UConn Champion's Legacy: Coach Fred Shabel's Inspirational Fight for Inclusion | Part 2

Shortly before he died, former UConn men's basketball coach Fred Shabel expressed his dismay and disappointment that he had not been inducted into the university's hall of fame.
He wasn't alone.
For years after Shabel left UConn in 1967 many former players and supporters had lobbied UConn officials to have Shabel inducted as a Husky of Honor, the school's hall of fame.
All to no avail.
Shabel, a former Duke University men's assistant basketball coach, had arrived at UConn in the spring of 1963.
Supporters have long said Shabel deserved to be enshrined after he gave the UConn basketball program a glimpse of the national prominence that possibly lay ahead.
Shabel's 1963-64 team went to the third round of the NCAA tournament, a first for UConn and one that would not be replicated for more than two decades. His 1964-65 team was ranked 15th in the country.
During his four-year UConn coaching career, Shabel compiled a 72-29 record, won four Yankee Conference regular season titles and made three trips to the NCAA tournament. Supporters said Shabel's 72% win percentage ranked him alongside UConn men's top two head basketball coaches, Jim Calhoun and Hugh Greer, both Huskies of Honor members. However, Shabel had never been honored for his achievement.
UConn administrators have long maintained that Shabel only coached for four years, not a long enough time to evaluate his coaching body of work.
The Huskies of Honor is a recognition program, equivalent to a hall of fame. Placards honoring the members of the Huskies of Honor are hung inside the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, the on-campus home court at UConn. The hall honors the university's top men and women basketball players, teams and coaches. Included are three former men's basketball head coaches: Hugh Greer (1946-1963), Jim Calhoun (1986-2012) and Dee Rowe, who coached UConn from 1969 to 1977. (UConn women's head basketball coach Geno Auriemma, whose teams have won 11 NCAA championships, and whose contact was renewed in 2024, was one of the 11 inaugural inductees in 2006.
Shabel left UConn in 1967 to become athletic director and later a vice president at the University of Pennsylvania. He left Penn in 1980 for an executive job at Comcast Spectacor, the sports management and cable TV company in Philadelphia. He worked there for nearly 40 years, retiring in 2019 at age 88.
Shabel was interviewed Oct. 15, 2022, at his Philadelphia townhouse where he lived with his wife, Irene.
At the interview, Shabel said he had never pushed for his hall of fame induction and had never questioned any UConn officials on the reason he wasn't enshrined. Shabel said he always believed his accomplishments warranted his inclusion.
The day of the interview, Shabel answered his front door wearing a blue windbreaker with a Duke logo. Apologizing, Shabel asked if should change his jacket, before saying all his UConn sportswear was stored at his Florida winter home. He ended up wearing the Duke jacket for the duration of the two-hour interview.
Shabel died in Clearwater, Florida, on Feb. 26, 2022, four months after being interviewed. He was 90.
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