Fans of the Atlantic Coast Conference are mourning the loss of one of the men who helped build it, former commissioner Gene Corrigan.
Corrigan was a native of Baltimore and came to North Carolina to play lacrosse at Duke. He taught in high school for a while before taking a coaching job at Washington & Lee.
But it was sports administration where he left his biggest mark. For ten years, he was athletics director at Virginia, where legendary basketball coach Terry Holland was among his hires. He also served as athletic director of Notre Dame.
Corrigan was the ACC's commissioner from 1987 until 1996. It was a time of growth and expansion of the league, during which Florida State joined the conference. He was also NCAA president for two years.
Corrigan's legacy includes two sons with ACC sports ties — Boo Corrigan is the athletic director at North Carolina State University and Kevin Corrigan coaches lacrosse at Notre Dame.
Gene Corrigan died Saturday. He was 91.