Death and taxes and VanDerveer

She becomes the second-winningest coach in all of college basketball. Only Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski has more with 1,132 wins.

As usual, VanDerveer wanted to give everyone but herself credit for the accomplishment.

“It might be a record that has Tara VanDerveer’s name next to it, but it’s about the athletic directors who hired me and gave me a chance,” VanDerveer said in a press release from Stanford. “It’s been about great assistant coaches and having great players. My dad, who’s passed away over 20 years now, told me, ‘You don’t win the Kentucky Derby on donkeys.’ We have great players and have always had great players.”

What makes VanDerveer’s accomplishment even more special is the way she has gone about doing it. She has built one of the pillars of women’s college basketball and did it in a humble, classy, legitimate way. Not a whiff of scandal in her 35 years with the Cardinal and in a day and age when today’s youth may have passed by other coaches, she still resonates with today’s athletes.

But the numbers. The numbers are staggering. VanDerveer started her coaching career with two seasons at University of Idaho, where during the 1979-80 season, she led the Vandals to a record of 25-6. It was the first of 39 seasons of 20 wins or more.

She continued her career at Ohio State University, winning 20 games or more four times in five seasons. She came to The Farm prior to the 1985-86 season and after two non-winning years (the Cardinal did go 14-14 during the 86-87 season), VanDerveer became the coach and program it is today. During her time at Stanford, VanDerveer has guided the Cardinal to the NCAA tournament 31 times in a row. It would have been 32 but the 2020 NCAA tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus. During that run, she has guided Stanford to the 1990 and 1992 national championship and has been in 12 Final Fours and has won 22 Pac-12 regular-season titles and 13 Pac-12 tournament championships.

In addition to 39 seasons of 20-or-more wins, VanDerveer also has 17 30-win campaigns.

“Tara VanDerveer is one of the best coaches of any sport on this planet because of her ability to change and to cater to the abilities of her athletes,” Stanford head football coach David Shaw said in a press release. “And, at the same time, giving them a standard that is necessary for them to grow and reach their peak. It’s not just about rolling the balls out there. It’s about practice, it’s about expectation, it’s about heart and humility and, at the same time, excellence.”

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The Have a Ball Foundation, a golf tournament cancer fundraiser founded by San Carlos native Bob Hammer, made its annual donations to cancer organizations across the country.

The foundation funded its 14th oncology nursing scholarship, worth $12,500, in partnership with the Sequoia Hospital Foundation, with another $15,000 donation to John Muir Health Foundation.

A gift of $12,500 was given to Camp Okizu, a summer camp for kids with cancer and which was destroyed by the Bear Fire. Have a Ball has paid for more than 125 campers over the years.

Those are just three of the 20 cancer organization the Have a Ball Foundation has donated. In the 16 years of the Have a Ball tournament — a play on Hammer being a two-time testicular cancer survivor — Hammer’s organization has raised more than $3 million to help fight cancer.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117.