Staff writer Bob Jarzomski had the chance to cover special moments in the past month. Here he reflects on the people who made them special, and the back stories behind the moments:

Getting a chance to meet, talk and laugh with Essie Hollis the past weekend at St. Bonaventure reassured me that I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to tell our readers about such special people.

Someone in the business as long as I have been — 32 fulltime years, 34 including part time at the Erie Times-News — builds a valuable sense of local sports history.

Just over a week ago I covered Edinboro’s 70-62 victory over Shippenburg, giving coach Greg Walcavich his 500th coaching victory. It was funny because last Wednesday when I covered the Boro’s win over Slippery Rock as Walcavich was honored before the game, a veteran referee said to him, "The only reason you won so much is because you’re old.’’

Walcavich is a masterful coach, a good guy, and although he said it was the players who made it all possible, I’ll bet he’s stolen a lot of wins with his coaching. Example: He coached his socks off in the win at Gannon in December, the only home loss for the Knights this season. His experience was the difference in my mind.

Actually, Greg shaved his head this year, just like I have, because the little hair we have is barely worth the occasional trim. It’s better to have a clear head. That’s really the hidden key for the Scots this year.

Within the past three weeks, I’ve witnessed the retiring of two numbers, Erie Otters great Brad Boyes’ No. 16, and Strong Vincent basketball legend Hollis’ No. 25 at St. Bonaventure, which was raised to the rafters on Saturday at the Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center.

Both of these heroes come from the best of families, which makes them so special.

On the night before the ceremony at the Tullio Arena, I joined Brad’s parents, Bob and Mary; his two sisters; his brother and his fiancee; his girlfriend of nine years, Elissa, and her parents. Had a great time with really wonderful people, all while Boyesie slept in his room at the Bel-Aire after thousands of miles in the air for the busy St. Louis Blues.

I covered all four years (1998-2002) that Boyes played for Otters, and he has always been a quiet, class act. He called me later that evening, and I finally caught up with him and his former Otters teammates like Brandon Cullen and Mike McKeown during the game with Sarnia, coached by their former Otters coach, Dave MacQueen. As Sherry Bassin would say, "They’re special people, and special people win championships."

The Otters could use such "special people" over the past few years. I don’t know for sure, but I think these kids are much different than the first five or six seasons of Otters hockey in Erie. They’re more agent-driven and parent-influenced now.

On Saturday at St. Bonaventure, a nice 98-mile ride to see Division I basketball, I finally met with Essie Hollis. While I saw him play at Strong Vincent and witnessed him going one-on-one with the late Gannon great Glen Summors, probably while I was cutting class at Gannon during the early 70s, I never had met him face-to-face. I actually did a feature story on him when the Bonnies (I believe they were called the Brown Indians, too) won the NIT in 1977.

But all my contact with him, including a couple of weeks ago, was by phone.

Until Saturday, in the Hall of Fame room at the Reilly Center.

There were friends, well-wishers, teachers, coaches, you name it, all wanting to chat with Easy Essie. I finally got to him, then I presented him a poster-framed copy of the Saturday Times-News pages of the lengthy feature story I did on him.

He must have thanked me three times for the little effort I put into the $10 poster board I got from Wal-Mart. He truly is one of the nicest people in Erie sports lore.

Later on, I asked him how he got his name, Essie, and though I was told that the middle initial B. stood from Bernard, he said that was only a nickname.

"I used to play some guitar when I was a kid, so I guess I reminded people of James Brown’s guitar player named Bernard, so that’s how I got Essie B., for Bernard. As for Essie, well, my folks wanted something like Jessie, for a boy or a girl, or Bessie, because they thought I was going to be a girl. Somehow I got to be Essie.’’

His late father and mother, Roy Sr. and Carrie, had a lot of names to choose since they had nine children together. Their first of two daughters, Dorothy, told me later that Carrie had six children from a previous marriage, so counting step-children there were 15 kids in the family.

Music is in the Hollis family. His brother Roy Jr., an outstanding local karaoke singer, did the national anthem after Essie’s and Earl Belcher’s No. 25 was raised to the rafters, and it had the awed crowd pumped up. It was fantastic.

Another brother, Kenny, plays guitar for local band One World Tribe, while Charles Hollis was in a band years ago. By the way, Charles Hollis has fought cancer in the esophagus and says he’s winning, so that’s great news and my heart goes out to him.

During the pregame party, Dave Ekimoff, who lives near Rochester, N.Y., greeted his old Strong Vincent teammate and the laughs were flying.

"I remember when I’d be in position and I was all set to grab a rebound, then this long arm reaches out over my head and snatches it away from me,’’ Ekimoff said. "We were on the same team, but he kept stealing my rebounds away.’’

Friends approached Hollis from all sides, including his old assistant coach at St. Bonaventure, Bob Sassone. It was Sassone who first wore No. 25, and also gave Essie his old winter Army coat because he didn’t have any coat to wear for the winter, and it gets very cold in Olean, N.Y.

Sassone has all kinds of stories, and he told me one that would interest old Gannon basketball fans.

A friend of former Gannon athletic director Bud Elwell, Sassone said that in the early 1960s when Gannon searched for a basketball coach to replace Milt Simon, he was going to get the job.

"I was going to get it, but then they gave it to Eddie McCluskey (the legendary Farrell High School coach),’’ Sassone said. "So McCluskey decided not to take it, then they weren’t going to ask me again, so they gave it to a chemistry teacher" -- the late George Hesch, who I later befriended in my first journalistic interview with the Gannon Knight student newspaper. "And you know what, Gannon paid $2,000 more than Bonaventure at the time. All in all, I’m glad I stayed here.’’

Sassone, 77, a true character, didn’t have many kind words for Tom Chapman (the coach who led Gannon to the 1986-87 Division II National championship game) whom St. Bonaventure hired in 1989. Chapman, now the superintendent of schools in Reading, Pa., had a miserable three-year record in his only Division I job.

"I told them not to hire him, because I think he graduated like two out of 28 players he had there (that was an exaggeration), and that wouldn’t fit here,’’ Sassone said.

The night belonged to Essie Hollis, who said he would have watched Vincent play McDowell if that game (the Trojans won in overtime Saturday) had been on Friday night.

I got to meet his wife Sharon, a delightful lady who explained to me how she came to St. Bonaventure from tropical Jamaica. Their daughter, Kiara, has some modeling contacts according to Essie, who said "her looks don’t come from me.’’

Their son Damian, a 6-8 sophomore at George Washington, helped beat the Bonnies in the game. He’s listed as a guard, but started at center and scored 17 points and had six rebounds to lead the Colonials.

"The pressure was on me a bit tonight,’’ he said well after the game while talking with aunts, uncles and cousins.

"They should ship me up to see him play more often,’’ his father said.

I was ecstatic to see the man for the first time, 35 years after seeing him dominate the local basketball scene that was stacked with the great players of that time..

BOB JARZOMSKI can be reached at 870-1678 or by e-mail at bob.jarzomski@timesnews.com.