ACC Basketball: The Story of the Rivalries, Traditions, and Scandals of the First Two Decades of the Atlantic Coast Conference

Preface

· xi · PREFACE I became a passionate fan of Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) basketball when I began graduate school in history at the University of Maryland in 1969. I arrived at Maryland in the same year as its new coach, Lefty Driesell, though with considerably less fanfare. For three years, I cheered for Maryland and reviled its opponents, especially its ACC rivals. My loyalties shifted dramatically in 1972, when my brother Wally enrolled at the University of Virginia on a basketball scholarship. For four years, I rooted fanatically for Virginia while defaming its opponents. I had the disheartening experience of watching Virginia lose every game in Wally’s career at Maryland’s Cole Field House, while the home fans at my own school jeered my brother and disparaged his team. I gained a measure, make that a great deal, of satisfaction , along with bragging rights, when Virginia defeated Maryland in the 1976 ACC Tournament and went on to win the conference championship. After Wally graduated, I remained an interested, though less fervent, ACC fan. I cheered for both Virginia and Maryland (and, of course, vilified their opponents). In 2006, after following ACC basketball for nearly four decades, I decided it would make a good topic for a book. At that time, I was looking for an enjoyable research project to work on when I retired in the not-too-distant future. During my career as a professional historian, I had published several books on subjects that included President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan and the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident. I was pleased with the reception of the books I wrote, but I wanted to do something different in retirement. One day, in a bolt out of the blue, I came up with the idea of writing a book on the early history of ACC basketball. It seemed like a fun topic that would also necessarily cover serious issues relating to the role of sports in educational institutions. Once I discovered that the university archives of schools that were members of the ACC during the 1950s and 1960s contained a wealth of useful and fascinating documentary material, I was on my way. And in fact, the topic turned out to be so enjoyable that I could not wait until retirement to write it.When I began this project, I knew little about ACC basketball in the period before I started graduate school, and xii · PREFACE working on the book was a voyage of discovery about the colorful history of the conference and about the brilliant coaches and players who made it into a basketball powerhouse. I brought a set of divided loyalties to the subject of ACC basketball. In addition to attending Maryland while my brother played at Virginia, in later years my daughter, Mary Beth, graduated from Virginia and Duke Law School, and my son, Dan, earned a master’s degree at Wake Forest.The University of North Carolina Press published not only this book but also my earlier study of Truman and the bomb. I learned in the course of doing research on the ACC that there is also much to admire about the schools with which I have no direct or even distant connection. I hope that my firsthand , or at least secondhand, acquaintance with the universities that were members of the conference in the years covered by this book have enabled me to write a balanced and nonpartisan, though not uncritical, history. I attempted to capture the impressive progress made on both academic and athletic fronts without blinking when discussing more unsavory aspects of early ACC basketball. Even books that are fun to write are not easy to write, and I am indebted to the many people who offered me invaluable assistance. I am exceedingly grateful to archivists at every institution at which I conducted research for their knowledge, guidance, and professionalism. I owe special thanks to Anne Turkos, University Archivist at the University of Maryland. She was exceedingly helpful in guiding me to a bonanza of useful material that got me started on this project and in putting me in touch with several people who knew much more about the history of Maryland basketball than I did. Best of all, she shared my enthusiasm for this topic. I am also greatly appreciative for the prompt, able, and friendly assistance of Tom Harkins of Duke University; Faye Haskins of the D.C. Public Library; Vicki Johnson of Wake Forest University...