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| 08-26-2002 | Previous edition: 08-23-2002 |
        
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Printer-friendly version Admirers tell stories about Gene Keady
Sports Editor It was a reunion like any other family and as in most families there was time spent picking on the ones closest to each other. On Saturday night, the Purdue basketball family took their best shots at the father figure that is head coach Gene Keady. More than 800 gathered at the Cumberland Place Exhibition Center for the Gene Keady Roast, the closing event for the 2002 Purdue Basketball Family Reunion. The roast featured players and former coaches spanning all decades of Keady's career. These individuals who knew him best had an opportunity they never had as players or coaches — to make fun of Keady and get away with it. The lineup to fulfill this opportunity included former players Carson Cunningham, Troy Lewis, Todd Mitchell, Everette Stephens and Brian Cardinal. Also featured were athletic director Morgan Burke and Purdue president Martin Jischke. Jischke reminded the audience of Keady's 20 postseason tournament appearances, of his teams' average of 21.3 victories a season and of his athleticism in college. "Gene excelled at track, football and baseball while attending Kansas State University," Jischke said. "Just imagine what he could have accomplished if he had learned how to play basketball." Cunningham shared several stories, from times in the locker room to meetings he had in Keady's office. Imitating Keady's voice, Cunningham told of one incident with the coach. "Carson, I love that you read books, are interested in history and grow (plants)," Cunningham remembered Keady saying. "But I hate the way you play basketball." Former coaches also got in the act, including head coach at Southern Illinois, Bruce Weber, a Purdue assistant from 1981-1998 and Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings, a former player and assistant. Stallings said many of the speakers were still scared of Keady and were reluctant to say certain things. But Stallings said he was not scared anymore and proceeded with his jokes. But Stallings, like the rest of the roasters, expressed how much Keady has meant to their lives, careers and the university. "He is Purdue University and he always will be," said Stallings. "When people think of Purdue, their thought is not astronauts or quarterbacks; people think Gene Keady." For Cardinal, who plays for the Detroit Pistons, the return to West Lafayette was to show support to an important man in his life. "Every day I wake up I know he has affected my life in a positive way," said Cardinal. "It is just wonderful to come back and see Coach and see him put on such a high pedestal because that is where he belongs." Printer-friendly version |
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