This edition of the Nova Notebook, by Director of Media Relations Mike Sheridan, catches up with former Wildcats head coach Steve Lappas.

The two events will, for Steve Lappas, long serve as happy reminders of the calendar year 2017.

In January, the man who joined the Wildcats as an assistant coach to the late Rolle Massimino in 1984 and later served nine seasons as the head coach, was inducted into Villanova's Varsity Club Hall of Fame. On Tuesday night, a mere nine months later, he will be inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Manhattan at the Bryant Park Grill on 25th West 40th Street.

"It's humbling," said Lappas by telephone a few days ago.

Indeed, it's been a "This is Your Life" kind of year for the coach who led the Wildcats to the 1994 National Invitation Tournament and 1995 BIG EAST Tournament titles. The latest honor caught him entirely off guard.

"There was no sense this was coming," stated Lappas. "It was really surprising. When you think about New York City basketball and some of the legends who have been inducted like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, it's just a tremendous honor."

That is especially so for a product of Manhattan who recalls vividly taking the subway to watch college basketball doubleheaders at Madison Square Garden as a teen. He would later play collegiately at C.C.N.Y. before becoming a high school coach at Harry S. Truman High School in the Bronx, where he served five seasons from 1979-84 before accepting the offer to join the Villanova staff.

Lappas attended the wake and funeral services for Massimino last month and it's a loss he has reflected on often in the weeks since.

"I've thought about that a lot," he said. "Coach Mass gave me the chance of a lifetime to become a college coach. I was a high school coach and to get that offer to be on the staff of a legend, a giant in our business, was amazing."

"Coach told me on my first day of working for him that I had gone from being Mickey Mouse to Mickey Mantle -- and he was right."

Lappas believes the return of so many former players and coaches for the funeral at the St. Thomas of Villanova Chapel on Sept. 13 would have touched the iconic coach.

"It was a sad day, but it was also a tremendous celebration of his life, with all of his guys around to express their love for him," Lappas stated of a day that drew not just Villanovans, but former Big East counterparts such as Lou Carnesecca, Brian Mahoney, and Jim Boeheim to a packed funeral Mass.

In the last decade Lappas has become one of the game's most respected television analysts with his work for CBS, CBS Sports Network, Westwood One and Sirius XM. Last January, he was able to step away from that for a weekend to return to Villanova for the induction ceremonies into the University's Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame at the Connelly Center. Many of the former Wildcats from a run that saw him post 174 victories from 1992-2001, were on hand that night and the next day, when the group watched the Wildcats edge Virginia 61-59.

"The experience that weekend was unbelievable," he said.

Tuesday night figures to be more of the same as family, friends and former players gather in Manhattan. His wife Harriet will be alongside as will his two children, Kristen and Peter, both of whom are now working in sports themselves, Kristen as an accomplished producer at ESPN and Peter on the basketball coaching staff at Fairleigh Dickinson University..

"Having Harriet and my kids there will mean so much," he stated. "We'll have groups there from Manhattan (College), Villanova, and CBS. Three of the major parts of my life will be represented, which is special.

"If someone had told me all those years ago that a 5-9 Greek-American who wasn't a great player would end up in the New York City and Villanova Halls of Fame, I would have said they were crazy. It really is humbling."