Duke Athletics Hall of Famer and former Blue Devil basketball player Charles “Lefty” Driesell passed away at the age of 92 on Saturday.
Driesell, who graduated from Duke in 1954, played for two seasons with the Blue Devils. He averaged 4.0 points per game as a player, but his biggest contributions to college basketball came as a coach.
Across 41 seasons on the sidelines, Driesell coached for Davidson, Maryland, James Madison, and Georgia State. He made his biggest imprint with the Terrapins, where he spent 17 seasons from 1970-86 and won 348 games. He finished his four-decade coaching career in 2003 with a 786-394 all-time record, and he was named the ACC Coach of the Year twice (1975, 1980).
Driesell still ranks 15th on the career D-I coaching wins list.
Duke released a statement on Driesell’s passing with comments from former coach Mike Krzyzewski and current head coach Jon Scheyer.
“He lit up every room he walked into, and I loved any time I was able to spend with him,” Krzyzewski said. “Lefty was the ultimate winner.”
“I had the privilege of interacting with Lefty several times and he was always so down-to-earth and relatable,” Scheyer said. “Any time with Lefty was thoroughly enjoyable. We were blessed he was with us for so long.”
Driesell was inducted into the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993, and he was a member of the 2018 class in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.