Remembering Hans de Lannoy
The longtime San Ramon Valley coach passed away on Wednesday at 72.
Before his induction into San Ramon Valley’s Hall of Fame in 2019, I had never heard of Hans de Lannoy.
I showed up to see the Wolves host crosstown rival Monte Vista for a regular season finale with playoff implications, and was unaware of any sort of pregame ceremony to honor a longtime coach who had recently started a battle with cancer.
I also didn’t know that he was the one responsible for the “Home of Champions” slogan on the wall inside SRV’s gym, or that he was triumphantly carried off the court to chants of “thank you, Hans!” from 6,000 fans at Maples Pavilion after losing the CCS Championship Game in 1981.
That 15-minute ceremony before the Wolves and Mustangs battled captivated the entire gym, turned me into an instant fan and enlightened the full house on just how much people valued their relationships with this coach.
de Lannoy passed away on Wednesday at the age of 72 after a lengthy battle with cancer. It’s rare to feel blindsided by the passing of a 72-year-old, especially one who was in hospice care two years ago. But right up until the end, de Lannoy lit up every gym he entered with youthful energy and forged genuine connections with players across generations.
“Coach would always tell me—and all of us, individually—about things that he dealt with during his playing days that related to whatever we were struggling with,” said Elliot Conley, a third-year member of SRV’s varsity squad.
In December 2022, the kidney and lung cancer spread to the storied coach’s brain. In the week after he entered hospice care, the Wolves scored an unfathomable 114 points, and later that month, they won four straight games, including three nailbiters, to win the Gold Division at the prestigious Classic at Damien.
Before heading to the tournament, players had visited de Lannoy’s house, unsure if he’d still be around by the time the tournament ended. The team was then forced to drive to Southern California after winter storms forced Southwest, Alaska and numerous other airlines to cancel flights. After each game, including a one-point upset of Darnez Slater’s Roosevelt squad in the semifinals, the team FaceTimed de Lannoy from the locker room.
Despite the grim prognosis, he lived another two years and a month, returning to the Wolves’ bench. He was there in 2024 as SRV beat De La Salle to win the EBAL Tournament and hoisted the Northern California Division I trophy after the Wolves beat Granada for a third time in what had become a heated grudge match.
Across more than five decades, de Lannoy won 512 games, coaching freshman, junior varsity and varsity basketball for both boys and girls programs at Cubberley, Gunn, San Ramon Valley, California and Dublin. While he was known within basketball circles for his ability to jumpstart moribund programs, he was known to San Ramon Valley students, from star athletes to kids who never played a sport at the school, for his speeches.
When I was in high school, rallies weren’t a big deal. They were an excuse to spend an hour outside of class. Over my four years at Burlingame, the only memorable things that happened at any of the rallies were Vinny Ferrari besting his brother Frankie in a 3-point contest, a couple of funny skits and an emcee slipping up and calling the cheer squad the “squeer chaud.”
The same can’t be said of rallies at San Ramon Valley. They were some of the most anticipated events on the school calendar, largely thanks to de Lannoy’s speeches. When “Coach Del,” as most of his students called him, took the mic, the nearly 2,000 kids in the gym hung on every word. His speech from the 2013 welcome rally, kicking off his final year as a P.E. teacher, has been immortalized in a YouTube video. As news of his passing spread on Thursday, the comment section on that video became one of the many places for former players, students and friends to pay their respects. The video of the Hall of Fame pregame ceremony is also available on YouTube.
Chris Meredith played for de Lannoy at SRV, graduating in 1988, and was a special guest of de Lannoy’s in that final welcome rally speech. Meredith was the first to discover his former coach’s passing upon heading to his former coach’s condo after de Lannoy didn’t return his call. He was also part of the party that helped carry de Lannoy off the court following the 2019 ceremony, paying tribute to de Lannoy’s 1981 Gunn team before the Wolves battled Monte Vista. In an almost perfect coincidence, Meredith’s son, Brady, will take the floor for the Mustangs Friday night against San Ramon Valley as the Wolves celebrate their seniors and play their first game since de Lannoy’s passing.
“Last Friday, before our game at Livermore, he told me about how much he was enjoying watching me play this season. He complimented how hard I was playing and my effort on getting rebounds,” Conley said. “He did that kind of stuff, for all of us, regularly. But Friday stands out to me since it was the last time I saw him.”
Conley took those words to heart, drawing four charges on Tuesday as San Ramon Valley played one of its best games of the year, beating Dublin 76-55.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, the Wolves will wear shooting shirts to honor de Lannoy for the remainder of the season. They’ll also have wristbands for Friday’s game, and there will be a pregame moment of silence. Details about a celebration of life have yet to be released.