Around New England
Faith, Family, and Basketball: Joe and Camai Mazzulla Inspire At Sold-Out Newton Event
October 18, 2024
About 550 people packed a sold-out conference room at the Newton Marriott recently to hear Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla and his wife Camai speak about their faith and relationship.
Thursday Men’s Breakfast Boston and several other organizations hosted an event called “Faith, Family, and Basketball: A Conversation with Coach Joe and Camai Mazzulla.” Tom and Nancy Colatosti sponsored the event.
“The word ‘we’ was kind of their theme. Working as a team,” Thursday Men’s Breakfast Boston president John Daniel told NewBostonPost in a telephone interview. “They have a really strong marriage and friendship together, so they consider themselves a ‘we’ and make decisions together. They made a commitment that winning the world championship wouldn’t change them, but they have their challenges that they admitted to in the talk.”
Mazzulla and his wife are practicing Catholics, though the gathering was a non-denominational event that drew people from various faiths.
Sponsors of the event, which took place Friday, September 20, included Young Catholic Professionals and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Demand exceeded the supply of tickets. The feedback from attendees has been overwhelmingly positive, Daniel told NewBostonPost.
“I was at the Thursday Men’s Breakfast this morning and five or six guys came up to me and said ‘This thing was incredible! It was so good and I’m so glad I attended,’ ” Daniel said.
Daniel, who emceed the event, said he has received about a dozen thank-yous from people, including letters and email messages and people coming up to him in person.
Attendees included high school students and basketball coaches. One table featured a group of kids from Bishop Stang High School, a Catholic school in North Dartmouth, while at least two tables were filled with Boston University undergraduates, Daniel said.
“There were a lot of people who got exposed to the teachings that were given, but there were plenty of people of strong faith, including Catholics too,” Daniel said.
Other speakers at the event included Bishop Robert P. Reed, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston and president of the archdiocese’s television network, CatholicTV; Boston Celtics assistant coach D. J. MacLeay; and Father Marcel Taillon, vocations director for the Archdiocese for the Military Services for the United States,
Mazzulla, 36, led the Boston Celtics to a National Basketball Association championship in June 2024. The Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks, coached by Basketball Hall of Famer Jason Kidd, 4-1, in the NBA Finals.
Mazzulla, whose birthday is on June 30, was 35 when the Celtics won the title. It made him the youngest NBA head coach to win a championship since Bill Russell in 1969. Mazzulla led the Celtics to a 64-18 record during the championship season, his second as the team’s head coach.
The Celtics are favored to go back-to-back and win another one this year. FanDuel, one of several mobile sportsbooks that operate in Massachusetts, gives the Celtics +320 odds to win the finals, meaning if someone bets $100 on it that person would win $320 if the Celtics win. The Oklahoma City Thunder (+650) have the second-best odds.
The Celtics regular season is scheduled to begin Tuesday, October 22, with a 7 p.m. home game against the New York Knicks.
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