MBB: HONORING A CONCORD LEGEND

"LEWIS D'ANTONI DAY" SET FOR SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10

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Thanks to Sarah Dalton, CU Department of Advancement, and Jim Nelson, for their contributions to this story

Concord University alumnus, Hall of Fame member, coaching legend – and now author – Lewis D'Antoni is taking center court at an upcoming Mountain Lions basketball doubleheader. Concord has designated Saturday, December 10 as 'Lewis D'Antoni Day.'

D'Antoni will be honored at halftime during Concord's men's basketball game against Pitt-Johnstown at the Carter Center.  Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 pm.  Concord's women's team will get the action started with a 1:00 pm game against UPJ.

In his memoir, “The Coach's Coach,” the 97-year old D'Antoni shares the story of his immigrant Italian family and his life with sports.

D'Antoni will hold a book signing for “The Coach's Coach” during a reception in Gym 2 at the Carter Center following the men's game. Books will be available for purchase at that time. They may also be purchased by visiting www.lulu.com.

D'Antoni was born in McComas, WV, and he and his family moved to Mullens while he was an infant.  He developed a love for sports as a boy.  “My parents really didn't understand sports,” D'Antoni told longtime Princeton sports media personality Jim Nelson in a 2003 article for the Bluefield Daily Telegraph.  “However, I was competitive and was always interested in games.  I knew pretty early on that athletics was the way I wanted to go.  I saw sports as a way to make a name for my family, and in Mullens, we played some type of game all the time because it gave us something to do."

D'Antoni was a six-time letter-winner at Mullens High School and earned at athletic scholarship at then-Concord College.  "I went to Concord because it was a small school, close to home," he told Nelson.  “There were several friends from Mullens at Concord and we were very tightly-knit, like a family."

D'Antoni excelled at Concord, winning nine varsity letters – four each in football and basketball and one in tennis.  He led the basketball team in scoring in each of his four seasons and was captain of Concord's 1937 squad.  D'Antoni was 1st Team All-WVIAC – and made the WVIAC All-Tournament 1st Team -- in 1936 and '37.  He also earned 1st Team All-WVIAC honors in football in 1936.

"I just loved basketball," D'Antoni continued.  "I had been blessed to play for a great coach, Woody Woodell, during my years in high school and for two years at Concord.  I was his point guard and I always liked the fast break -- getting the ball up the floor in a hurry.  That was his style of play, too."

D'Antoni graduated from Concord in 1937 and began his coaching career at Pineville (WV) High School.  In 1942, he moved to Mullens High School, where he coached for 17 seasons, setting aside his career for a few years to serve in the military in World War II.

D'Antoni built Mullens into a basketball dynasty -- Nelson wrote that “in one six-year stretch, Mullens won 95% of its games.”  In the days when West Virginia had only one division – not the three divisions that exist today -- the Rebels reached the state basketball tournament in 1951 and '52 and finished runner-up in 1954. 

D'Antoni's team captured the state championship in 1955; that same year, D'Antoni received the first High School Coach of the Year Award from the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.  Mullens reached the state's final four in 1956.

Nelson's article continues, “As D'Antoni's son, Mike earned all-state basketball honors and accepted an offer to play college ball at Marshall, D'Antoni moved to Chesapeake High School in Ohio, where he coached from 1971-1982.  'I moved there to take a job in education (assistant principal) and coach.  I was right across the river from Marshall, so I got to see Mike play all of his home games in college.'
“It was during this period that D'Antoni built another basketball powerhouse.  His Chesapeake teams won the Ohio Valley Conference six times and he was selected the Conference's 'Coach of the Year' on six occasions.” 

In 35 years as a high school basketball coach, D'Antoni won 450 games.

D'Antoni was inducted into Concord's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995.  He's also a member of the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

He passed his coaching abilities on to his two sons, Mike and Dan.  Both played basketball for Marshall University and are now NBA coaches with the New York Knicks – Mike as head coach and Dan as an assistant.

For more information on Lewis D'Antoni Day contact the Concord University Office of Advancement at advancement@concord.edu or (304) 384-6311.

Persons with disabilities should contact Nancy Ellison, 1-304-384-6086 or 1-800-344-6679, ext. 6086 if special assistance is required for access to an event scheduled by the University on campus.

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