Middlesex County has connection to Duke coaching legend

Locust Hill’s Brill authored books on Blue Devil basketball

by Larry Chowning –

There is a sidebar on page 354 in the book “Signatures In Time — A Living History of Middlesex County, Va.” entitled “Middlesex’s Most Famous Sports Writers.” It speaks of the late Bill (William) Brill and his longtime connection to Duke sports and Coach K.

He attended Urbanna Elementary School and in 1948 graduated from Christchurch School, just two miles from the family home place.

He matriculated at Duke University that fall, the youngest student in his class. After graduation from Duke in 1952, Brill came home to look for work, and after six months without much luck, his father spotted an ad in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He remained with the newspaper, starting as a general assignment reporter and eventually working his way up to sports editor. In 1959, he accepted a job with the Roanoke Times, where he was sports editor for 30 years and ended with his retirement in 1991.

He authored three books on the history of Duke basketball.

The media room at Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium is named in his honor.

He was a member of Duke University’s Heritage Society for his support of Duke basketball and the James B. Duke Society for philanthropy to the university.

Brill died of cancer on April 10, 2011. Coach K visited him at Duke Medical Center in the morning of April 10.