Tom Konchalski: 'The Only Honest Man in the Gym'

When the handshake came, you better have made eye contact.

It was rigid and deliberate, almost a test to see if you possessed the confidence and discipline to stare him in the eyes for 30 seconds as he glared right through you.

A who’s who of the basketball world shook that hand over the past several decades. Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Mike Krzyzewski, John Calipari. And at one point or another, they all received a tip, a humble suggestion, an honest opinion or assessment — and they knew it came without an agenda.

Tom Konchalski, “the only honest man in the gym,” as he was once dubbed, died on Monday after a bout with cancer. He was 74.

Konchalski didn’t coach a team, didn’t work for a shoe company, didn’t run an AAU event. He was a talent evaluator, a brilliant one, who was equal parts brainy and basketball-savvy.

He was an anachronism. He preferred the landline to the cell phone, the typewriter to the laptop, the sports coat to the T-shirt. Hundreds of college coaches subscribed to his monthly newsletter and depended on his assessments of players.

Konchalski didn’t drive a car and didn’t fly, instead taking buses or trains from his apartment in Queens, N.Y., to evaluate prospects of all levels at the biggest events along the East Coast.

His legal pad was as much a fixture in high school basketball gyms as a coach’s clipboard or a whistle.

Konchalski’s memory was unparalleled. There was hardly a name or face he forgot, and when he spoke to you, he made you feel like the most important person on the planet.

Whether you were a 5-star recruit headed to a college basketball blue blood or simply bound for Division III, he didn’t discriminate. He was meticulous in his assessments, gracious with his time, eloquent with his words.

“He has the best first step since Fred Astaire,” Konchalski once said about a high school Kyrie Irving.

“He has the body of a blacksmith and the touch of a surgeon,” he noted of a young Jamal Mashburn.

With Konchalski's passing, coaches lost a trusted confidant, players lost a major resource and the basketball world lost an ambassador who stood for what’s right about the game.

During an appearance on PBS in 2014, Konchalski was asked why he never pursued college coaching.

“I don’t think I’m fiery enough, and I wouldn’t like having to get on the players,” he said. “I like to be friends with people.”

Konchalski made countless of them over the years and leaves behind a legacy of kindness, humility and true servant leadership.

He will be greatly missed.

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