Drederick Irving

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Drederick Irving
Personal information
Born (1966-01-11) January 11, 1966 (age 59) [1]
The Bronx, New York
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight170 lb (77 kg)
Career information
High school Adlai E. Stevenson High School (The Bronx, New York) (1980-1984)
College Boston University (1984–1988)
Position Shooting Guard
Career highlights
  • Lou Cohen MVP Award (1988) [2]
  • 2x First-team All-ECACN (1986, 1988) [3] [4]
  • Second-team All-ECACN (1987)
  • ECACN All-Freshman Team (1985)

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.

Contents

Basketball career

High school

Irving was raised in public housing in the Bronx. [5] He practiced gymnastics before switching to basketball at age ten. [6] 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. [6] In his senior season, as a starter, he set a single-season record with 521 points and was all-city and all-division. [6]

College

In his sophomore and junior years, Irving led the Boston University Terriers with 18 and 18.7 points per game respectively. [6] In his senior year, while second in the Eastern College Athletic Conference-North with 20.3 points per game, he became BU's all-time leading scorer on February 5, 1988. [7] 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. [8] [9]

BU retired his No. 11 jersey in 1988 and inducted him into the BU Athletic Hall of Fame. [4] His 1,931 career points now rank third in program history. [8] [4]

Professional

In 1992, Irving moved to Australia to play for the Bulleen Boomers of the South East Australian Basketball League, [8] [10] where he averaged 30 points per game. [11] He also unsuccessfully tried out for the Boston Celtics of the NBA and played in the Pro-Am League in New York. [8]

Career statistics

College

YearTeamGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
1984–85 Boston University 30718.6.404-.6841.40.90.80.06.4
1985-86 Boston University 313133.9.488-.7912.82.11.20.018.0
1986-87 Boston University 303031.3.466.407.7403.22.31.2.018.8
1987-88 Boston University 31--.482.432.7563.42.81.20.219.9
Career1226828.0.469.422.7542.72.01.1.115.8

Personal life

Irving met his first wife, Elizabeth Larson, while in college. They married and moved to the Seattle area, where Irving worked as a credit manager for a finance company. [5] Their son, Kyrie, was born in Australia while Irving was playing professional basketball. [5] Irving's childhood friend Rod Strickland, who played in the NBA, is Kyrie's godfather. [6] [12] Elizabeth died when Kyrie was four years old. [5] Irving raised Kyrie and daughter Asia in New Jersey and worked as a financial broker on Wall Street. [5] [8] He married Shetellia Riley, who would become Kyrie's agent, in 2004 and had another daughter, London. [13] [8]

Irving was signed by his son to his Anta signature shoe line. This is the first time an athlete has signed their dad to a shoe deal. [14] [2]

References

  1. ↑ Cadigan, Barry (January 12, 1986). "BU celebrates, 80–65". The Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 Laskowski, Amy (June 5, 2024). "Kyrie Irving Signs His Dad—BU Alum Drederick Irving—to His Shoe Line". Bostonia. Boston University. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
  3. ↑ Boston University Athletics Staff (June 13, 2016). "Hall of Fame Profile - Drederick Irving". Go Terriers. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 Smyth, Sean (August 22, 2017). "Meet Kyrie Irving's dad, Drederick — a former BU basketball star". Boston.com . Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 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.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 MacMullan, Jackie (January 26, 1988). "Irving accomplished – and on a mission". The Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Smith, George (March 10, 1988). "Jones and Irving: Hartford must handle inside-out combo". Hartford Courant – via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 MacMullan, Jackie (February 23, 2012). "A father dedicated to helping his son". ESPN . Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  9. ↑ Smith, George (March 13, 1988). "BU finally gets its net result, winning NAC title". Hartford Courant – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Caruso, Skyler (May 20, 2024). "All About Kyrie Irving's Parents, Elizabeth and Drederick Irving". People . Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Drederick Irving". 1st Pick Hoops. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
  12. ↑ Gary Washburn (August 11, 2018). "The Kyrie Irving-Rod Strickland connection". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022.
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. ↑ Sam, Doric (June 4, 2024). "Mavs' Kyrie Irving Reportedly Signs Father, Drederick, to ANTA Signature Shoe Line". Bleacher Report. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
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