Highly successful college basketball coach
Charles Driesell better known as Lefty was born in 1931. He received the nickname "Lefty" for his left handedness. He was a college basketball coach at Davidson College, the University of Maryland, James Madison University, and Georgia State University. He was the first coach to win more than 100 games at four different NCAA Division I schools. He had the reputation of being "the greatest program builder in the history of basketball. When he retired in 2003, he was the fourth-winningest NCAA Division I men's basketball college.
He coached the Maryland Terrapins basketball team to eight NCAA Tournament appearances, a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship, two Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championships, and one Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship. Among the notable players he recruited and coached are Tom McMillen, Len Elmore, John Lucas, Albert King, Buck Williams, and Len Bias. He was also the first coach to start the season with "Midnight Madness" - now an annual event celebrating the upcoming college basketball season in which a team opens its first official practice to the public, often combining it with a pep rally and other fan-friendly activities. The tradition originated from teams holding public practices at midnight on the earliest day.
In 1973, he saved the lives of at least ten children from several burning buildings. When he saw flames from townhouses, he broke down a door and rescued several children from the fire that eventually destroyed four townhouses. As a result, he was awarded the NCAA Award of Valor.
He was inducted into both the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. The NCAA annually awards the Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year Award to the most outstanding men's college basketball defender in NCAA Division I competition.
He died in 2024. [1]
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Acadian heritage connections: Lefty is 21 degrees from Beyoncé Knowles, 21 degrees from Jean Béliveau, 23 degrees from Madonna Ciccone, 21 degrees from Rhéal Cormier, 22 degrees from Joseph Drouin, 23 degrees from Jack Kerouac, 22 degrees from Anne Langstroth, 21 degrees from Matt LeBlanc, 21 degrees from Roméo LeBlanc, 21 degrees from Azilda Marchand, 21 degrees from Mary Travers and 21 degrees from Clarence White on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
D > Driesell > Charles Grice Driesell
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