Rick Carlisle said his father died on Oct. 4 after he was able to get to Albany, New York, in time to be with him, and he opened a pregame news conference at Gainbridge Fieldhouse by thanking the Indiana Pacers for making that possible. The coach said Preston C. Carlisle, 96, passed peacefully after a life he described as remarkable and deeply generous.
Carlisle said he was called out of practice on a Friday, Oct. 3, after a call from home, and that the timing allowed him to be there on the day his father died. He said Preston C. Carlisle, whom he called the greatest hero of his life, never complained even at the end, despite the last 10 days being very difficult.
That made the moment especially personal for the Pacers coach, who was preparing for a game while speaking about a family loss that had unfolded only weeks earlier. He thanked Herb Simon and Kevin Pritchard for helping arrange the trip, underscoring how the organization stepped in while he left practice and traveled from Indiana to New York.
The details Carlisle shared point to a simple fact with a hard edge: he was able to reach his father before the end, and he got there because his team made room for it. What he did not spell out was how his duties changed after that trip, leaving the next turn in the story inside the Pacers' locker room and on Carlisle's own schedule.
