EKU will Honor Roy Kidd during Saturday's game at Kentucky

Roy Kidd created a I-AA dynasty at Eastern Kentucky. The program has saluted the iconic coach in a variety of ways. The stadium bears his namesake, as does the street that leads to it where a statue of the coach sits outside. They will continue to honor their ailing former head coach when EKU travels to Kroger Field this Saturday to take on the Kentucky Wildcats.

Earlier this week the 91-year-old entered hospice care. Today the Colonels will wear special decals on their helmets to honor Roy Kidd.

A quarterback for the Colonels in the 50s, Roy Kidd returned to his alma mater in 1964 and remained the head coach until 2002. Over the next 39 seasons the Corbin native guided EKU to a 314-124-8 record. The Colonels won 16 OVC titles and I-AA titles in 1979 and 1982. A 10-time OVC Coach of the Year, Roy Kidd was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame a year after he retired in 2003.

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When Roy Kidd Recruited Freddie Maggard to EKU

On today’s KSR Pregame Show, Freddie Maggard reflected on what it was like to be recruited by Kidd when he was a star at Cumberland High School in the late 1980s. Freddie was being pursued by several big programs, including Kentucky, Ole Miss, Stanford, and Tennessee, but also had EKU on his list because of his respect for Kidd and the program.

“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.

“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.”

Earlier in the show, EKU coach Walt Wells called in to discuss the game and Kidd’s legacy, pointing out not just how much he meant to the EKU program, but football across the state as a whole. Freddie echoed that sentiment.

“It’s not just EKU. This man, Roy Kidd, influenced football in the state of Kentucky by doing so much for the sport. [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.”