As a star guard on the legendary basketball team at Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, D.C., that won 55 straight games from 1958-60, George Leftwich was known for confidently leading the team to victory, game after game.
“He was the general on the court… When George would start dribbling up the court with that high shoulder dribble, you were confident Carroll would win that game,” said Father John Mudd, who graduated from Archbishop Carroll in 1961, one year after Leftwich, and admired him as a fan in the bleachers before later becoming his friend and colleague at the school.
The priest was the homilist at the Mass of Christian Burial for George Leftwich on July 3 at St. John the Baptist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. Leftwich died on June 18 at the age of 84.
“This is a coming home for George,” said Father Mudd, who noted that Leftwich and his late wife Mary were longtime members of that parish.
Father Mudd noted a special homecoming that Leftwich eventually made back to Archbishop Carroll High School, where he served for many years as a basketball coach and teacher and later as the athletic director before retiring in 2013. Nine years later, the George H. Leftwich Gymnasium there was named in his honor.
The star-studded Archbishop Carroll team that began its winning streak in 1958 included John Thompson Jr., who played for the Boston Celtics, coached Georgetown University to a national championship in 1984 and was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999. Also starring on that Carroll team was Tom Hoover, a center who played for the New York Knicks, the Los Angeles Lakers and the St. Louis Hawks in the NBA. But many regard Leftwich as the greatest player on that team.
“He was a helluva player,” said Hoover, who traveled from New York to attend the Funeral Mass for his friend. In an interview before the Mass, he added, “George and I grew up together… To play ball with him was easy. We looked at each other, and we knew what we were going to do.”
NBA Hall of Famer Dave Bing, who played for the Detroit Pistons and later served as the mayor of that city, played for Spingarn High School in Washington, D.C., and competed against Leftwich and the Carroll Lions. He told the Catholic Standard in a 2022 interview that “I thought he (Leftwich) was the best all-around player” from Washington.
Leftwich went on to lead Villanova University to NCAA and NIT tournament victories as a college player, but injuries sustained in a car accident during his sophomore year derailed his chances to play in the NBA. “He could have made the league if he didn’t blow his knee out,” Hoover said.
Father Mudd noted the direction that Leftwich then pivoted toward for his life. “Instead of chasing a professional career (in basketball), he built something even more enduring. He became a teacher, and he became a coach,” the priest said.
Leftwich – who went on to earn two master’s degrees – returned to coach basketball at Archbishop Carroll, and he also coached at Gwynn Park High School in Brandywine, Maryland; at Sidwell Friends School in Washington; as the head coach at the University of the District of Columbia; and as an assistant coach at Georgetown University. In his retirement, he coached the fifth grade girls’ team at the Woods Academy in Bethesda, leading them to a championship.
“He raised up generations, not just players, but young men and women… He believed in them, and that belief helped them believe in themselves,” Father Mudd said.
‘A standout player and person’
In an interview before the Funeral Mass, John Butler – the former president of Archbishop Carroll High School who now works as the vice president for development and mission advancement for Trinity Missions – said Leftwich’s return to coaching basketball and teaching at Carroll showed that “he cared. He loved the sport, and he loved young people, and he wanted to do his part to help them grow and develop and excel, not just excel in sports, but in life.”
That point was echoed in interviews before the Mass by Milton Turner and Christopher Redding, who graduated from Archbishop Carroll in 1970 after playing for the first basketball teams that George Leftwich coached there after returning to his alma mater. They noted that Leftwich was a mentor to his players and kept in touch with them.
“He was a teacher, not just about basketball, but life, and how to succeed,” said Redding, a center and forward for the Carroll Lions who went on to play basketball at Duke University and became a lawyer.
Turner, a guard for the Carroll Lions team who joined the Marines and later worked for Giant Food, said Leftwich encouraged his players to make a positive impact with their lives. “He never forgot where he came from. He wanted to give back,” said Turner.
George Leftwich Sr., a native of Washington, D.C., was predeceased by his wife of 56 years, Mary Natalie Leftwich, a longtime teacher at St. Ann’s Academy in Washington who died in April 2024 at the age of 80. They are survived by their son George Leftwich Jr.; by their son Brian Leftwich and his wife Kara; and by their grandchildren Samantha and Eli Leftwich. George Leftwich is also survived by his brother, Willie Leftwich.
Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy Campbell Jr., a 1965 graduate of Archbishop Carroll, was the main celebrant at George Leftwich’s Mass of Christian Burial, and the concelebrants included Msgr. Raymond East, the pastor of St. Teresa of Avila Parish in Washington; and Father Mudd, director emeritus of advancement at Carroll.
In his homily, Father Mudd said Leftwich “was a faithful husband, a good father, a beloved teammate and coach, a mentor and a man of quiet faith… George had a way of making his life a gift for all of us.”
The priest said that when Leftwich arrived at Archbishop Carroll as a sophomore in 1957 he was “already a standout basketball player and a standout person. He carried himself with dignity, confidence and grace that defined his game and defined his life.”
George Leftwich became Catholic as a Carroll student after being inspired by his teammate and friend Edward “Monk” Malloy, who went to Mass every day and later became a Holy Cross priest and served as the president of the University of Notre Dame from 1987 to 2005.
“He (Leftwich) didn’t wear his faith on his sleeve. It was in his heart,” said Father Mudd, who added “George’s faith shaped his life.”
An integrated school and team
In addition to George Leftwich, John Thompson, Tom Hoover and Edward Malloy, key players on the Archbishop Carroll Lions teams that won 55 straight games included Walt Skinner, John Austin, Kenny Price and Doug and Bill Barnes.
“Nobody was the star. We all played together because we loved the game. We more or less depended on each other. George was our leader,” said Tom Hoover.
Leftwich was a skilled ball handler and scorer. “He had a high dribble. You couldn’t steal the ball from him,” said Bill Barnes, who went on to play basketball for the University of Detroit and worked as a longtime math teacher at Archbishop Carroll and then at Gonzaga College High School.
Barnes added that Leftwich “made the shots you needed to make,” like a buzzer-beater from the top of the key in the closing seconds of the Knights of Columbus Tournament championship game in 1960 against St. Catherine’s High School of Racine, Wisconsin.
Father Mudd noted how John Thompson once said that George Leftwich taught him “how to think the game, not only play the game.”
Archbishop Carroll had been founded as an integrated Catholic high school in Washington in 1951, and Hoover said Carroll’s basketball team sometimes heard racial slurs at high school and college gyms where they played. “It was us against the world… We still went out and played, and played hard,” he said.
The African American and white players on those Archbishop Carroll teams played basketball together, learned together in the classroom, and became lifelong friends.
In his autobiography “Monk’s Tale: The Pilgrimage Begins, 1941-1975” published by the University of Notre Dame Press, Father Malloy wrote about that era, noting, “The desire of the Washington Post and Washington Star to celebrate examples of integrated cooperation and friendship provided a unique chance for the Carroll team to represent the hopes and dreams of a city at a time of major social transformation.”
At his 2013 retirement celebration as Archbishop Carroll’s athletic director, Leftwich said, “I was accepted at Carroll. I learned to judge people by what they do to you – how they treat you.”
‘He was humble and faithful’
In his homily, Father Mudd – who formerly served as the longtime development director at Archbishop Carroll – said that when Leftwich returned to the school as the athletic director, they enjoyed sharing stories, and the basketball player he had admired from the stands as a student became his close friend.
“I think of all the lessons George taught me, the greatest was his own quiet love for God, his love for his family and his genuine care for each person in his life,” the priest said.
He noted how Leftwich coached his sons, who both went on to play basketball at Princeton University. “He was proud of his sons’ athletic ability, but even more proud of their academic accomplishments,” Father Mudd said.
When he asked Leftwich what he would like to do in his retirement, his friend said, “I’d like to be the man who lights the candles on the altar before Mass on Sundays.”
That, Father Mudd said, “was George… He was humble, and he was faithful.”
At the Funeral Mass, a prayer was offered for all the students that George Leftwich taught, mentored and coached, that his wisdom, integrity and joyful spirit will continue to shape their lives.
After Communion at the Mass, his family members offered tributes to him. George Leftwich Jr. noted that his father was his first coach, and taught him to follow his heart. He appreciated his father’s response when he asked him once why he had become Catholic: “It works for me… and made my life better.”
George Leftwich Jr. said that beyond all of his father’s accomplishments, one of the things that he was most proud of about his dad was that he was a man “who was kind.”
Brian Leftwich noted how their parents came to live in New Jersey in recent years and got to spend time with their family there, including their two grandchildren. “For the last four and one-half years, he (my father) became my dearest friend,” Brian Leftwich said.
During those family remembrances, Eli Leftwich said, “My grandfather was an amazing man… I play basketball, and my grandfather was the person who inspired me to play basketball.” Before games, his teammates would ask, “Eli, is your grandfather coming?”
“Nine out of 10 times, he would,” Eli Leftwich said.
In the interview before George Leftwich’s Funeral Mass, Tom Hoover said his teammate and friend “was a beautiful individual, inside and out.”
Reflecting on how Leftwich returned to coach basketball, teach and later serve as the athletic director at their alma mater, Hoover said, “He felt at home at John Carroll. It was easy for him to go back there. He felt Carroll was the place for him.”
Hoover added, “He always had this thing about helping kids. He’s a teacher. His calling was, he wanted to go back and help kids. He gave back to John Carroll, because that’s where he got his start.”
At Archbishop Carroll High School, George Leftwich made his mark as a star basketball player, and he later shaped the lives of generations of students as a coach, teacher and athletic director, and now his name graces the gymnasium there.
At his 2013 retirement celebration at his alma mater, Leftwich said Archbishop Carroll “made me what I am. My life is now a success.”
His Funeral Mass concluded with the hymn, “Amazing Grace,” and George Leftwich’s interment followed at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring, Maryland.
(This article includes reporting by Lynnea Pruzinsky Mumola and William Murray.)
