page 8
daily nebraskan
monday, december 1, 1980
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Dean of Big Eight coaches loses cancer battle
Nebraska Basketball Coach Joe Cipriano lost his year
long battle with cancer Tuesday morning in Lincoln Bryan
Memorial Hospital. "Op" was 4.
Cipriano. entering what would have been his 18th sea
son at the llusker helm, was the dean of Big Light
coaches. His 254-196 record made him the winningest
coach in Nebraska basketball history.
Op often was accused of being too conservative, but
he took the lluskers to three National Invitational Tour
naments and turned around a program that hadn't had a
winning season in 13 years.
He will be remembered most for his antics on the court
helping to increase interest in the Nebraska program
which sometimes led to his ejection from games by the
officials. Once at Oklahoma, he finally got the attention
of his players to call a time out by walking to the scorers
table and firing the officials' gun.
He also was noted for waving his coat in the air to fire
up the crowd and for his many encounters with the
officials.
"1 have to chuckle when I think of all the refs that are
under Cip's eyes now instead of just the two or three
working the Nebraska game," Indiana Coach Bobby
Knight told the Lincoln Star.
Cipriano was married to the former Marva I licks. His
son Randy is the head coach at Ogallala High School.
Cipriano also had two daughters. Tamscn Bigej lives in San
Bernadino, Calif., and Janice attends school at Idaho,
where Cipriano coached from 1960-63.
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