While Connor McCaffery must be celebrating joining the Butler Bulldogs as an assistant coach, his family had to face a tragedy. The famous Maquoketa Valley Iowa Community School District coach Gordon Rundquist passed away after a brief illness at the age of 81 on Friday. The Iowa High School Athletic Association Basketball Hall of Fame member had an exceptional 559 career victories. He was also employed at the Iowa City West where Connor studied. Thus, the entire McCaffery family was jolted by the sudden news as his brother Patrick mourned the news on his Instagram story.

“RIP Gordo “on your belly’s,”” Patrick captioned a picture on Instagram story in his Iowa City West jersey while mourning the loss. After his retirement from teaching, Rundquist along with his wife, Sherri, left for Iowa where he became an assistant to the notable Steve Bergman from 2006 onwards and it is here that Connor and his brother Patrick would have been trained under the valued coach.

Most of Rundquist’s wins came at the Maquoketa Valley where he was active from 1970 to 2005, leading the school to five state tournaments. One of his most defining moments came when he propelled his squad to finish as a runner-up in class 2A in 1986. The mentor was so comfortable in his role that he would encourage young kids to take up the sport, sometimes even paying their offseason camps’ fees.

And his recent success included winning four titles with Bergman. It is quite notable that at one point in time, he was on the coaching staff along with his son under Bergman. That explains how much he enjoyed his job. And given the McCaffery‘s family closeness to Iowa basketball, they would have been sad to know about Rundquist.

McCaffery’s relationship with Gordon Rundquist

Connor played basketball under the head coach Bergman during his time at the Iowa City West High School where he competed in both basketball and baseball. While he did not take up baseball as a career, he would have been influenced a lot by Rundquist as he led West HS to the state tournament all four years from 2014 to 2017. It was under Rundquist that Caitlin Clark’s boyfriend developed his game, bagging the Des Moines Register Boys Basketball Player of the Year, Gazette-area Player of the Year, All-Iowa Player of the Year, Conference Player of the Year, and State Tournament Most Valuable Player. And probably it only helped that his father Fran McCaffery is a known figure at Iowa.

Fran has been coaching the Iowa Hawkeyes’ men’s basketball team since 2010 and must have developed cordial relations with Rundquist since all his three balling kids- Connor, Patrick, and Jonathan attended the Iowa City West High School. While Connor was exceptional during his time, Patrick under Rundquist’s guidance set the scoring record for his team during his senior season. Thus, Rundquist played a major role in grooming the McCaffery’s, 2 of which, would be later trained by Fran himself.

And perhaps with the latest announcement, the McCaffery’s would have attended his funeral. Hopefully, they will be able to overcome this loss and start their professional duties soon.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.