Rick Majerus

Did You Know?

• Majerus's trademark sweater was retired and hung from the rafters at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on February 2, 2013.
• St. Thomas More High School in Milwaukee installed the new "Rick Majerus Court" in 2016.
• Rick Majerus Court at SLU's Chaifetz Pavilion was dedicated on September 18, 2023.

Early life

Majerus was born to Alyce and Raymond Majerus, a Kohler factory worker and labor leader who served as secretary-treasurer of the United Auto Workers. He grew up with sisters Jodi and Tracy. As a teenager, he accompanied his father to civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama, an experience that deeply affected him. A voracious reader, he read four newspapers daily. He graduated from Marquette University High School in 1966 and attended Marquette University, becoming the first in his family to go to college. He tried out as a walk-on for the freshman team and later served as a student assistant, earning a bachelor's degree in history in 1970.

Coaching career

While a student assistant at Marquette, Majerus coached eighth-graders at St. Sebastian Grade School and freshmen at Marquette University High School. After graduating in 1971, he became a Marquette assistant coach for 12 years under Al McGuire and Hank Raymonds, serving on the staff when the Warriors reached the 1974 Final Four and won the 1977 NCAA Championship. He gave Glenn "Doc" Rivers his nickname. Majerus became head coach at Marquette in 1983, posting a 56–35 record and three NIT appearances in three seasons.

He then served as an NBA assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks under Don Nelson for the 1986–87 season. At Ball State University, he compiled a 43–17 record over two seasons, leading the 1988–89 team to a 29–3 mark and the NCAA tournament second round. He took over at Utah in 1989. In 1996, Kentucky coach Rick Pitino said Utah should be favored; Majerus replied that in a sumo ring he would crush Pitino but on the court Utah was in trouble.

He led the Utes to the 1998 Final Four, where they lost the national championship game after blowing a ten-point halftime lead. Majerus said he could recite the last six minutes of that game second by second and remarked that they might as well bury him at the finish line at Churchill Downs so they could run over him again. While at Utah, he lived out of a hotel room, appreciating clean towels and a mint on his pillow. He also assisted Don Nelson with the US national team that won gold at the 1994 FIBA World Championship.

Personal life

Majerus's father Raymond died of a heart attack at age 63 in 1987. Majerus was devoted to his mother Alyce, who took factory work to buy Christmas presents and whom he called Rosie the Riveter; she died in August 2011 after being diagnosed with cancer in 1987. The family was Catholic. Majerus was married to Deor Mary Hitt for two years in the mid-1980s and dated the same woman for the last 25 years of his life. Friend and coach Bill Foster said Majerus never wanted to sleep, preferring to sit in a restaurant, order more food, and talk basketball.

Legacy

In 2015, Majerus's sisters donated $1 million to Marquette University to establish the Rick Majerus Endowed Scholarship for first-generation students in the Helen Way Klingler College of Arts and Sciences. The Majerus Family Foundation also gave $2 million to the Huntsman Cancer Institute for a children's research center and hosts annual dinners for the homeless in Milwaukee on the birthdays of Majerus and each of his parents.