Topic: H-D: D'Antoni earns honorary doctorate

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ATHENS, W.Va. -- Lewis D'Antoni received his second Concord University degree Saturday, 77 years after his first graduation.

The 100-year-old father of Marshall University men's basketball head coach Dan D'Antoni and his brother, former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni, was awarded with an honorary doctorate during the school's spring commencement. He turned 100 on Dec. 31, 2013, making him Concord's oldest living alum, a press release from the school said.

D'Antoni, a Mullens, W.Va., resident first graduated from Concord in 1937.

Following his first graduation D'Antoni made his mark as a high school coach and educator in southern West Virginia and Ohio.

D'Antoni was honored in 2012 by The Education Alliance of Charleston for a lifetime of teaching, coaching and mentoring young people.

He is a former basketball coach who won more 450 games in 35 seasons at West Virginia high schools Pineville (1937-41) and Mullens (1942-59) and in the Tri-State at Chesapeake (1971-82).

The Mullens Rebels beat Huntington High for a state championship in 1955 and he became the first recipient of the West Virginia High School Coach of the Year Award from the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.

In 2010 he authored a book, "The Coach's Coach," that covers many things including basketball and the life of an immigrant Italian family.

He is a member of the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/marshall/x1315750506/DAntoni-patriarch-earns-honorary-doctorate-at-100