Ahead of the final regular season game of the 1963-64 season, rising sophomore guard Bill Melchionni was informed by Villanova head coach Jack Kraft that he would move into the starting lineup. While the news was an exciting step for a blossoming star, it was also something of a shock given the Wildcats were 21-3 and on track to receive an NCAA Tournament bid.
 
"I hadn't started a game all season," said Melchionni, the surprise of the move still evident in his voice on the telephone from his home in Florida.
 
The switch to the starting lineup would come at the expense of George Leftwich, who only two seasons before had been ½ of one of the nation's most electric backcourts beside Wali Jones. However, that was before a major knee injury suffered in an automobile accident cost Leftwich the 1962-63 season. The lingering affects would impact his mobility for the balance of his college career.
 
"George had started the whole year," recalled Melchionni, "and I was a little worried about what his reaction might be. George was so widely respected and had started throughout his time in college.
 
"But George came to me and was very gracious. You couldn't have asked for a better response from a teammate. To me, it was just a reflection of the kind of high character guy George was."
 
Earlier this week news spread among the Wildcats of the 1960s that Leftwich, a 1965 VU graduate, had died on June 18. The news was shared on social media by Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, D.C., which helped launch Leftwich's playing career and which he later served as head basketball coach and athletics director. (The court at Carroll now bears his name).
 
"George was just the consummate teammate," noted another fellow former Wildcat, Bernie Schaffer.

"He was always a team player," added another teammate, Jim McMonagle, a fellow starter with Leftwich on an iconic 1961-62 Nova squad.
 
In fact, Leftwich was a legend before he ever stepped foot on the Villanova campus. At Archbishop Carroll he was one of the catalysts for a unit that won 55 consecutive games from 1958-60 and is considered among the best in D.C. history. Leftwich was later inducted into the Washington Metropolitan Basketball Hall of Fame.
 
As one of the elite guards in Philadelphia at Overbrook High School, Wali Jones was acquainted with most of the top prep players along the eastern seaboard, a byproduct of summer sojourns to New York's Rucker Park and the District of Columbia's Metro League.
 
"George was one of the best guards on the East Coast," says Jones, who makes his home in the Miami area after working in community service for the NBA's Heat.
 
The symmetry the two shared became quickly apparent when Leftwich and Jones made their varsity debut as sophomores in 1961-62. Kraft had assumed the coaching reins from longtime mentor Alexander Severance and the dynamic backcourt pairing set the tone for one of the most memorable seasons in the 105-year history of Villanova Basketball. Despite relying on 6-3 Hubie White at center – an anomaly even then – the Wildcats rode to an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight apearance (21-7).
 
"As a high schooler, I loved to go watch that Villanova team play at the Palestra," said Pete Coleman, who later became a teammate and remained close with Leftwich. "Wali and George just electrified those crowds."
 
Added Melchionni, "My father wanted me to go to Saint Joseph's to play for Jack Ramsay. But when I watched that Villanova team and the way George and Wali worked together, I told him that's the way I wanted to play."
 
Jones credits Kraft for offering his guards freedom that wasn't always conferred on players in that era.
 
"He allowed us to be creative," stated Jones. "We were both students of the game and Coach Kraft gave us the freedom to create plays. He understood the value of letting us be ourselves."
 
Jones and Leftwich in that season were harbingers of the modern age, relying on a combination of skill, savvy and speed that gave them an edge against some of the taller – and slower – units of the time.
 
There was even a nickname that adorned their practice shorts but never went beyond the walls of the locker room in the Field House.
 
"George was Honey Bear," Jones said, "and I was Sugar Bear. We were like twins."
 
Their personalities clicked too.
 
"Wali is outgoing," said Schaffer, "and George was quiet and unassuming."

"George and Wali really complemented one another," noted McMonagle.
 
As a freshman practicing against the varsity each day in 1961-62, Jim Washington received an early education from the duo.
 
"I was in awe of all of those guys – Wali, George, Hubie," said the 6-9 Washington, who had only been signed to attend Villanova in August 1961 by his former coach at West Catholic High School Jack Devine after another signee elected not to enroll. "Guards that talented made life much easier. They were so mature."
 
Leftwich, 6-0, averaged 13.2 points per game that season. In an image shared by Jones, their defensive tenacity was celebrated internally by the phrase "Kraft's Kommandos". A preseason pick to finish last in the Big Five, the Wildcats roared out to a No. 6 national ranking with a 12-0 start. They later claimed the program's first City Series title, avenged a defeat at West Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and then knocked off an NYU team led by Happy Hairston to advance to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.
 
Alas, the basketball fortunes of these Villanova guards soon took decidedly different turns. Jones became an All-American as a senior in 1963-64 and later went on to a 10-year career in the National Basketball Association that included a world championship with the 76ers in 1966-67 (with Melchionni as a teammate). His Villanova jersey was retired in 1996.
 
Leftwich endured the knee injury that dramatically impacted his hoops future. He returned to play effectively for two more seasons at Villanova (1963-64 and 1964-65), starring in the '65 NIT final against St. John's with Melchionni, the team's scoring leader, felled by illness. The Wildcats were 47-9 over Leftwich's final two seasons (.839), though he often toiled in the shadow of Melchionni and Washington.
 
"Unfortunately," Washington stated, "George was never the same after the injury. You think about the technology and surgical options available today and just think what could have been possible if those had been available to George."
 
"I'm sure George subjugated himself so that my game was more prominent," added Melchionni. "That was all about the first-class guy he was."
 
Leftwich was selected by the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Draft but decided to forego pro basketball. Instead, he embarked upon a career in education that lasted nearly five decades, culminating with his retirement as Athletic Director at Archbishop Carroll in 2013. Along the way there were long stints as head Boys' basketball coach at both Carroll and Sidwell Friends School (the alma mater of Josh Hart, Saddiq Bey and incoming Villanova freshman Acaden Lewis).
 
The mentorship tools that were so evident in his professional life were visible in those early days in college.
 
One day near the end of his time at Villanova, Leftwich pulled Melchionni aside.
 
"I'll never forget it," Melchionni noted. "He told me that if I kept working hard, I had a chance to get to the next level. He was the first person to tell me that, and I wasn't sure what to make of it. I was this skinny kid. But he told me that if I put in the work and got stronger, I could do it."
 
Melchionni was part of that Sixers' title team as a rookie in 1966-67 and then went on to a decorated career with the New York Nets, winning a pair of American Basketball Association championships. His jersey number was retired by both the Nets and Villanova.
 
As a freshman from Upper Darby, Leftwich took Coleman under his wing.
 
"I've never forgotten how he welcomed me to Villanova and how much he taught me," Coleman said. "I was a shooter in high school, didn't handle the ball much, and he spent time with me, teaching me the nuances of being a guard at this level. George was just a wonderful person."
 
As he embarked upon a lengthy NBA career with the Atlanta Hawks and settled in Georgia, Washington had fewer opportunities to connect with former teammates. But when Washington returned to Philadelphia in 2019 for his Villanova jersey retirement, he reconnected with many old friends. One of them was Leftwich. They renewed their friendship, talking occasionally on the phone.
 
"It was bittersweet," said Washington. "While it was great to have those conversations again, you tend to remember people as they were. You don't always appreciate the health issues they may be dealing with."
 
Leftwich's legacy – especially in his home district – remains strong.
 
"You'll see it at his funeral," predicted Coleman of a service scheduled for July 3 in Silver Spring, Md. "He impacted so many lives as a leader."
 
Melchionni first got a glimpse of that impact in the summer of 1964. VU alumnus George Raveling – also a D.C. native – brought Melchionni along for a weekend of hoops at the Chevy Chase Playground.
 
"That's when I realized the aura of George Leftwich in that area," Melchionni recalled.
 
Notables such as Naismith Hall of Famer Dave Bing and John Thompson Jr. – a Leftwich high school teammate - played. Boston Celtics coach and general manager Red Auerbach observed some of the action. Yet when Leftwich took the court "you just saw the esteem in which he was held as a great player."
 
"George was a great ballplayer who took his leadership to another level as a coach and mentor," said Jones. "That's very special."
 
The phrase "humble and hungry" didn't become ingrained in the Villanova lexicon until the 2000s, long after Leftwich's playing career had concluded. But in many ways his approach to adversity embodied the "attitude" message that has defined the Wildcats' success in the 21^st century.
 
"George never let that injury change who he was," Melchionni said.
 
George Leftwich Funeral Arrangements
July 2, 2025: 2-4 p.m. viewing, Collins Funeral Home, Silver Spring, Md.
July 3, 2025: 10-11 a.m. viewing, 11 a.m. funeral service, St. John the Baptist Church, Silver Spring, Md.