KU’s Marian Washington, K-State’s Gene Keady are finalists for Naismith Hall of Fame

Former Kansas women’s basketball coach Marian Washington, who was enshrined in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004, is one of 12 individuals named a finalist for induction in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Hall announced on Friday in conjunction with NBA All-Star weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Gene Keady, a native Kansan who was a letter-winner in three sports at Kansas State and went on to coach 25 seasons at Purdue, also is a finalist, as is longtime San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who served as a volunteer assistant on Larry Brown’s KU men’s basketball coaching staff during the 1986-87 season while on sabbatical from Pomona-Pitzer.

Washington, Keady and Popovich as well as nine others (Jennifer Azzi, Gene Bess, Gary Blair, Pau Gasol, Becky Hammon, David Hixon, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Dwyane Wade), will have their names placed before a 24-member honors committee. A finalist must receive a minimum of 18 votes from the committee to earn entrance into the Naismith Hall.

The inductees for the August ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts, will be announced on April 1 at the Final Four in Houston. Enshrinement weekend will be Aug. 11-12 at the Hall in Springfield.

Washington has achieved much

Washington — she went 560-363 in 31 years (1973-2004) coaching the KU’s women’s team — is the winningest women’s hoop coach in KU program history.

Following her first season in 1974, Washington started KU’s women’s track-and-field program and served as head coach during its first year. She was also the first athletic director for women’s sports at KU (1974-79).

Washington guided the Jayhawks to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances. Her teams reached the Sweet 16 twice. She also led KU to two WNIT appearances and three AIAW Sectional finishes while claiming seven league championships and six conference tournament titles.

Washington was honored as a conference coach of the year three times (1992, ‘96, ‘97).

Washington received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Black Coaches Association (BCA) in 2003. She was named the BCA Coach of the Year in 1992 and ‘96. Washington was the first female to serve as president of the BCA as well as the first individual to serve consecutive terms as president of the BCA.

A standout player at West Chester State University, Washington played on the first women’s national championship team. Her undefeated West Chester State squad won the National Women’s Invitational Tournament in 1969.

Washington, who was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, became one of the first two African American women to compete in basketball internationally at the 1971 World Championships. She was the first Black woman to coach a United States team in international competition in the 1982 R. William Jones Cup.

She also served as an assistant coach for Team USA’s gold medal-winning squad in the 1996 Olympics. She was the first Black woman to coach on a U.S. Olympic women’s basketball staff.

In January 2020, Kansas Athletics announced the creation of the Marian E. Washington Trailblazer Series, which according to KU, “recognizes achievements and accomplishments of African Americans who have helped shape the Jayhawk program. Each February, in conjunction with Black History Month, the endeavor chronicles several prominent African Americans and their impact on Kansas Athletics.”

Washington told WIBW.com several years ago: “I don’t think that I’ve been someone that patted myself on the back a lot. I certainly took a lot of pride in the accomplishments that myself and others that were there (at KU) to help support me and work with me, but I just never had time to just think about any one milestone. And now that I’m older, much older, I really am comfortable with looking back and I can appreciate at least my effort, the vision that I had for this program here at the University of Kansas.”

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Lynette Woodard, who played for Washington at KU, told SI.com during her senior year of college: “I have no other role models other than coach Washington. She has made me believe that I can accomplish anything if I work. I’ll even graduate early, when many of my friends didn’t even think of going to college, because she made me feel it was worth it.”

Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self spoke about Washington in 2020.

“She’s impacted this sport in ways I’m sure are bigger than what she’ll ever imagine,” Self said.

Keady played at K-State, coached at Purdue

Gene Keady — who graduated from Larned (Kansas) High School and went on to become a four-sport athlete at Garden City Junior College and a letter-winner in football, baseball and track at Kansas State, where he graduated in 1958 — is perhaps best known for his 25 years (1980-2005) as head men’s basketball coach at Purdue University.

Keady’s record at Purdue was 512-270. His teams won six Big Ten Conference titles with 18 NCAA Tournament appearances.

Keady was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year seven times (tied with Bob Knight for most coach-of-year honors in conference history) and the national coach of the year five times.

At Kansas State, Keady was a letter-winner in football, baseball, and track. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL in 1958, but his pro career ended early because of a knee injury.

Keady coached basketball at Beloit High School for six seasons. He was named the head coach at Hutchinson Junior College in 1966 and led the team to six league titles and a second-place finish in the 1973 NJCAA Tournament.

After serving as an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas under Hall of Famer Eddie Sutton, Keady spent two years at Western Kentucky University before moving to Purdue. In 2004, Keady was awarded the 36th Naismith Outstanding Contribution to Basketball Award for his “tremendous sportsmanship in basketball and a lifelong dedication to the sport.”

In 2006, he won the John R. Wooden “Legends of Coaching” award. Keady is a member of the Indiana Sports Hall of Fame and NJCAA Hall of Fame.

Keady was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2013.

““Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to have been surrounded by great student-athletes, outstanding coaches, a supportive family and so many individuals that I would like to thank and share this award with,” Keady said at the time of induction. “I accept this honor with appreciation to the NABC and with congratulations to my fellow inductees.”

Current Purdue coach Matt Painter, who played for Keady from 1989-93, said in 2013: “Aside from being one of the greatest ever to coach the game, coach Keady has been a mentor to so many men who played for him at Purdue. His accomplishments speak for themselves and his name remains synonymous with Purdue basketball. I’m thrilled to see him receive this well-deserved honor.”

Of the group of finalists, Jerry Colangelo, chair of the Naismith Hall told ESPN:: “I love the class. I think this is a loaded class. ... I think this is unique in that we have a lot of first time people, and it’s unusual when somebody makes it on the first ballot. But this is going to be that unique of class. Because there could be four or five first timers. So, I’m very excited about it.”