Tim Tolokan, who served UConn athletics for 38 years, helping to modernize methods of communication as the university’s basketball teams rose to national prominence, has died. He was 79.
“Tim was UConn and UConn was Tim,” said Jim Calhoun, men’s basketball coach from 1986-2012. “After his wife, Diane, and his family, it was all UConn for Tim, 24/7.”
Tolokan, a Rhode Island native, was the sports editor of the Norwich Bulletin before joining UConn’s athletic communications in 1980. During the 1980s, when nearly every local newspaper in the state was independently owned, UConn basketball had the largest contingent of print reporters in the country, as many as 14 at home and road games, in addition to the local TV and radio reporters. Tolokan managed the large group and helped foster good professional interaction between coaches, athletes and Connecticut’s media.
A member of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Coordination Committee from 1984 to 2001, Tolokan’s work at UConn was respected throughout the country. He earned several awards, culminating with his induction to the College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame in 2024.
Tolokan mentored hundreds of UConn students who went into the communications industry, and as the school’s athletic communications department grew with the success and popularity of many other sports.
Tolokan became a historian of UConn sports, becoming curator of the Husky Heritage Sports Museum on the Storrs campus. He retired from his full-time position in 2009, but continued part-time as a special assistant to the AD until 2018, consulting on projects and innovations.
He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Diane (Lemoine) of South Kingstown, R.I., his sister Patricia of Windham, brother Toby (Mary) of Indianapolis, his nieces Lindsey Lemoine and Julia Lemoine; and nephews John Tolokan, Alek Tolokan, and John Lemoine.
