John Feinstein, Duke grad and best-selling author who chronicled ACC glory days, dies
John Feinstein, a Duke graduate who became a celebrated author and one of the essential chroniclers of ACC and college basketball history, died Thursday at 69, his brother confirmed to the Washington Post, his longtime employer.
Best known for his chronicle of a season spent with Bobby Knight, the groundbreaking “Season on the Brink,” Feinstein’s first and lasting love was ACC basketball, and Duke basketball in particular. His final published work was “Five Banners,” the story of Duke’s five NCAA titles, with photos from late News & Observer photographer Chuck Liddy’s collection.
And Feinstein was present at one of the most important moments in the history of Duke basketball, with Mike Krzyzewski in a Denny’s in Atlanta after Duke’s 109-66 loss to Virginia in the 1983 ACC tournament, with Krzyzewski’s future hanging in the balance.
“Here’s to forgetting this,” then-Duke SID Tom Mickle said.
“Here’s to never (expletive) forgetting this,” Krzyzewski said.
Dynasties were built on less.
“John Feinstein was one of the most influential sports writers of our time,” Krzyzewski said in a statement Thursday. “He wrote with confidence, drawing readers into his stories with prose that few could match. As so many of us knew, he was never shy about sharing an opinion or a remarkable story. A proud Duke graduate, John will be missed tremendously.
“He was truly one-of-a-kind in the sports industry, and we were fortunate to enjoy his immense talent for as long as we did. Beyond our longstanding professional relationship, he and I became great friends over the course of several decades. Our family is deeply saddened by his sudden passing.”
In “The Legends Club,” Feinstein wrote with an insider’s viewpoint about the rise of Krzyzewski, Dean Smith at North Carolina and Jim Valvano at N.C. State, and his writings on golf — about the majors, about the U.S. Open, about Q-School — are essentials of the sport. Of all his works, none might have been more meaningful to him than “A Civil War,” his history of the Army-Navy football game, a true labor of love.
Feinstein was a fixture on television, radio and best-seller lists, but he was best known for college basketball, one of the sport’s essential voices writing in the Post, a past president of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and a member of the USBWA Hall of Fame among many others.
In 2023, Feinstein presented Krzyzewski with the USBWA’s Dean Smith Award at the Emily K Center annual banquet — an award Feinstein helped create and one that came full circle when it was awarded to Smith’s longtime nemesis-become-friend.
Last spring, he was in Pittsburgh for the first round of the NCAA tournament, and he made inquiries to see if Oakland coach Greg Kampe could possibly come to the media room to talk to him. Kampe turned the corner and said, “You didn’t tell me it was John Feinstein!” and sat with him for 20 minutes.
Feinstein’s column ran in the Post the next morning. That night, Oakland upset Kentucky.
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This story was originally published March 13, 2025 at 4:38 PM with the headline "John Feinstein, Duke grad and best-selling author who chronicled ACC glory days, dies."
