In this 2018 photo provided by Duke University, Sam Hammond, university carillonneur, plays the Duke Chapel carillon at the university in Durham, North Carolina.
Hammond, who retired as university carillonneur in 2018 after playing the bells at Duke Chapel for five decades, died Thursday at age 73 in Durham, the university said in a news release.
When the basketball team played its archrival from the University of North Carolina, he played the Duke fight song.
The university said he played music on the bells an average of 300 times a year, estimating his performances exceeded 15,000.
In 1986, he was named university carillonneur, becoming the second person to hold that position.