Jump to content

Drederick Irving

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Drederick Irving
Personal information
Born (1966-01-11) January 11, 1966 (age 58)[1]
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Career information
High schoolAdlai E. Stevenson High School (The Bronx, New York)
CollegeBoston University (1984–1988)
PositionGuard

Drederick Irving (born January 11, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball at Boston University from 1984 to 1988. He is the father of National Basketball Association (NBA) player Kyrie Irving.

Basketball career

[edit]

High school

[edit]

Irving was raised in public housing in the Bronx.[2] He practiced gymnastics before switching to basketball at age ten.[3] He played on the varsity basketball team at Adlai E. Stevenson High School. He spent his junior year as a reserve player and committed to Boston University in the fall of his senior year.[3] In his senior season, as a starter, he set a single-season record with 521 points and was all-city and all-division.[3]

College

[edit]

In his sophomore and junior years, Irving led the Boston University Terriers with 18 and 18.7 points per game respectively.[3] In his senior year, while second in the Eastern College Athletic Conference with 20.3 points per game, he became BU's all-time leading scorer on February 5, 1988.[4] The Terriers won the North Atlantic Conference tournament to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, where they lost to No. 2 Duke in the opening round.[5][6]

BU retired his No. 11 jersey in 1988 and inducted him into the BU Athletic Hall of Fame.[7] His 1,931 career points now rank third in program history.[5][7]

Professional

[edit]

In 1992, Irving moved to Australia to play for the Bulleen Boomers of the South East Australian Basketball League,[5][8] where he averaged 30 points per game.[9] He also unsuccessfully tried out for the Boston Celtics of the NBA and played in the Pro-Am League in New York.[5]

Personal life

[edit]

Irving met his first wife, Elizabeth Larson, while in college. They married and moved to the Seattle area, where Irving worked credit manager for a finance company.[2] Their son, Kyrie, was born in Australia while Irving was playing professional basketball.[2] Irving's childhood friend Rod Strickland, who played in the NBA, is Kyrie's godfather.[3][10] Elizabeth died when Kyrie was four years old.[2] Irving raised Kyrie and daughter Asia in New Jersey and worked as a financial broker on Wall Street.[2][5] He married Shetellia Riley, who would become Kyrie's agent, in 2004 and had another daughter, London.[11][5]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Cadigan, Barry (January 12, 1986). "BU celebrates, 80–65". The Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c d e Schmitt Boyer, Mary (June 26, 2011). "For Kyrie and Dred Irving, a long, winding road took them to a magical draft night (and the Cleveland Cavaliers)". Cleveland.com. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e MacMullan, Jackie (January 26, 1988). "Irving accomplished – and on a mission". The Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Smith, George (March 10, 1988). "Jones and Irving: Hartford must handle inside-out combo". Hartford Courant – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b c d e f MacMullan, Jackie (February 23, 2012). "A father dedicated to helping his son". ESPN. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  6. ^ Smith, George (March 13, 1988). "BU finally gets its net result, winning NAC title". Hartford Courant – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b Smyth, Sean (August 22, 2017). "Meet Kyrie Irving's dad, Drederick — a former BU basketball star". Boston.com. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  8. ^ Caruso, Skyler (May 20, 2024). "All About Kyrie Irving's Parents, Elizabeth and Drederick Irving". People. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  9. ^ "Drederick Irving". 1st Pick Hoops. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
  10. ^ Gary Washburn (August 11, 2018). "The Kyrie Irving-Rod Strickland connection". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022.
  11. ^ Terry Shropshire (May 7, 2022). "Kyrie Irving makes history after naming stepmom as his agent". Rolling Out. Archived from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
[edit]