St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Kennedy Honored By City Of Pittsburgh
4/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
April 28, 2009
QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's men's basketball player D.J. Kennedy will be honored today in a ceremony by the Pittsburgh Department of Parks and Recreation. The second-year "Steel City" native will officially be named an "Ammon Legend" on Tuesday afternoon, as announced by the Ammon Recreation Center Committee.
A community staple since its inception in 1940, Ammon Recreation Center is holding a grand re-opening on Tuesday, which includes the Legends Ceremony. Kennedy is being honored for his on-court successes at Ammon and beyond.
"This is a very big honor for me. Growing up in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Ammon is where I started playing basketball when I was eight or nine years old," said Kennedy. "It made me the ball player that I am today because there was so much quality competition. It was always a great atmosphere - people would come from all over the city to watch games at Ammon."
A consistent contributor on both ends of the floor, Kennedy finished second on the squad in scoring at 12.8 ppg, and was the team's second-leading rebounder at 6.6 rpg (18th in the BIG EAST). The second-year swingman reached double figures in 23 of 34 games on the season, and established new career highs in nearly all categories, including points (23), field goals (9), 3-point field goals (3), rebounds (14), assists (7) and blocked shots (2).
Kennedy averaged 12.4 ppg in BIG EAST Conference contests and 6.2 rpg in league games. A first team All-Met honoree by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA), Kennedy was named to the BIG EAST and MBWA Honor Rolls on Feb. 23 after outstanding efforts against Seton Hall (Feb. 22) and Duke (Feb. 19).
Kennedy is one of 13 letterwinners returning to the court for the Red Storm in 2009-10, which will be Norm Roberts' most experienced squad as he heads into his sixth season on the STJ bench. St. John's boasts six returnees with significant starting experience, and returns 97.2 percent of its scoring and 95.1 percent of its rebounding from a 2008-09 squad that won 16 games, including the Red Storm's first BIG EAST Tournament victory since 2003.
