New York basketball legend Lou Carnesecca has died at the age of 99, according to longtime basketball journalist Peter Vecsey.

Carnesecca, the longtime face of the St. John’s University Redmen/Red Storm men’s basketball program, was just over a month shy of his 100th birthday.

Born in New York, Carnesecca began his big-city basketball career at St. Ann’s Academy, now known as Archbishop Molloy. After a stint in the U.S. Coast Guard, he served as head coach of his alma mater St. Ann’s for eight years before moving to the St. John’s bench as an assistant under former Knicks boss Joe Lapchick in 1958, eight years after his graduation Queens-based college. In high school, Carnesecca won two Catholic High School Athletic Association championships.

Carnesecca began the first of two terms at the helm of the SJU program in 1965, compiling a 160-62 record in five seasons. Notably, the team made it to the championship round of the National Invitational Tournament in 1970, just before Carnesseca began a three-year tour with the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association. That included a trip to the ABA Finals in 1972, where they were defeated by the Indiana Pacers in six games.

Ultimately, Queens proved too tempting for Carnesecca to remain at the professional level when he returned to St. John’s in 1973.

“I had my dream of pro ball and I’m very happy with it,” Carnesecca told Sam Goldaper of the New York Times in 1973. “But when the opportunity arose to return to St. John’s, I wanted to go back.”

To date, Carnesecca ranks fifth in coaching wins in New York/New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets franchise history and is one of only five to have at least 100 wins (114).

Carnesecca’s teams dominated the early days of the Big East Conference, as St. John’s captured at least a share of the regular-season conference title in four of the first seven seasons. St. John’s also won the inaugural Big East men’s basketball tournament, played at its part-time home of Madison Square Garden, defeating future Knicks star Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas in 1983. Carnesecca repeated the feat against Syracuse in 1986, a year after leading the program to its first men’s Final Four in 1985.

Under Carnesecca’s leadership, St. John’s won at least a share of five Big East regular season titles as well as the 1989 NIT, also won at MSG. Carnesecca left the game in 1992 as one of the original Big East Conference’s key pioneers. Carnesecca remains the program’s all-time leader in wins (526) and has led the program to 18 of its 30 NCAA men’s basketball tournament appearances.

In 2004, the basketball hall on St. John’s campus was renamed Carnesecca Arena in his honor. No doubt Carnesecca will receive a tribute when the Red Storm face Kansas State on Saturday in Queens (11:30 p.m. ET, Fox).

Carnesecca is survived by his wife Mary and his daughter Enes.

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