By Emily Williams
Joe Dean Jr. may not have been born in Birmingham, but home is where the heart is, and his lies with Birmingham-Southern College.
The senior vice president of advancement for BSC Athletics is the namesake of his father, National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Famer and former LSU Athletic Director Joe Dean.
Born and raised in Baton Rouge while his father was at LSU, Dean’s love of basketball came naturally.
“My entire basketball career in high school and in college was spent preparing to be a coach,” he said. “I kept these detailed notebooks and was constantly filling them with game plans and motivational ideas as I thought of them.”
After playing for Mississippi State, where he lettered for three years and achieved 1976 Academic All-SEC, he transitioned to the coaching side of the sport through a graduate position with his alma mater. Shortly thereafter, he accepted a position as assistant coach at the University of Kentucky, a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience working with a program that historically dominates the sport.
“Kentucky is to basketball as Alabama is to football,” he said. “There is really no way that you can truly appreciate the passion that state has for the sport. Everybody talks basketball year ‘round.”
Though Kentucky never felt like home, Dean and his family developed a tradition of attending the Kentucky Derby each year.
In the office of his Vestavia Hills home, the visually understated plaques and awards that document his career are overcome by a large piece of artwork depicting a jockey on horseback. Near the door stands a short shelf filled with collectible mint julep glasses tracking Dean’s Derby attendance over 36 years.
Resting on an end table is his father’s 2001 SEC Basketball Legend award – a wooden clock that has been through the ringer – recognizing Dean’s success as guard for the LSU Tigers from 1949-1952.
Before ceremonially bestowing the award, legendary football coach Mark Kramer surreptitiously dropped the clock on the ground and broke it. Kramer had a new one made, but the original award lives as one of the family’s favorite anecdotes.
Positioned near the clock is a medal, honoring Joe Dean’s 2012 induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. Dean had the opportunity to accept the award on behalf of his father, who was in poor health at the time.
“Attending the induction ceremony is one of my favorite memories,” he said. “It wasn’t just a culmination of my father’s career and a celebration of everything he achieved, but of our family’s athletic life. To be recognized on that level nationally was important to me, not just as his son but as a player and coach.”
Dean’s first taste of Birmingham also was his first experience as head coach, as he led BSC’s basketball team.
“Birmingham is the place that feels most like home to me,” Dean said. “It’s the warmth of the people who make up this city and the caring nature that everyone seems to have.”
After moving to coach in Florida, Dean was inducted into BSC’s Sports Hall of Fame and remained closely connected to the city. He retired from coaching and returned to Birmingham in 1993. He accepted the position of athletic director at BSC in 1999, a post he held for 16 years.
Though it seemed a daunting task to oversee the funding and development of 20 sports programs, he said he always had his father’s advice to fall back on.
“In his career, my dad had this ability to relate as equally to the CEO as he could the maintenance staff. He just had this dynamic personality and innate ability to make you feel important,” he said.
Dean said that one of his father’s most important lessons was the importance of working as a team, treating everyone equally and working together toward a common goal.
“I have tried to take that quality on, myself, and pass it on to my children and my grandchildren,” he said. “I want them to know how important it is to be compassionate towards others and help out where you can.”
In his new position, Dean said, fundraising is the name of the game as the department closes its best year
yet, with eight conference champions and eight coaches of the year and ranking 55th out of 453 Division III schools in the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup. His job is to continue to take the pressure off of the budget with extra funding so the teams have everything they need to be successful.
“In an athletic program, you want to be good at everything you do,” he said. “Right now, Birmingham Southern, we are good at everything we do. The next step is to simply prolong the success.”
For a look inside Samford’s Martin Newton‘s home, follow the link!
