Rubama: From Granby High to Hall of Fame, Charles ‘Lefty’ Driesell enjoys his moment on the big screen

Charles “Lefty” Driesell sat anxiously waiting for the documentary to begin.

He wasn’t as nervous as he would be for a basketball game, but the Hall of Fame coach and Norfolk native was nonetheless excited as he prepared to watch his life story on the big screen.

Charlie Hatcher, the executive director of Sports Inside and Out Black Legends of Sports, helped produce a 30-minute documentary featuring Driesell that highlights his Hall of Fame induction and his basketball career. In association with actor and filmmaker Tim Reid, the documentary will air at 9 p.m. Monday on TikiLIVE stream.

Hatcher, who starred for Norview High, said it was important to honor Driesell.

“Lefty is one of the most underrated and underappreciated Division I coaches in the history of the NCAA,” Hatcher said earlier about Driesell. “He’s done more behind the scenes to encourage not only African American ballplayers, but all ballplayers. … He’s a rare breed, very raw and very down to earth. And he’s well loved by the basketball community.”

As the documentary began, Driesell got comfortable in his wheelchair.

Imagine preparing to watch a documentary and having the subject be yourself.

The documentary began with CBS Sports broadcaster James Brown, who was recruited by Driesell, calling him “the most creative marketing mind, recruiting mind that I ever experienced.”

Legendary broadcaster Charlie Neal hosted the documentary. Sprinkled in between were comments from others, including Driesell’s former Maryland star player, Tom McMillen, and close friend Charlie Scott. Driesell recruited Scott before he decided to attend North Carolina, where he became the first scholarship Black athlete. Ironically, Driesell and Scott were both inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.

Early in the film, Neal asked Driesell, “What kind of player were you?”

Never shy, Driesell responded, “Pretty good.”

Would you expect anything different from him?

But Driesell was right. He helped lead Granby High to the state championship in 1950. The Comets were seeded eighth and lucky to get into the tournament.

Driesell earned all-state recognition after he led the Comets to the state title. He averaged 20 points a game during the tournament and was named MVP.

Following the tournament, he received numerous scholarship offers, including from Duke, Tennessee and North Carolina State.

The documentary explained what happened, but Driesell told me a little more.

“I wanted to go to Tennessee,” he said.

A friend of his also went there to play football and got a room for them to share.

But there was one problem. Driesell was in love with his high school sweetheart, Joyce.

“I told the coach that I was going to get married before my four years was up,” Driesell said. “But they told me the coach didn’t allow his athletes to get married because they all had to live in the stadium.”

That’s all Driesell needed to hear.

“So I called Duke. My mother wanted me to go to Duke anyway,” he said with a chuckle. “I asked (Duke coach) Gerry Gerard if I could get married at Duke. He said, ‘Sure. We got married athletes.’ So that’s why I went to Duke.”

The couple eloped on Dec. 14, 1951. They had four children: Patti, Pam, Chuck and Carolyn.

Something else people may not know about Driesell is that he created Midnight Madness.

Prior to the 2013-14 NCAA basketball season, men’s and women’s basketball teams were not permitted to practice prior to the Friday closest to Oct. 15.

As he explained it to me, he decided to hold practice on Oct. 14 at midnight. At that practice, he used to make all of his players run a mile and then have a practice later. The public was invited to attend.

“We couldn’t cut the lights on,” he said, “so word got around and we had students park their cars around the track (for lights).”

Nearly 1,000 students showed up.

Later, one of his players suggested they have a scrimmage game. Driesell said the player thought the game would take the place of running the mile run. The team did both.

“So we had a scrimmage that first year with 5,000 to 6,000 people,” he said. “The next year, we filled it. Then everybody started copying it. But I really started it not for anything great, but I wanted my athletes to know that we were going to outwork everybody else and start practice before anybody else. That’s the way it started. Then everybody else caught onto it.”

Driesell, who turned 90 on Christmas, retired from coaching on Jan. 3, 2003. He was the first coach to win more than 100 games with four different Division I schools: Davidson, Maryland, James Madison and Georgia State. He finished with 786 wins, which then ranked fourth in NCAA Division I, behind only Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp and Bob Knight.

After retiring, he was inducted into many halls of fame, including the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

But he waited for the call to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

That call came in 2018.

He was told that he would have to write a Hall of Fame speech. He also was told to keep it to five minutes because there were so many other inductees, including Scott, Ray Allen, Maurice Cheeks, Grant Hill, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash.

Driesell, who had never written a speech, wrote something to be read on the teleprompter.

Then he heard Hill go before him.

“When Grant Hill started talking, he didn’t read it. He just talked,” Driesell remembered. “So, I thought, ‘When I get up there, I’ll just talk off the top of my head.’”

He had everybody laughing with his colorful comments and stories, as explained in the documentary.

While he talked, he politely kept asking, “Is my time over yet?”

“Everybody seemed to like it,” he said. “I saw Dr. J, and (John) Calipari and Roy Williams, I saw them all laughing. So I just kept on going.”

A memorable time.

After the documentary was over, Driesell was asked his thoughts about it.

“I thought it was right on. They were honest and I was honest,” he said. “It was a story about my life. It was good. I thought it was excellent.”

His only regret was his wife of 72 years wasn’t there to enjoy it with him. She passed away suddenly last summer after cooking dinner for him.

“I still haven’t gotten over that,” he said. “I wish my wife could have been here to see it. She would have loved it. “

Driesell, who has a son and three grandchildren who followed him into coaching, said he’s humbled by the documentary.

“I’m just proud of the people that I coached,” he said. “I had a nice life. I’ve been fortunate.”

Larry Rubama, 757-446-2273, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com Follow @LHRubama on Twitter.