Feels a little superfluous to set about eulogizing Don Monson, a man who carved a clear and indelible legacy seemingly every day of his life.

It was always there, in the way he treated people, the way he went about the business of coaching and teaching and mentoring, with respect and dedication, and with a purpose much broader than merely winning basketball games.

Perhaps even more notable than his obvious talents and successes, was the way he accomplished it all with such character and decency.

News of his passing, at age 92, arrived via social media from his son, Dan, basketball coach at Eastern Washington University.

“I’ve lost a great father, my idol, role model, mentor, and, as he would say, Partner,” Dan wrote, reporting that his father died holding the hand of his mother, Deanna.

The Monson basketball roots sprouted in Minnesota, where Oscar “Swede” Monson coached before heading west to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. His son, Don, starred at Coeur d’Alene High, and lettered in both basketball and baseball at Idaho in the 1950s.

After successes coaching at Cheney and Pasco High, Monson was invited to assist his friend Jud Heathcote at Michigan State University, where he played a significant role in recruiting Hall of Fame guard Magic Johnson.

Calling himself a lifelong Vandal, Monson accepted the challenge of taking over a struggling Idaho program in 1978, and lifted it to unprecedented — and unduplicated — heights.

Under Monson, the Vandals won 43 straight home games in the Kibbie Dome, and in 1981-82, the undersized Vandals won 27 of 30 games to reach the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and attain a top-10 national ranking.

For that achievement, Monson was named National Coach of the Year.

He moved on to the University of Oregon and coached there from 1983 to 1992.

His influence continued long afterward, though, specifically, through Dan, who played a role in building the foundation of Gonzaga as a national powerhouse program, before moving on to Minnesota and later to Long Beach State and EWU.

In a Fathers Day, 2024, article, Dan said that his father’s greatest lesson to him was not in “how to coach,” but “how to BE a coach.”