Coach K Honored By The Heisman Foundation

For his humanitarian work, specifically with the Emily K Center

One of the themes of the transition between Mike Krzyzewski and Jon Scheyer is the notion that Scheyer is more relaxed and laid back.

Almost certainly true, but the undercurrent of that is a quiet media suggestion that Mike Krzyzewski was too driven, too focused, too...something.

Which, of course is ridiculous.

Of course he was focused. How else could he have accomplished so much?

But Sideline Krzyzewski is not all of Mike Krzyzewski. He has many facets and one of them that we have always admired is his quiet determination to help people. We’ve linked to many stories over the years, sometimes obituaries, of people who he reached out to, often for no apparent reason.

His greatest, most sustained efforts though have come with the Jimmy V Foundation, the Duke Children’s Hospital, and his own creation, the Emily K Center.

Named for his mother, a remarkable woman, the Emily K Center has utterly changed lives in Durham, and not just individual lives. The Emily K Center is going to change generations of lives.

We’re big fans, as you probably have noticed, and so we’re happy to see that the Heisman Trophy Trust has recognized the good work Emily K has done and so has honored Coach K with the 2022 Heisman Humanitarian Award.

It’s a heck of an honor, as Coach K might say, and richly deserved. Basketball is one thing, and you can change lives there. But really, nothing could beat saving lives, and in a sense, that’s exactly what’s happening at the Emily K Center.