Ben Carnevale, a successful men’s college basketball coach at North Carolina and Navy and later an athletic director and a national and international basketball administrator, died on March 25 at his home in Williamsburg, Va. He was 92.
His death was confirmed by his son Corky.
In Carnevale’s two seasons (1944-46) at North Carolina, his teams compiled a 52-11 record; in his second season, the Tar Heels reached the N.C.A.A. tournament final.
In 20 seasons (1946-66) at Navy, his teams were 257-160 and played in six postseason tournaments. That was especially impressive because the Naval Academy seldom accepted students taller than 6 feet 6 inches. He was elected to the Helms Hall of Fame and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
In 1965, Joe Lapchick, then the coach at St. John’s, told The New York Times:“He’s a classic clinician. It’s at clinics where you separate the men from the boys in coaching. Ben could impart knowledge to other coaches.”
Bernard Louis Carnevale was born Oct. 30, 1915 in Raritan, N.J. He played basketball four years at New York University, where he was a member of the 1935 unofficial national champions and later the team captain and an all-East selection.
After earning a business degree in 1938, he played two years with the professional Jersey Reds and coached at Cranford (N.J.) High School. He left during World War II and became a gunnery officer in the Navy. His ship was torpedoed off the African coast, and he spent five and a half days on a life raft. He was one of 27 survivors from a crew of 72.
In 1966, he stopped coaching, becoming athletic director at N.Y.U. (1966-72) and William and Mary (1972-92). After retirement, he helped organize and became commissioner of what is now the Colonial Athletic Association.
At various times, he served as the chairman of the United States Olympic Committee’s basketball committee, the chairman of the N.C.A.A.’s basketball tournament committee and the president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, the International Basketball Board and the National Invitation Tournament.
He is survived by his wife of 65 years, the former Agnes Curran; four sons, Corky and Dan of Mount Pleasant, S.C.; David of Lewis, Del., and Mark of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.; a daughter, Jeanne Hansford of Greenwich, Conn.; 10 grandchildren; four great grandchildren; a brother, Joseph of Springfield, Va., and a sister, Marguerite of Boca Raton, Fla.