Eastern Kentucky Football legend Roy Kidd passes away at 91

Legendary head coach Roy Kidd, a football icon in Kentucky and College Football Hall of Fame member, has died at the age of 91.

Inarguably the face of Eastern Kentucky University Football, Kidd played quarterback for the Colonels from 1950-53 before taking over as head coach from 1964 to 2002. In Richmond, the Corbin native racked up 314 career victories, good for second-most in NCAA Division I-AA/FCS history. He helped lead the Colonels to Division I-AA Football Championships in 1979 and 1982 while also finishing as runners-up in 1980 and 1981.

Kidd was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2003.

“EKU Football mourns the loss of iconic head coach Roy Kidd,” EKU Football announced Tuesday morning. “It would be impossible to express everything Coach Kidd has meant to Eastern Kentucky University. He embodied the passion, purpose, and pride that our program strives for every day. Thank you, Coach Kidd!”

The Colonels won 16 OVC titles under Kidd, with the legendary figure earning OVC Coach of the Year honors ten times.

At the time of his retirement, Kidd was the sixth all-time winningest coach in NCAA history and finished with the most wins for a head coach at the DI FCS Level with 223. He recorded 37 non-losing seasons, including a streak of 25 consecutive years with a winning record.

“It is a sad day at EKU, as we learned of the passing of Coach Roy Kidd,” EKU President David McFaddin said. “He leaves behind an indelible mark at his alma mater, in the EKU community and in the lives of so many. Coach Kidd truly represents what it means to be an EKU Colonel, and we mourn his loss alongside his wife and family.”

“There aren’t enough words to express everything that Coach Kidd meant to Eastern Kentucky University and the EKU football program,” head coach Walt Wells added. “Coach Kidd was not only one of the most accomplished coaches in college football history, he was also an amazing ambassador for EKU, Madison County, and the state of Kentucky. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to work with Coach Kidd and see how he approached his work every day. He was and will continue to be a huge influence on me, not just as a coach, but also as a father and a husband. Coach, I’ll miss you and I love you!”

Over the course of his historic career, Kidd coached 55 All-Americans, 202 First Team All-OVC selections and 41 NFL players. The Colonels ultimately named their stadium Roy Kidd Stadium in his honor, along with the street leading to the stadium being named Roy and Sue Kidd Way in honor of Kidd and his wife. A statue of Kidd also sits outside the stadium.

The football legend was moved to hospice care last week, “taking all comfort measures” after a stay at University of Kentucky Medical Center.

EKU honored the icon with a special helmet decal in the team’s matchup vs. Kentucky this past weekend, adding that his “impact on college football and the Commonwealth of Kentucky is Immeasurable.”

Services for the football icon will be held at the EKU Center for the Arts with Bill Fort officiating. A private burial will follow in the Richmond Cemetery. Dates and times of the services will be announced.

Roy Kidd recruits Freddie Maggard to EKU

Prior to Kentucky’s 28-17 win over Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, Freddie Maggard shared the story of Kidd recruiting him to Richmond when he was a star at Cumberland High School in the late 1980s. He was being pursued by high-profile programs such as Kentucky, Ole Miss, Stanford and Tennessee, but included the Colonels on his list because of his respect for the legendary head coach.

“Roy Kidd and his greatness and their football team and everything that they meant, especially for the eastern part of the state — he made not going to EKU a difficult decision; it was not. He really did to a lot of us,” Maggard said on the KSR Pregame Show. “He was just so sincere, so genuine and so honest when he recruited me that it was hard for me to tell him, ‘I’m going to Kentucky.’ And when I finally built up the courage to tell Coach Kidd that I was going to Kentucky, he congratulated me, he wished me the best of luck and every time I’ve seen him, we’ve talked and he’s just been a super, super guy.”

His impact extended beyond EKU, as well. Kidd was instrumental in the growth of football around the state as a whole.

“It’s not just EKU. This man, Roy Kidd, influenced football in the state of Kentucky by doing so much for the sport,” Maggard added. “[Implementing] spring practice, keeping the WKU program alive, everything behind the scenes. He is just a special, special man in this state and one of the top football dudes to ever, ever live in the state of Kentucky.”