FAMILY MATTERS: Mary Minardi Vogt shows off the jersey Louisville coach Rick Pitino, her brother-in-law, received Monday at the announcement he made the Hall of Fame. “I might have gotten into the Hall of Fame, but the person in this family that has shown the most courage, the Hall of Famer in this family, is you,” he told her. (Robert Mecea)
ATLANTA — As Rick Pitino was circling the area around the basket in front of the Louisville bench, where the Cardinals were about to cut down the nets after Monday night’s thrilling NCAA championship victory over Michigan, he kept saying to his wife, Joanne, and her sister, Mary Minardi Vogt, “Stay together. I want the family to stay together.’’
The Cardinals already had taken care of business, edging Michigan 82-76 in a title game for the ages at the Georgia Dome. But Pitino had unfinished business of his own, personal business.
He huddled his family — a family that has known more than its share of joy and heartbreak — under the basket.
“We’ve been dealt a couple of bad cards, but we’ve always had each other,’’ Mary told The Post by telephone from her Garden City home.
“He had this black bag in his hand. I had no idea what was in it. Then he said, ‘I might have gotten into the Hall of Fame, but the person in this family that has shown the most courage, the Hall of Famer in this family, is you.’ He said, ‘This is the most important possession I have. I want to give you this.’ ’’
With that, Pitino handed his Hall of Fame jersey, the one with PITINO stitched above the No. 13, for the Hall of Fame class of 2013, to his sister-in-law.
“Rick is the most generous person I know, and I’ve known him since I was 9,’’ said Mary. “I used to go on dates with him and my sister. We had a very strict Irish-Catholic mother and when they started dating, someone had to go with them.’’
The ties run deep, deepened by triumph and tragedy.
Pitino, the native New Yorker, became a rising star in the coaching profession when he turned Boston University into a winner more than 30 years ago. After an assistant coaching stint with the Knicks, he took the Providence College job, a Big East job. Life was good.
Until Rick and Joanne’s 6-month-old son, Daniel, died of a heart defect on March 8, 1987. A Connecticut state trooper pulled over the Friars’ team bus as it was making its way back from a semifinal loss in the Big East Tournament and gave the sad news to the family on the side of the road.
The Pitinos and Minardis pressed on. Later that season, Pitino led Providence on a magical Final Four run.
Along the way, Rick, now 60, and Joanne raised five children. Mary married Don Vogt and they had three children. The families, bonded by the sisters, couldn’t have been closer.
So when Don, 43 at the time, stepped off the curb in April 2001 and was killed by a cab, everyone hurt, everyone cried, everyone mourned. And Rick and Joanne wrapped Mary and her children in their love.
“They held me together,’’ said Mary. “They held us together.’’
The Pitinos and Minardis shared more pain months later. Billy Minardi, Mary’s and Joanne’s brother and one of Rick’s best friends, died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers.
“The whole family fell apart,’’ Mary said.
The Pitinos pulled them back together.
Pitino established the Billy Minardi Classic, a game played each December. Proceeds from that game helped build Billy Minardi Hall on the Louisville campus where most of the players live.
This has been a magical month for the Pitinos — who have put the public embarrassment in 2009 when a woman Pitino had an affair with in 2003 tried to extort him behind them. Louisville won the Big East Conference Tournament, earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and won its first four games in convincing fashion.
On Saturday night a horse he’s a part owner of, Goldencents, won the Santa Anita Derby. His son, Richard, got the Minnesota head-coaching job last Wednesday. Word that Pitino was elected to the Hall of Fame leaked out Friday. The family celebrated Sunday night with a dinner at an Italian restaurant in Atlanta.
All of the kids and grandkids were there, the love flowing like red wine.
“When he won it in 1996 [with Kentucky], it was mostly all adults,’’ said Mary, whose three children have all graduated from college. “Sunday it was mostly kids. It was family. Rick had the game the next night, but Sunday was about family.’’
Monday night, Pitino became the first coach to win national titles at two schools. He coached a masterful game, managing foul trouble, the expectations that come with being the No. 1 overall seed, the loss of swingman Kevin Ware of The Bronx, who broke his leg in the Midwest Region championship game against Duke.
“What a hectic ride,’’ said Mary. “And we enjoyed it. The one thing we’ve learned is that the only thing you know you have is today, so make the most of it.’’
After the final seconds ticked off, after the streamers exploded from the Georgia Dome ceiling, after Pitino had hugged his assistant coaches and players, he began rounding up the family, getting as many as he could on the court.
In that family huddle, some cried, some smiled, some did both. Pitino reached into the black bag and pulled out the jersey.
“My son Patrick was a manager for Rick at Louisville a few years ago and Rick gives every senior their jersey,’’ said Mary. “He has his — VOGT and 1 — in a display case. I’m going to do the same thing.
“I want to be able to see it every day.’’
lenn.robbins@nypost.com