Keady To Receive NABC Golden Anniversary Award On Sunday

Legendary former Purdue head men’s basketball coach Gene Keady will be honored for his decades of service to the college game on Sunday when the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) presents him with the Hillyard Golden Anniversary Award. The presentation will take place at Indianapolis’ Murat Centre at 6 p.m. ET as part of the AT&T NABC Guardians of the Game Awards Show.

To be eligible for the award, candidates must have made outstanding contributions to the game of college basketball for 50 years or more.

An eight-time national and seven-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, Keady guided the Boilermakers to postseason play in 22 of his 25 seasons on the sidelines, including 17 NCAA Tournament berths. His 512 wins at Purdue are the most in program history, and he led the Boilermakers to six of their league-record 22 Big Ten titles.

Keady’s record was equally impressive in international competition. He led U.S. teams to two gold medals, a silver and a bronze, while establishing an impressive 22-2 (.917) record on the world stage.

In addition to his on-court success, Keady also graduated nearly 90 percent of his players, and Boilermakers were selected Academic All-Big Ten 41 times and Academic All-America on seven occasions during his tenure.

On Dec. 12, 1997, the Mackey Arena playing floor was renamed Keady Court to honor the Boilermaker coaching legend.

Keady will also coach the Reese’s All-Stars, which features Purdue guard Chris Kramer, against the Hershey’s All-Stars in the Reese’s College All-Star Game on Final Four Friday at 4:35 p.m. ET at Lucas Oil Stadium. There is no admission charge for the event.

Tickets for the AT&T NABC Guardians of the Game Awards Show, which will also include the presentation of the Metropolitan Award to Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, are available at the Murat Centre box office, online at livenation.com and by phone at (317) 238-5151.