Lefty Driesell, coach of the glory years of Wildcats basketball in the 1960s, will be among those back in town Saturday for a panel discussion and autograph signing as part of the yearlong Davidson College men’s basketball centennial celebration. The celebrity appearances will bookend the Wildcats’ Southern Conference game against Chattanooga at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Belk Arena.

Coach Lefty Driesell and player Dick Snyder celebrate yet another Wildcat victory. (Courtesy of Davidson College Sports Information)

Players and coaches from eight different decades – including Coach Driesell and Terry Holland ’64 – will return to campus during the weekend. Festivities begin at 10 a.m. Saturday with a panel discussion, “Meet Davidson Basketball’s Hall of Famers,” in the Duke Family Performance Hall at the Knobloch Campus Center.

The discussion will be moderated by “The Voice of the Wildcats” John Kilgo, and (besides Dreisell and Holland) will feature Hall of Fame inductees Hobby Cobb ’56, John Gerdy ’79, Jerry Kroll ’70, Dick Snyder ’66 and Kenny Wilson ’84.

Following Davidson’s 2 p.m. contest against the Mocs, there will be an autograph session on the arena floor, where fans will have an opportunity to meet alumni and get autographs of their favorite Wildcats. Limited edition Centennial Basketballs, suitable for autographs, will be on sale at the game.

Learn all about the past century of Wildcats basketball by clicking on the college website page related to the weekend events. This page has a list of alums expected to be in town this weekend, a slide show of teams past, and The Davidsonian’s four-part history of men’s hoops.

Don’t know about the great Coach Dreisel? Here’s what the Davidsonian series has to say about him:

In the spring of that year (1960), the Davidson administration hired a former Duke basketball player who had never been the head coach of a college basketball program. His name was Charles “Lefty” Driesell. Over the course of his career, Driesell tallied 786 wins. He was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

When Driesell came to Davidson, he didn’t see the restrictions of a small student body. He refused to believe in an attitude of small time athletics. During his nine-year tenure with the Wildcats, Driesell went to the NCAA Tournament three times and recruited three All-Americans and a number-one NBA draft pick.