Decades later, former Manatee basketball coach and player heal old wounds, become friends

Rickie Simmons vividly remembers the day that haunted him for more than 40 years.

Manatee High was scheduled to play a district basketball tournament game in 1975 against Sarasota High, a team the Hurricanes had beaten in the regular season and seemed likely to beat again behind their high-scoring senior. A win would give the Hurricanes an opportunity to earn their second consecutive district championship and perhaps advance all the way to the state tournament.

But then-Hurricanes head coach Pat Healy asked his players to wear red pants to the game in addition to their team-issued blue polos, and Simmons, not wanting to disappoint his coach, went looking for a pair. Simmons’s mother, who was raising him, his brother and his sister by herself, couldn’t just afford to buy him one, making his search difficult. He ultimately couldn’t find a pair.

By the time Simmons returned to campus, he had missed the team bus. He arrived at the game during the first half but didn’t get to play because he was late. The Hurricanes’ loss ended their season, launching a series of questions that weighed for decades on Simmons, who felt he was being punished for trying to do what his coach had told him to do.

“For years, I questioned myself about what could’ve happened,” Simmons said. “Had he put me in, would we have won the district? Had I played, would I have gotten an opportunity to go play in college? I never knew. I was really angry at Coach Healy for years.”

That day in 1975 drove a wedge between Healy and Simmons.

The two talked the next day about what had happened and then didn’t speak with each other for many years. Bitterness festered in Simmons, who could only ask himself what could’ve been. His godfather told him to let go of the pain, but Simmons just couldn’t.

That day in 1975 also set in motion a moment of healing for the two men during the 2016-17 season, when Hurricanes head coach Bob Lauster invited members of the 1975-76 team, which reached the state tournament one year after Simmons graduated, for a reunion event. Healy and Simmons, a Hurricanes assistant coach, shook hands at the event but didn’t talk to each other.

“I just couldn’t bring myself to talk to him,” Simmons said.

Simmons went home and prayed about the pain he felt. He was tired of carrying the weight of everything and wanted it lifted. He wanted the rift between him and his former coach to be gone. He wanted to have peace.

A few weeks later, Lauster invited Healy to a Hurricanes game near Healy’s home in Tampa. Healy asked Simmons if they could talk for a few minutes. Near the concession stand, the two began what would be a life-changing conversation for Simmons.

Simmons began pouring out his emotions, telling Healy how he’d wanted to have this conversation for years, how much it had hurt Simmons that he didn’t have a chance to play in the state tournament, how he wanted to hear Healy say he was sorry, how bitter Simmons had been.

Healy responded that he had been a young coach who was bull-headed and that he didn’t realize the pain he had caused Simmons. He then apologized and asked for Simmons’ forgiveness.

“That right there was like the world was just lifted off my shoulders,” Simmons said. “It was like somebody just kissed my heart with so much joy and peace. It was just so peaceful to hear him say those simple words. We embraced each other, and he said, ‘Rick, I love you,’ and I said, ‘Coach, I love you, too.’”

Simmons admits he still wonders about what would’ve happened had he shown up on time that day in 1975, but after the conversation with Healy, the questions no longer gnaw at him.

Those questions are impossible to answer, but Healy is certain he knows some of the answers.

He believes the Hurricanes would’ve beaten Sarasota with what Healy called their best player, would’ve won their second district championship in a row and would’ve gone far in the playoffs. He doesn’t know if those games would’ve been enough for Simmons to receive attention from a college coach, but he’s convinced Simmons could’ve played for a mid-major program.

Their meeting a few years ago has launched a friendship. The two men have been in constant contact since their reunion, calling each other and seeing each other at games. They talk about the X’s and O’s of basketball and other elements of coaching.

“That means a lot to me that we can talk and toss around ideas and stuff,” Healy said. “I think Rickie is going to be an excellent head coach someday.”

Simmons was recently looking for some things from his playing days to show his kids, but the search was fruitless. About the best he could do was the blurry picture of him going after a rebound in his yearbook from his senior year.

“There’s no pictures, there’s no articles, no nothing,” Simmons said. “I wish I could have those memoirs for them, but I told them unfortunately I don’t. But that’s life. Things like that, you just have to move on. I’m at peace now with everything, so I’m good.”

This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 5:00 AM.