Lee Cabutti lived a full life, in the estimation of his son Mark.
“He won the game,” the younger Cabutti said Friday, following his father’s death Thursday at the age of 97. “He was playing in overtime. He had a great, great life.”
There’s perhaps no better example of Lee’s zest for enjoying the time afforded him than what he pulled off last month.
In a demanding three-day stretch, the Hall of Fame basketball coach attended a friend’s funeral visitation in Decatur; made a nearly 200-mile trip south to tour his hometown of Herrin; and appeared at the first Coleman Carrodine Alumni Game between former Champaign Central and Centennial boys’ basketball players, where he was sought out by so many.
“Sunday, he might’ve called in sick for going to church,” Mark said. “He was still getting out there and just enjoying life.”
Mr. Cabutti coached the Champaign High School and then Champaign Central High School boys’ basketball program between 1956 and 1985. He led the Maroons to three single-class state tournament berths, including a third-place finish in 1969.
He recorded more basketball coaching victories — 434 of them — than anyone in school district history. His name now is attached to the hardwood court inside Combes Gymnasium, which he was able to visit in December 2021 after it underwent an extensive renovation.
What those in Champaign-Urbana may not realize about Mr. Cabutti, however, is his role in success experienced by Herrin High School’s boys’ basketball program during the 1950s.
A graduate of nearby Johnston City High School in southern Illinois, he took over the Tigers’ basketball team in 1951. He stepped down from the role after five seasons, with a cumulative 93-46 record, to make the move to Champaign.
The next season, in 1956-57, Herrin won the IHSA state championship. The Tigers qualified for the next two state tournaments after that as well.
“We’d go down to the Centralia Holiday Tournament, and they’d ask about Coach Cabutti and what he was doing, and they loved seeing him on the sidelines,” said LeConte Nix, Central’s current boys’ basketball coach. “His legacy will live forever across the state.”
To Nix’s point, Mr. Cabutti was given a standing ovation last May at the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame celebration in Normal, where he was acknowledged as the only member to have attended all 50 banquets.
He also couldn’t escape the spotlight at the Coleman Carrodine Game. Not that he wanted to.
He posed for photos with various alumni and community members before and during the exhibition.
“He was just thrilled,” his son said of the experience. “I didn’t know if he was up for that because there were a lot of people there … but I know he loved that.”
Nix recalls Mr. Cabutti being a fixture at Maroons basketball events early in Nix’s coaching tenure, which began in 2004.
“He’d come in and talk to the guys and tell us so many stories. It was never about basketball games. It was really about the kids he affected,” Nix said. “We made sure the kids knew who he was.”
Mr. Cabutti’s basketball excellence went beyond roaming the sidelines. He played collegiately at Southern Illinois University and helped the 1946 Salukis knock off Indiana State — led by storied coach John Wooden — 49-40 in the NAIA Division I national tournament.
It was an important experience for him. But one that was far from guaranteed.
“He said, ‘That’s the one national championship John Wooden didn’t win,’” his son said. “When my dad wanted to go to college, his father, who was a blacksmith in the coal mines (at Johnston City), chased the coach from Southern off his property. He said, ‘My son isn’t going to college. He’s got a good job waiting for him in the coal mines.’
“My dad’s mom convinced my dad’s dad to let him go to college, or he would’ve never gone to college. He’s so blessed that his mother fought for him.”
