BOYNE CITY - On a cold winter day, the Boyne City boys basketball team took to the court with the guidance from head coach Randy Calcaterra plus his starting guard and son Alex Calcaterra. Less than 24 hours later and 316 miles away, his oldest son Pete Calcaterra was also taking to the basketball court, but for Michigan Tech. This became a usual affair for the Calcaterra family during the basketball season.
Randy began playing basketball in high school, played for Wayne State and then found his way back to basketball in the recent years, but as a coach. He is the only coach Alex has ever known, yet Alex has picked up on the difference between getting dad or Coach Calcaterra.
“He wants to be pushed,” said Randy. “He wants to be driven and if I’ve got to get on him, he takes it and it’s not a problem. I never had to draw that line with him.”
Another motivator for Alex is Pete, who has been a built-in teammate since they were little kids.
“I have so many memories of us just playing,” said Pete. “Whether it was a mini hoop hanging on the door or the lowered hoop in the driveway, we would just have a little dunk contest.”
That support has pushed them both to high levels of performance, but it has made Randy a proud father as well.
“A lot of brothers or siblings can be very jealous, envious and at each other’s throats,” said Randy. “They have been and always have been fantastically supportive of one another.”
The built-in teammates will soon be an ongoing dynamic duo after Alex committed to play basketball at Michigan Tech and join his brother Pete.
“I called him and as soon as I tell him he starts screaming,” said Alex.
“I think I was ten times more excited than he was,” said Pete. “I was jumping out of my desk. I was doing homework. I just I could not focus on anything after that. I was jumping everywhere.”
The brothers have their own skills and talents with the addition of a brotherly bond that will be a sight to see when they take to the court together as Huskies.
This Calcaterra basketball family dynamic will live on, but has moved from Boyne City to Houghton.