They say not to use words like genius or legend lightly, so what do we call that special coach who has given his his whole life to hoop in SoCal?
We need to call Chris Francis a Lifetime Achiever, just like he was honored a few weeks ago at the Fall League Scrimmage Bonanza for a generation of coaching.
C-Francis - to know him is to love him and his boundless passion. He’s “that guy“, humble as you will ever meet. I’ll give him my ultimate compliment, as he and Oak Hill Academy’s Steve Smith would be the top two coaches I’d most like to play for. Period.
Dozens of people I know have that same mad respect for C-Francis. He has a personality that people are really drawn to.
For example, I have brought up his name with people I had barely met and instantly we’re like old friends talking about things like how Chris’s voice is like a church sermon. Many rave that he energizes them like no one else could.
What you really need to know about C-Francis is that he loves his hometown of Lake Charles, Louisiana, but he also loves Compton just as much. I asked world renown pro trainer Keion Kindred, who is also from the Compton, what he thinks of Chris. He said, “Great guy!”
After asking others the same question, I could repeat that response 100 times over.
How to describe Chris? I’ve been interviewing, taking notes, planning this story for over a year, 40 hours in total. But incredibly, I feel I’m only half prepared, so that’s a hard question.
I’ve come to realize that Chris is that special someone who should be known as the “most” dude in dozens of categories. Like the most passion I’ve ever seen, most energy, most caring, I could go on for hours.
To see him in person, this 47 year old mostly looks 27 but really has the energy of a 17 year old.
Chris is a Drew League Hall of Fame recipient for his epic balling career there. C-Francis has so much game left he still balls up ex pros nowadays, like former Laker Samaki Walker and the NFL’s Terrell Owens in the 40 and over Drew, where he recently dunked in a game, at the age 47!
#Dang son
Want an example of how truly well loved and respected this guy is? I went to the Drew League this past summer and as soon as Chris walked in the Drew gym in its 2nd week, people come out of the stands to hug him, dozens of people rush to shake his hand.
Dudes like rapper The Game rush over to to embrace Chris like he was a long lost brother. Chris is known at the Drew as “POD“, short for “P’d Off Dude“, an example of his passion.
Chris is not just just an OG, he’s the straightest G you’ll ever meet. His b-ball mind cuts like a razor. When you see him embrace someone with a pat on the back or a hug, it just melts your heart to see that because it’s so genuine.
My favorite part of Chris is that he always treats everyone right.
Chris’s middle name should be Conviction, because dude believes so much in what he says, that’s the epitome of a “real one.”
Where does that fantastical source of energy, wisdom, and caring come from?
Ask C-Francis and he’ll just tell you, “I’m just me, that’s how I was raised, to give my all and care for friends, family, players. They’re all the same to me because we’re all people needing love and encouragement.”
Leaving Louisiana Nov. 28th, 1990 just after high school graduation with $9 in his pocket, Chris was escaping a rough scene.
Young 20 year old Chris knew he had to leave Lake Charles or likely get caught up in this small rural town of Louisiana, a place so rough he says it made urban projects look like Disneyland.
His friends were being shot and he says that was “A signal from God that he should give California a shot. So he moved in with his big brother Thimothy “Hamma Hamma“ Francis Jr, who was stationed in the Navy.
Compton was his new home and realizing that balling for Compton CC and La Verne University would channel that hunger to achieve, Chris wanted to make his father, Thimothy Francis Sr, a retired police officer, and his mom Vera Mae Francis proud of him.
California provided the opportunity.
It wasn’t instant success when Chris started his coaching career at age 30, coaching for King Drew High School. He lost his first 3 games by 50 each! Unbearable.
His family encouraged him to stay with coaching. Hear in Chris’s own words, “My family reminded me, be patient. Let the kids learn the skills first, success will follow.”
He learned 17 years ago that “patience is a virtue.” He had to learn to take baby steps toward the career that he decided to dedicate his life to. Dope family, dope career, dope person.
How excited can Chris appear? What you need to know about Chris is that he lives his whole life in ALL CAPS. No, really, he set his phone to ALL CAPS like 10 years ago. That best expresses his personality in text form.
No one else I’ve ever met could sustain that level of excitement, utter passion, only that dude named C-Francis has it like that.......fosho.
Chris reminds me of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Why? Both these guys have serious coaching X’s and O’s skill, methodology. Coach K could’ve moved on to the NBA long ago, but both he and Chris have a strong sense of purpose in the place they’ve chosen to stay, feeling beloved by their community.
What does Chris’s coaching style remind me of?
Dude is just like legendary Ventura College coach Phil Mathews who I knew well in college. Both guys have the volume turned all the way up and you’d think some blood vessels will rupture they’re both so intense.
But being “all the way in" makes Francis and Mathews two guys that seem to want it as bad as a bear chewing off its paw to escape a trap.
So it’s fitting that Coach Mathews once gave Chris advice: get that Masters degree, be ready to coach in the college ranks. Your star will burn only as bright as you prepare yourself in life.
Chris was proud to receive his masters in sports administration.
Let one of C-Francis’s former players speak on his mentoring impact. Malik Marquetti who balled at USC and transferred to Louisiana Lafitte says, “Coach put so many hours into me, I can’t even count them all. He was always there for us at Millikan, constantly reminding and instructing us on how to raise that basketball skill.
“He’d bring back successful players of his that played in college to get in our mind that we owed it to ourselves to work for it. We needed to grab it with our own two hands and our heart. I couldn’t have done it without him. Many of us couldn’t have achieved if not for him.”
Who really knows Chris Francis? None other than his best, best friend and right hand man Harry “HP“ Prudhomme. They met in high school in Louisiana and they have talked every day since then.
HP says of Chris, “You can take the boy out of the south, but you can’t take the southern hospitality out of the boy. Chris has a genuine way of treating people. He learned back home here to be giving.
“I was able to visit Chris in the 90’s when he graduated junior college. So many dozens of people came out, like Jayda Pickett Smith, so many I couldn’t keep track. But they all had that same proud look on their face because Chris took time to treat everyone like fam.
“I don’t think you could find anyone who put themselves out there more for people than Chris does. He’ll take the shirt off his back if you need it, a person who you can always count on. That’s Chris’s secret, there is nothing he won’t do for friends.”
Picture a match getting lit. It’s sulfur ablaze: bright blue, yellow, and red, scorching hot, blowing up with energy until it subsides. But when Chris’s match was lit, his flame has never mellowed down. It decided to stay blazing his whole life.
Ask Mr Francis to describe himself and he’ll say he lives the life of his favorite rapper, southern born Scarface of 1990’s Geto Boys fame. The song that reps his mentality is called In My Time.
Don’t hear the lyrics, feel the words through CHRIS FRANCIS. They both spit out true verse, a prolific mesh of flesh, letters, bones, and words that chronicle Mr Francis’s life to a tee.
“What we fail to realize
Is that we running outta time
Do we ever be born again
In my time of dying
It's like I'm running outta time
Will I ever be born again.”
C-Francis is a living example of a humble lifetime achievement on the grind, on that hustle to leave no regrets, one successful ball player, one friend at a time in need.
Chris is there for everyone. That’s true genius, that’s leaving a legend of humanity. But to Chris, that’s just the way this kid from Fisherville chose to live his life, and that’s made all the difference.
