He still hears the voices of his grandparents in his head. The way so many of us do.

They were, and remain, his inspiration. They would be wishing Dwane Casey a very happy 60th birthday today, a monumental birthday for anyone, and not necessarily complaining about the Raptors’ opening-game loss to Milwaukee.

That’s what grandparents are for, love, support, influence even long after they’re gone.

“My grandparents taught me about hard work, about fear of failure,” Casey was saying in a recent lengthy interview. “My grandmother Elizabeth always talked about doing my homework, getting my lessons done, she called it. My grandfather Urey was my hero. He worked three jobs. He had a dry cleaner’s factory job in the day and a dry cleaner’s factory job at night and when that was done with that, he mopped floors in a restaurant. I’ve seen what hard work is all about. We all hear something from someone who influenced us.

“That’s what I hear in my head.”

Dwane Casey is a man of influence now, the fourth oldest coach in the NBA and one of its most successful. He sits today at the age of 60, feeling anything but old, proud of where he has come to, how he has gotten here.

“To me, 60 isn’t old,” says Casey. “It’s a blessing to have my health. I still feel like I’m in my 30s or 40s. To me, it’s more of a sign of longevity than anything else. I have more experience. I know more. I understand more. I still feel young.

“The image I had of what a 60-year-old was when I was a kid isn’t what I see now. When I was younger, a 60-year-old was a guy with a cane, slowing down, not understanding what music was about, not understanding the lingo. Truth, I have just as much energy now as I did when I was 40, probably more. I work out more, eat better, probably get my rest more. Today’s 60 is yesterday’s 40. And I feel good about this age.”

Casey may not feel very good about Game 1 of the playoff series against the Bucks, but this is just another challenge in a remarkable life of so many challenges. As a young coach, an assistant at the University of Kentucky, he thought he was on the fast track to a head-coaching job in college. And then scandal hit at Kentucky and he believes to this day he was scapegoated as payment apparently intended for the father of a college recruit. Casey resigned his position almost 30 years ago, was suspended by the NCAA — and wound up coaching in, of all places, Japan.

Few coaches have taken such a circuitous route to the NBA. Few coaches have found their security, if not peace, after more than 30 years in the business: They weren’t dry cleaning jobs or restaurant cleanup, but Casey never stopped working, believing in himself, thinking that, if he did the right things, they would work out in his favour.

And then he worked his way into his first head-coaching job with the Minnesota Timberwolves but, before his second season was over, he was out.

“In Minnesota, we were caught between rebuilding or trying to continue to build around Kevin Garnett,” Casey says. “I got caught right in the middle of that. KG was at an age where he was a good player, but he couldn’t carry a team anymore. I think my inexperience as far as being a head coach hurt me there. I wish I knew then what I know now. I would have done a better job.”

He got fired about the time Rick Carlisle got fired in Indiana and Terry Stotts was fired in Milwaukee.

“Rick and I joked about this,” Casey says. “If he got a head coaching job, he would hire me as an assistant. And if I got a head coaching job, I was going to hire him as an assistant. We kind of bonded together on this. We got Terry with us and we kind of interviewed as a staff.

“We met with the Knicks. We interviewed in Chicago. We met with Donnie Nelson at Rick’s house. The next morning, Mark Cuban flew into Indy and we interviewed again. We were a package deal. Rick was the head coach. I was in charge of the defence. Terry was in charge of the offence.”

A few years later, having shut down LeBron James on Casey’s defence, the Dallas Mavericks were NBA champions.

Then came the interviews for him. The Clippers called. Golden State called. Houston, Philadelphia, New Orleans all asked about him. He even said ‘no’ to a few interviews in situations he thought weren’t good for him. Then came Bryan Colangelo and a fit with the Raptors.

“We were both basketball people. We clicked right away.”

Colangelo is gone, Masai Ujiri is in place and Casey has the job of a lifetime that took a lifetime to get.

“I wake up every day and thank my lucky stars for all I have,” he says.

He has a dream job, a dream family that includes his wife, a 9-year-old daughter, and a 5-year-old son. Young children for what used to be an old man’s age.

“My kids keep me young,” he says.

His players, too.

“I remember working with Clem Haskins at Western Kentucky,” Casey recalls. “He loved country and western music. He’s a black man, but he had trouble listening to rap in the late ’70s, early ’80s. He didn’t like it when his players played that music. Now, I work out to rap music on a daily basis. It keeps me young. I still have a problem relating to the country music. I guess that’s not an age thing, after all.”

ssimmons@postmedia.com