ITEM FILE PHOTO
Mike Carr, seen at a fundraiser in this July 2016 file photo, died after a 10-month illness.
By STEVE KRAUSE
LYNN — Lynn English boys basketball coach Mike Carr died Friday night at Massachusetts General Hospital after a 10-month illness.
Carr, who was 51, was hospitalized last week. Steve Stranahan, his close friend and assistant, had been coaching the Bulldogs in his absence.
“The school is saddened by his death,” said athletic director Dick Newton. “He was a dedicated English guy. He gave his heart and soul to the school.”
Carr came from a coaching family. His father, the late Mike Carr Sr., was a longtime football coach and athletic director at Lynn Tech.
Carr began coaching at English in 2008 as an assistant to Buzzy Barton. In his first year on the bench, he helped guide the Bulldogs to the Division 1 state final. Two years later, after Barton stepped down, he became the head coach, and in 2013, he coached the Bulldogs to a spot in the Division 1 North final.
RIP Coach Carr. A very tough loss for the Bulldog family. We will remember you.We will honor you.Always a part of the family. #BulldogFamily
— LEHS Athletics (@BulldogAthlete) January 28, 2017
In March of last year, he began feeling ill and it was discovered he had a serious virus that had spread through his body. He endured 14 surgeries as the result of it, but he withstood it. However, while being treated for it, it was discovered he had cancer too.
By July, however, Carr was well enough to attend a fundraiser at the Hibernian Hall that he hoped would defray some of the medical costs he’d accumulated while being treated.
Despite his medical uncertainties, Newton said Carr was determined to coach this winter.
“I asked him,” Newton said. “And he said he really wanted to keep going as long as he could.”
Carr’s assistants, led by Stranahan, will continue to coach the team through the end of the season, Newton said.