By Craig Clarey
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Flynn, 49, the head coach of McDaniel College's men's basketball team who died suddenly of a heart attack Jan. 12, was always ready with a one-liner or quip to lighten the mood.
The Catonsville resident knew how to make everyone around him feel special, and his enthusiasm for basketball was legendary, whether he was at Mount St. Mary's College, where he served as an assistant to Jim Phelan, Cardinal Gibbons School, where he coached from 1999 through 2004, or McDaniel College, where he took over in 2005.
When he decided to leave Gibbons, where he was also athletic director, and take the job at McDaniel, it was announced before he could let his hometown newspapers, the Catonsville Times and Arbutus Times get the scoop.
Even though he was on vacation with his wife, Tina, in Bermuda, Flynn apologized to me via e-mail.
He knew it was past our deadline when the announcement was made but sent this to me: "Over the weekend down here, I said to Tina I had to call you Monday. Please do not think I forgot about you. You have been great for me personally, and most important for Gibbons. You are a friend."
Flynn's first impressions were memorable.
He made post-game interviews light, whether his team won or lost.
Though the losses really bothered him, you couldn't tell.
After the games, he invited me into his office where analysis of the game, and sometimes an adult beverage or two, was offered to fellow Gibbons grads, assistant coaches and others who loved the game of basketball as much as he did.
A 1975 graduate of Cardinal Gibbons, he was a reserve, or, as he said in 2001, "I was the third-string center for a team that didn't have a second-string center, on the 1974 Baltimore Catholic League championship team and 1975 team that fell to Loyola in the finals."
Among his teammates were Rob and Mark Valderas, Norman Black, Mark Massimini, Mike Sweeney, Barry Carter and fellow St. Agnes School product Damian Maggio.
It was on the bench that Flynn grew a great admiration for coach Ray Mullis.
Mullis won 621 games in 31 years at Gibbons, but his death of pancreatic cancer in 1995 had a deep effect on Flynn, who had just started coaching St. Mary's College of Maryland at the time.
He stayed at St. Mary's until 1999 and rebuilt the program, but when the Gibbons head coaching job opened up, he jumped at the opportunity.
"It was a tough decision to leave a real talented team to rebuild here," he said. "But this school means so much to me."
Asked why he went back to high school after coaching a college team, he quickly corrected the reporter. "No," he said. "I'm going back to Gibbons."
Flynn took over a team that went 5-25 in 1998 and 14-14 in his first season.
But to Flynn, rebuilding meant more than winning games. He repainted the gym, brought back the student Red Guard section and created a Gibbons version of Midnight Madness.
At every home game, he left an empty chair on the bench dedicated to coach Mullis.
Flynn also draped a red towel over his shoulder, as his mentor did.
A red towel was draped over his suit in the casket.
In 2001, after Flynn lost his mom, Kay, to lung cancer, he decided to create the first Coaches vs. Cancer high school basketball game.
"I just wanted to do something," he said. "I'm sick of seeing people die of cancer."
In 2004, Flynn reached the pinnacle of his career when he coached the East squad at the McDonald's All-America High School game in Oklahoma City. With a roster that included a host of future NBA stars, there wasn't much for Flynn to do, other than enjoy the experience.
He took his wife, daughter, Caitlin, and twin sons, Michael and Ryan, along with bench coach Neil Jones, who was Flynn's assistant at Gibbons.
"That was an unbelievable five days. To see the look in my family's eyes," he told me later.
When Jones was killed during a robbery attempt in November 2005, Flynn was devastated.
The normally upbeat coach was barely audible when he said, "I really, really miss him so much. He was a great friend."
As a friend and a supporter of high school and college athletics, Bob Flynn also is missed. I can remember a night in 2004 when Gibbons blew an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost to rival Mount St. Joseph, 93-90, in double overtime.
Ever the quipster, Flynn described St. Joe as "a pit bull terrier smelling a juicy steak after it hasn't eaten in three days."
But deep down, the competitive fire burned.
At 8 a.m. the next day, he and Jones were watching film on Mount St. Joe and trying to devise a way to beat the Crusaders' archrivals.
In the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament, they did just that.
The victory was one he reminded me of almost every time I brought up the double-overtime meltdown.
Winning on the basketball court was important. Winning over friends with a smile, kind words, joke or T-shirt was more important.
Last week, overflow crowds attended the two viewings and his funeral.
His spirit will live on through the memories and stories passed on by those he touched on and off the basketball court. He will miss sharing more of his own.
A foundation in memory of Bob Flynn has been established to assist the educational needs of his children as well as those other deserving youngsters.