. He strived to be a strong influence on his players and not just get the most out of them on the court but also to give them the life skills and direction they needed to live happy lives outside of basketball. The same can be said for those assistant coaches who served with him. He cared deeply about all of them and did everything he could to help them up until the day he died. He never stopped being that mentor to all of them and he reveled in the success of each one of them.
For me, Jim was a rock and an ear. Always willing to listen, he gave me straightforward and honest advice. If I were self-loathing, he’d tell me to snap out of it and give me a path to help myself. If I succeeded, he’d not only cheer but tell me how proud he was of my accomplishments. If I failed, he’d build me back up and motivate me to learn from the failure and use it to improve. It was an amazing gift he possessed and gave to all of us who knew him.
Looking at all of the lives he impacted is remarkable. The players, the coaches, the support staff and young people all live better lives today because he influenced us. Whether it’s the school teacher, the accomplished corporate executive, the artist, the stay-at-home mom, the assistant district attorney, the youth mentor, the basketball coach, or the doctor, all of us who knew him, worked with him and benefited from his sage advice and dear friendship owe part of who we are to him.
Jim would always tell us how proud he was of us. It always made you feel important when he did. He was an almost mythical figure for me and to this day, I am beyond thankful God brought him in, and kept him in, my life for 30 years.
He may have been proud of all of us, but he beamed the most with pride telling us about his daughter Sasha. I always knew what Sasha was accomplishing on the volleyball court and he spoke with such deep love when he talked of her athletic and academic prowess. My heart hurts for her, but I know she’ll take solace in how her father changed the world in so many ways it’s hard to measure. Both he and his wife, Dallas, did a great job with her. She’s a remarkable young woman and will continue the Bolla legacy in new and exciting ways.
For all the man accomplished, Jim Bolla never held onto grudges. He would tell me that life was too short and coach me to let go of my own. Even when I publicly spoke about his inexplicable and downright insulting omission from the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame, Jim would tell me it didn’t matter. It does matter, but that’s a discussion for a different time.
Right now, we’re all grieving the loss of our friend and mentor. He can never be replaced and that’s what hurts. We’ll never feel the void his presence leaves. But, in a way, that’s him still coaching us and challenging us to think, act, and be our best.
We’re all leaning on each other now, telling stories and reconnecting around the man who brought us together in the first place. It’s part of his legacy and a testament to his impact that so many of us stay in touch all these years later. We’ve all grown older and wiser and it all began years ago thanks to Jim Bolla.
I could write an entire book about my experiences, conversations and why I appreciate the man.
Most of all, I’m going to miss my friend. He has been such a rock for me in recent years through stumbles, triumphs and new beginnings. Besides my father, who I lost last year, Jim was the most significant male role model in my life. I’m thankful for his guidance and friendship; the only way I can repay him is to pay it forward.
Jim, for a working-class Pittsburgh kid, you did well. You changed the world one person at a time, and that’s how you’ll be remembered. A truly remarkable man and remarkable life.
Rest easy, Coach.
100% agreed thanks Scott