Harold Deane Sr., who found much success as a basketball player and coach at Virginia State University, died Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. He was 84.

Out of Roanoke’s Lucy Addison High, Mr. Deane was a three-season starter at VSU (then Virginia State College) from 1956 to 1961. He also excelled as a high jumper on the track team.

Mr. Deane, who cast a towering presence at 6-foot-5, served two stints as Trojans head hoops coach from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1987 to 1994. He won CIAA Coach of the Year honors in 1972, 1974 and 1976.

In 1988, his Trojans won the CIAA tournament, the school’s first CIAA championship since 1947.

Mr. Deane’s nicknames included “Beethoven,” a tag he got as a Virginia State freshman when he sang “Roll Over Beethoven” in a student talent show.

Following his retirement as coach, he continued until 2015 as a professor in VSU’s Health and Physical Education Department.

Along with his teaching and coaching, Mr. Deane also officiated basketball, baseball and softball – working under the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) banner.

While at Virginia State, he joined Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and was a member of the Army ROTC. He also was a member of the Big Brothers Organization and later earned the rank of first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, serving in 1961 and 1962 at Fort Benning, Ga.

Less documented is an act of courage he performed as a young Virginia State coach in 1970.

His Trojans were playing an exhibition against VCU at the old Franklin Street Gym (the Rams’ original gym). It was a packed house and spectators were ringing the floor, several bodies deep. In the late going, some close calls went against the Trojans and a group of angry VSU students rushed the court, aiming to confront an official.

It might have been a disaster, if not for Mr. Deane racing onto the floor himself as a peacemaker. The students backed off out of respect for their coach. It was one of those “Oh, my gosh” moments.

Mr. Deane is survived by his wife, Thelma; daughter Benita; son Harold Jr., who starred in basketball at Matoaca High and the University of Virginia, where he earned All-ACC honors; and three grandchildren.