Tragic end to Finny's fight Dillon coach Craig Finberg dies after battle with cancer

Bill Foley

Mar. 21, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- One of Craig Finberg's last memories in life was likely of his beloved Dillon Beavers winning the Class A State boys' basketball tournament.

The Dillon coach lost his battle with pancreatic cancer Friday, just six days after the Beavers beat his hometown team, Columbia Falls, in the title game in Great Falls.

Finberg died peacefully at home Friday at 3:15 p.m., surrounded family and friends, according to a family Web site. He was 51.

Finberg, who was an assistant coach for the University of Montana Western men's basketball team this past season, was diagnosed with the disease after first suffering a symptom --a severe stomach pain --the night before the Bulldogs' Jan. 17 game against Westminster College in Salt Lake City.

"He was diagnosed when it was stage 4," said Montana Western athletic director Mark Durham, a friend and former colleague of Finberg. "He had pancreatic cancer, but it made its way to his liver." Finberg's last game coaching was in an emotional Jan. 31 home win over Montana Tech. The next week Finberg headed to Illinois to begin battling the disease.

"It caught everybody off guard," Durham said.

Doctors didn't give Finberg long to live if the disease went untreated. They hoped chemotherapy would give him more time.

So, Finberg's quick demise was a surprise to the coach's large fraternity of friends and colleagues.

"Two months ago, he had the cancer then, but he appeared to be healthy," said longtime friend and fellow basketball coach Kevin Engellant, who recently retired after 13 years coaching the Western women's basketball team. "The good thing is it sounds like it was peaceful at the end." Finberg became a basketball legend during his days playing for the Columbia Falls Wildcats and Montana State Bobcats.

With the Bobcats in the late 1970s, Finberg scored 1,473 points, which is seventh most in MSU history.

Finberg, who graduated from high school in 1975, is also among the school's all-time leaders in field goals, free throws, free throw attempts and free throw percentage, and is second in school history in assists.

He was inducted into the MSU Hall of Fame in 2003.

Durham first met Finberg when Durham's older brother Mick teamed up with Finberg to make up the "Mick and Finny Show" at MSU.

Mark Durham has been friends with Finberg ever since. He said he went to lunch with Finberg three to four times a week the past 13 years.

"A lot of stuff was hashed out in those 13 years," Durham said. "I'm lost because he's been out of the loop." After a brief career in the CBA and a tryout with the NBA's Portland Trailblazers, Finberg began his coaching career under Casey Keltz while completing his education degree at Western Montana College (now Montana Western).

As an assistant, he recruited Engellant out of Geraldine High School.

When Engellant's career ended in 1991, he joined Finberg's staff with the Dillon Beavers.

"He was a great teacher, that's the biggest thing," Engellant said of Finberg. "He was a great shooter, and his kids could always shoot. I was very fortunate to learn a lot from him." With the Beavers, Finberg compiled a 281-160 record in 19 years. Finberg led the Beavers to Class A state titles in 1990 and 1999.

Finberg's Beavers qualified for state 11 times. They placed second twice, third twice and fourth three times.

Finberg coached the Beavers through the 2005 season. He resigned in May that year, though he stayed on as a physical education teacher at the school.

"We've accomplished a lot and people can't take anything away from us," Finberg said the day of his resignation. "I've never been into the winning and the losing --it's how you represent your community on and off the court.

"I've been blessed with some of the best athletes the school has ever seen," Finberg went on. "It's been a wonderful 19 years. I've had so many good memories and can't even begin to share them. I've had great assistant coaches, great administration, great school board and great support." The 1990 championship was the first in any sport for Dillon since 1946. The Beavers have been a title factory since.

"A lot of it was definitely because of him," said Engellant, who helped Finberg run a shooting camp every summer for 18 years. "Without a doubt." After leaving the high school team, Finberg coached one season at Western under Durham. He coached the last two under Steve Keller.

Durham said Finberg was "not afraid to try things" as a coach.

"He really thought outside the box," Durham said. "He was a really good coach. Plus, you throw in his personality and it was just amazing." Engellant said he often went to Finberg during his successful coaching career with the Western women.

"He lived and breathed basketball," Engellant said. "He definitely had a great basketball mind. I leaned on him a lot over the years to pick his brain. He always had an answer." Coaching, however, was only half the story of the man they called Finny.

Finberg, it seemed, was loved by every person he ever knew.

"He got along with everybody, and he had a great sense of humor," Engellant said. "He was just a great person to be around. He was a lot of fun.

"He was just an unbelievable person, not only on the court but off the court as well." How much Finberg was adored was obvious by the outpouring of support across the state when news broke of his diagnosis. Whether it was a bake sale in Livingston or a passing of the hat at Butte Central, cities and towns across Montana pitched in to raise money for "Finny's fight." In one day alone in Dillon, they raised more than $23,000.

"They really rallied at the high school," Durham said. "It wasn't just with the coaches. Those kids really loved him, too." Durham said there is still more than $50,000 left in the Finberg fund to take care of remaining expenses.

When the Beavers and Wildcats made the championship game last week, Dillon's Donny Keltz, the son of coach Keltz, tried to arrange for an ambulance to take Finberg to Great Falls.

But Finberg was too sick to make the trip.

Still, last Saturday night was a scene that felt like it came right out of a movie script. Columbia Falls and Dillon played before an emotional crowd that broke into several "Finny" chants throughout the game.

Engellant said he e-mailed ESPN's "Outside The Lines" to tell them about the story even before the Beavers and Wildcats won their semifinal games.

"I just said this is going to happen," Engellant said. "It was just like a movie." "Those other teams," Durham added, "had no chance." Players from Dillon and Columbia Falls wore "Finny" warm-up shirts, and both schools dedicated the game to Finberg.

Columbia Falls, is coached by Finberg's younger brother, Cary, who assisted Craig on that 1990 Dillon title team.

Dillon players said knowing that the title would be won in Finberg's honor no matter what helped them settle down and focus on playing basketball.

The Beavers won a classic battle, 54-50. Finberg could only listen on the radio for some of the game.

The next day, Finberg was told the Beavers won, though it wasn't obvious he understood the news.

"I think he did," Durham said when asked if Finberg knew the Beavers had won a title for him. "Yeah, I think he did." Finberg is survived by his wife, Tammy.

Funeral plans have yet to be announced.

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