VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision)  - One piece of wisdom my father shared with me during my university years was to do things that would make the world a better place.

"Jeff, you need to think about what kind of contribution you're going to make in life," he said.

Those words are what I thought of after hearing the sad news that Canadian Greg Francis had died.

Francis and Canada faced Russia in the Eighth-Finals at the 1998 World Cup in Athens

I'd seen Francis play for Canada at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Athens in 1998 and also at the Sydney Olympics two years later.

That Canada squad was led by coach Jay Triano and point guard Steve Nash. Francis was an integral part of the team.

Francis (bottom row, No. 10) played for Canada at the 2000 Olympics

Many of us knew of Francis before those big events.

A 1.90m (6ft 3in) guard, Francis had introduced himself to a huge audience in America while at Fairfield University in Connecticut during March Madness.

He'd threatened to inspire a Cinderella-like shock of Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison and the North Carolina Tar Heels in the NCAA Tournament in 1997, making eight shots from long range and scoring 26 points!

The Heels survived and advanced, but everyone, especially the Tar Heels, knew who Greg Francis was.

After that game, Carolina's legendary coach Dean Smith joked: "I had to find Francis after the game but I couldn't shake his hand because it was so hot."

Francis played professionally for Worthing Bears and Chester Jets in the United Kingdom, when I was covering the British Basketball League. I lost track of him but later discovered that he'd remained involved in basketball and worked in the sport back home in Canada.

Francis truly made a huge contribution in life, helping many young players as they set out on their journeys in the basketball world.

His former teammates and colleagues had enormous respect for him.

Ontario Basketball gives a long biography of Francis on their website.

In 2004, Canada Basketball approached him about becoming a coach, so that was the start of a new chapter in his life.

One of his big jobs was coaching Canada at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup in 2009, in Auckland, New Zealand.

Francis coached Canada at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup in New Zealand in 2009

One of the players in his Canada team that competed at the U19 Basketball World Cup in New Zealand, Kelly Olynyk, spoke to Sportsnet's Michael Grange about Francis.

"He was a great coach for me at that age ... just because of how recently he had come from playing and how he could relate to everything we were doing and all of that," Olynyk said, "but just his energy and his enthusiasm and his passion for the game and wanting to get people to advance in the game and get better and take their career to new heights."

Francis coached future Gonzaga and NBA star, Kelly Olynyk, at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup in Auckland

Francis later became Manager, Men’s High Performance with Canada Basketball.

His former Canada teammate and current national team general manager, Rowan Barrett, paid tribute to Francis on Sportsnet, saying that he was a "tremendous teammate" and "fierce competitor."

Barrett also said: "Greg's understanding of the game of basketball together with his exceptional interpersonal skills made him a tremendous basketball coach and administrator."

Canada celebrated after winning the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup in Cairo in 2017

During Francis' tenure as Manager, Men's High Performance with Canada Basketball, the Canadians won the 2017 FIBA U19 Men's Basketball World Cup in Cairo.

Amazing player, amazing person.

Tragically, his life came to an end on Sunday, just two days before his 49th birthday, when he died peacefully at home.

Jeff Taylor
FIBA

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