St. John's University Athletics
Keady To Be Honored By Hometown Of Larned, Kan., With Street Naming
5/20/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
May 20, 2013
QUEENS, N.Y. - A six-time National Coach of the Year, a Purdue and Big Ten luminary, and the Special Assistant/Advisor for St. John's men's basketball since 2010, legendary mentor Gene Keady will be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame this November. Before that, however, Keady will receive another special honor that hits a little closer to home.
Keady, born in Larned, Kan., in 1936, will leave his current home in the bustling metropolis of New York City and visit his hometown - with a population of 4,100 - for the fourth time in 30 years on June 8. As part of its annual Santa Fe Trail Days celebration, which features an all-class Larned High School reunion, concerts, a parade and other family activities, Larned will honor Keady in a ceremony officially naming Third Street, where Keady was raised by his parents, Mary Helen and Lloyd Gibson Keady, >Gene Keady Way."
"This is something totally unexpected, but it's really appreciated. I love my hometown and it is terrific to be honored in this way by the Larned community. Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to have been surrounded by a supportive family and so many individuals that I would like to share this honor with," said Keady, who will be joined by family, including sister, Norma Lee Raffety, now of Fair Oaks, Calif., and friends in the central Kansas town for the parade and ceremony.
"It is a great privilege to be able to give recognition to a `home town boy.' >Gene Keady has, over his lifetime and coaching tenure, shown the character and hard-working values on which he was raised. To be able to designate Third Street as `Gene Keady Way' will be an honor for the citizens of Larned and Pawnee County," said Robert Pivonka, Mayor of Larned.
On Sunday, Nov. 24, Keady will be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame at the Midland Theatre in Kansas City as part of a three-day celebration of college basketball. He joins joins former U.S. Congressman Tom McMillen, 1977 national consensus player of the year Marques Johnson of UCLA, Rollie Massimino of Villanova, Bob Hopkins of Grambling and contributors George Raveling of Nike and George Killian of FIBA in the Class of 2013. Additionally, the barrier-breaking 1963 Loyola University (Chicago) team will become the first team inducted.
One of the most respected coaches in the history of college basketball, Keady, who spent 27 seasons at the helm of the Purdue and Western Kentucky programs and won 550 NCAA Division I games - with more than 800 career wins at all levels - currently serves the Red Storm as Special Assistant/Advisor. Keady was the National Coach of the Year six times (1984, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 2000) during a 25-year tenure at Purdue, where he guided the Boilers to 512 victories and six Big Ten championships (1984, 1987, 1988, 1994, 1995 and 1996), including three-straight crowns from 1994-96.
In 1988, a coaching veteran gave an aspiring young colleague a chance with a position at Purdue University. In the Spring of 2010, 23 seasons later, that one-time Boilermaker graduate assistant, Steve Lavin, called upon his former boss to join him in a new endeavor at St. John's University in an advisory role.
"Clearly>Gene Keady is deserving of every honor bestowed upon him," said Lavin. "During>Gene Keady's career, no other coach in the college basketball landscape more consistently molded championship teams. In the 1980s, 1990s and into the new millennium his Purdue Boilermaker teams set the gold standard for teamwork, toughness and a relentless will to win. Equally impressive is his track record for shaping young men. It has been his lifelong commitment to honor the game of basketball by being one of its greatest ambassadors. From a personal perspective,>Gene Keady gave me my coaching start 25 years ago when he hired me as a graduate assistant at Purdue, and other than my parents he has been the most influential person in my life. Working alongside Coach Keady at both Purdue and now St. John's has been a true blessing. Honors like the street naming and his induction into the College Basketball Hall Of Fame is a perfect exclamation point on a remarkable career."
Though Keady's role at St. John's does not involve any on-court coaching, his keen eye and feel for the game aids the Red Storm coaching staff in terms of developing strategy, analyzing game film, planning practices, and contributing at staff meetings. With experience at the collegiate level and in the professional ranks as an assistant coach with the NBA's Toronto Raptors, Keady brings decades of perspective to the Red Storm bench.
Each of Keady's seven former assistants-now-turned-active-head-coaches have had incredible success, including Lavin, Kevin Stallings (Vanderbilt), Matt Painter (Purdue), Cuonzo Martin (Tennessee), Bruce Weber (Kansas State), Linc Darner (Florida Southern) and Alan Major (Charlotte). In 2012-13, Lavin went 17-16, Stallings was 16-17, Painter was 15-17, Martin went 20-13, Weber - now at Kansas State - went 27-8, Major was 21-12 and Darner went 27-6 for a combined record of 143-89 (.616). Five of Keady's seven former assistants were selected to the 2013 postseason, with Lavin, Martin and Major earning top-five seeds in the 2013 NIT Championship, Weber earning a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Division I Championship and Darner earning a No. 1 seed in the South Regional Tournament of NCAA Division II Championship.
The 2012-13 Red Storm advanced to the Second Round of the National Invitation Tournament and finished its campaign at 17-16 (8-10 BIG EAST). St. John's 83rd winning season in history and second of The Lavin Era was its fifth since 1999-2000. The Red Storm's 2011 NCAA berth and 2013 NIT appearance under Lavin mark the first time since 2002 and 2003 where St. John's reached the postseason twice in three-year span under one coach. The Red Storm's 63-61 March 19 NIT Opening Round win over Saint Joseph's was the first non-vacated postseason victory since the 2001 NCAA Tournament.
