--- title: Starting the Season on the Right Track date: 2021-10-20T05:30:00-04:00 author: University of Maryland canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/starting-the-season-on-the-right-track" section: Articles --- # Starting the Season on the Right Track *October 20, 2021* — by [Annie Krakower](/author/annie-krakower) > Midnight Mile Returns for 50th Anniversary of the Men’s Basketball Tradition *M Idnight Mile Hero 1920x1080 1 — Tonight’s Midnight Mile, when students will join the UMD men’s basketball team for four laps at Kehoe Track, will mark the 50th anniversary of the tradition started by Hall of Fame coach Lefty Driesell. While the event is now more focused on fun than speedy times, the Terp pride remains.* The University of Maryland men’s basketball team is wasting no time getting its new season running—literally. Just after midnight tonight—at 12:03 a.m., to be exact—the squad will join UMD students at Kehoe Track in the return of the Midnight Mile, a tradition started 50 years ago by famed coach Lefty Driesell. At the same time on Oct. 15, 1971, the first possible day to hold practice that season, Driesell lined up the Terps for four late-night laps to get a jump start on their training. The event eventually morphed into “Midnight Madness,” a pep rally-style festival, and was adopted by college basketball teams around the country before fading out here after 2018. That year, the Terps revived the original mile run to celebrate both their 100th season and Driesell’s induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Around 600 participants laced up alongside the team in 2018, with 800 hitting the track the following year. The run was canceled last season due to COVID-19, but it’s back just in time for the tradition’s milestone anniversary. While the event certainly looks different from its debut—when the track was lit by car headlights, and ‘70s short gym shorts ran rampant—the excitement and Terp spirit have remained decades later. See for yourself in the gallery below: *Archival and new pictures of UMD basketball players on the Midnight Mile starting line* --- *Archival and new pictures of UMD basketball players running the Midnight Mile* --- *Archival picture of Lefty Driesell next to current picture of Mark Turgeon* --- *Archival and new pictures of UMD basketball players and fans at the Midnight Mile* --- *Archival and new pictures of UMD basketball players and coaches at the Midnight Mile* **Sidebar note:** Hoping to join the Terps on the track? Gates open at Kehoe Track at Ludwig Field tonight at 11:15, with the run beginning at 12:03 a.m. The first 250 students will receive a Midnight Mile T-shirt, and all students will get a race packet and bib, pizza and drinks. Raffle drawings will take place postrace, with one winner receiving an electric scooter and the other receiving a road trip with the team to an away game. [Register](https://fanone.campaign.adobe.com/webApp/APP1453)or find [event FAQs](https://umterps.com/sports/2021/9/30/2021-midnight-mile.aspx) on [umterps.com](https://umterps.com/). **Topics:** [Athletics](https://today.umd.edu/tags/athletics) **Tags:** [Men's Basketball](https://today.umd.edu/topic/mens-basketball) **Units:** [Department of Intercollegiate Athletics](https://today.umd.edu/topic/department-intercollegiate-athletics)