A Season of Healing
Al Schaffer finds solace in his volunteer role with the SDSU mens basketball team.
Al Schaffer first spotted Lillian Charn in the eighth grade. He sat in a study hall when the blond-haired cheerleader walked into the room.
“My eyes must have bugged out,” Schaffer recalled as he reached for his wallet to pull out a picture of Lillian.
Six years later, in 1954, they were married and started a family.
“I had a tremendous marriage, a wonderful lifemate and three terrific kids,” Schaffer said.
In 2007, Lillian was diagnosed with amyloidosis, a disease in which abnormal proteins build up in various organs.
“It was the saddest day of my life because there’s no cure,” Schaffer said.
After battling the disease for nearly three years, Lillian passed away last May, just two months before their 56-year anniversary. At her memorial in Michigan, SDSU men’s basketball assistant coach Brian Dutcher dished out an assist to his longtime friend.
“Don’t worry about your dad,” Dutcher told Schaffer’s two sons. “We’re going to keep him busy.”
From part-time to full-time
Schaffer began attending SDSU men’s basketball games after moving to San Diego in 1987, the first of his 14 years at Ramona High School, where he coached boys' varsity basketball. When Steve Fisher and his coaching staff — Dutcher included — took over the Aztec program in 1999, Schaffer became more than an aficionado.
“After going to (the games) for awhile, Coach Dutcher — when he would see me — he would always say, ‘What’d you notice?’” recalled Schaffer, who retired from Ramona in 2001. “So eventually I just started taking some notes.”
When Schaffer returned to San Diego following his wife's memorial, Dutcher offered his friend an opportunity to become more involved with the team. Schaffer wholeheartedly accepted the offer.
“I come in almost everyday … and I take notes on every practice,” he said. “And then I share what I notice.
“Some people say you’re a volunteer coach,” Schaffer added. “I’m more of a volunteer observer.”
Schaffer also takes notes at SDSU home games from his complimentary seat in the Viejas Arena stands. Per NCAA rules, the SDSU Athletic Department is not permitted to pay for him to travel with the team, so Schaffer took it upon himself to attend 13 of the Aztecs’ 19 road games this season.
“It’s given Al a great outlet to come and spend time with us,” Dutcher said.
“To not use him as a resource would be foolish.”
“I’m only rich in my relationships ... And I consider myself a rich man.”
Rich in his relationships
Earlier this season, D.J. Gay asked Schaffer if he was meeting the team in Laramie, Wyo., for its game against the Wyoming Cowboys, to which Schaffer responded, “I’m not going to be making the trip … The airplane ticket would have been $480.”
“I thought you were rich,” the Aztec guard said to Schaffer.
Recalling that conversation with Gay, Schaffer said, “I’m only rich in my relationships with D.J. and his teammates and the coaches. And I consider myself a rich man.”
Such has been Schaffer’s mentality, not only at SDSU, but during his 45-year high school coaching career as well.
“At every stop, my wife and I had just marvelous friends, parents, fans and players,” Schaffer said. “And that was really the best thing about coaching – the relationships.”
Schaffer has bonded with the Aztecs through the game of basketball. He helps several players with their free-throw techniques, including Tim Shelton and Malcolm Thomas, and he has stayed after practice with Kawhi Leonard so the sophomore forward can shoot more shots than if he was alone.
“That’s the best part of my day — spending (time) with the Aztecs,” Schaffer said.
A Road to Remember
When Schaffer is not spending time with the team, he directs his efforts toward Lillian's memory.
In addition to helping restore the pipe organ at the First Presbyterian Church in Blissfield, Mich., where she sang in the choir, and raising money for the Amyloidosis Foundation to fund research for finding a cure to the disease, Schaffer is training for his upcoming trip this summer to Spain. There, he will honor his deceased wife and her two sisters — who both passed away within seven weeks of Lillian’s death — by walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.
Schaffer will be accompanied by his daughter, Amanda, who made ceramic Dala horses that they will leave behind at shrines along the 500-mile pilgrimage.
“I’m hoping it brings closure,” he said.
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