Nearly every December morning, (except Sundays), former Providence College basketball star Ernie DiGregorio traipses through a back door of the PC campus bookstore on the lower level of Slavin Center, the student union building.
He had just walked three miles on the college's indoor track located in the adjacent Peterson Recreation Center.
It has been 50 years since Providence College's glory days when DiGregorio and 1973 teammates - Marvin Barnes, Kevin Stacom, Fran Costello, Charlie Crawford and Nehru King - reached the NCAA's Final Four. His just-released book, "A Star with a Broken Heart," explores the relationships with Barnes and their coach, Dave Gavitt.
Barnes was 62 when he died Sept. 8, 2014. Gavitt passed Sept. 16, 2011, at age 73.
Once inside the bookstore, DiGregorio finds piles of his new book that await his signature. DiGregorio said he has no idea how many books he has signed since Dec. 1, the first day of his book signing tour.
The Barnes & Noble bookstore opens at 10 a.m. but DiGregorio arrives there before business hours, usually about 8:30 a.m. He greets the staff, today, Michelle Ea and Deb Bock, and takes his place standing in front a counter stacked with his books and a black, felt-tip marker. Ea says DiGregorio has gone through several markers over the course of his book signings.
Tucked in some books is a white piece of paper with the name of the recipient, who asks DiGregorio for his signature and, usually, a personalized message.
First up, Nancy requests an autographed book for her 92-year-old father, John, a '53 PC grad, who has held tickets for basketball since 1958.
DiGregorio responds by telling John thanks for his support and that without fans such as him, PC wouldn't have had the success it did.
He hands the just - autographed book back to Ea, who hands him another.
"This one's to Bill Lynch," she says, before DiGregorio smiles and remembers playing basketball with Lynch in a Providence summer league in the early 1980s. The Dec. 1 release of DiGregorio's new book has had hordes of loyal fans lining up at the several book-signings held this month. In addition to his campus bookstore signing, DiGregorio has been signing books at halftime of Friar home games. Seems everyone is buying the book as a Christmas gift. The fans vary between older ones who saw DiGregorio play more than 50 years ago and younger ones who never saw him play but are buying a book for typically a parent, friend or relative or someone who did see him play.
At the book signings, DiGregorio seems to be basking in his newfound limelight that last glowed about 45 years ago. After leaving Providence, DiGregorio played basketball professionally with the Buffalo Braves, Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics before a knee injury curtailed his career after five years. Always humble and always expressing his appreciation, DiGregorio is only too willing to exchange stories and pose for a selfie with book buyers. Everybody in line has a favorite Ernie D story to tell, mostly involving a memorable pass, basket, game or Providence's trip to the Final Four in 1973. Back in the bookstore, DiGregorio spends an hour signing his books. Before leaving, he checks with a staff member about the next day and time he's scheduled to return.
He agrees to return the next day, same time, and after his three-mile walk.
The book is a soft-cover reprint of DiGregorio's 2020 memoir. (An unsigned
book sells for $17.99; with DiGregorio's autograph, the book costs $27.99.)
Proceeds benefit local Providence College students from Providence and North Providence, DiGregorio's hometown. DiGregorio was psyched after he recently received an inquiry from a Rhode Island film company interested in making his book into a movie. The thought of an "Ernie D" movie is a longtime dream he envisioned since writing his book, he said.
"They actually came to me," he said. "We're making progress."
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