Calvin "Cal" Irvin finished his career with a remarkable 401-132 record at Johnson C. Smith University and North Carolina A&T State University, finishing third in the NAIA Tournament twice. Irvin was a giant at A&T, where the basketball court now bears his name.GREENSBORO, North Carolina -- I stood in a funeral line several years ago with one of the greatest basketball minds in the history of the game. We didn’t talk about basketball.
Cal Irvin, a legendary basketball coach and a giant at N.C. A&T, died Saturday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.
Irvin brought big-time basketball to Greensboro long before the ACC Tournament came here, leading A&T to the 1959 NCAA College Division Final Four, the first historic black university to even earn a bid to the NCAA tournament, much less reach a Final Four.
Irvin would win 308 games in 18 years as the coach of the Aggies, leading A&T to CIAA titles in 1959, 1962, 1964 and 1967.
He’s a member of the CIAA Hall of Fame, the Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
The brother of Negro League baseball legend Monte Irvin, Cal was also a great baseball player who played for the Newark Eagles and the Raleigh Grays before coming to Greensboro, where he would coach basketball and serve as the athletics director at A&T.
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