Lefty Driesell

Coaches are always looking for an edge on the competition but former University of Maryland basketball boss, Charles “Lefty” Driesell may have been the best – or at least the most original. Case and point: October 15, 1971, the official first day of the college basketball season. At 12:03am – when presumably the competition was sleeping… or doing what college kids do in the wee hours of the morning – he blew the whistle to start his team’s first practice. In doing so, he unknowingly created a fad, which took off – first at Maryland and, soon, at other schools.

The sudden death of Maryland star Len Bias on June 19, 1986, just two days after the 1986 NBA draft, shocked a campus and the nation, sparking grief, reforms at the university, and a harsh national drug policy debate that still resonates today.