Eastern Kentucky University Photo
When Eastern Kentucky plays at Kentucky Saturday afternoon there should be a moment of silence or some kind of tribute to former EKU football coach Roy Kidd.
His family announced this week that the 91-year-old Kidd was being moved into hospice care.
Kidd is a legendary coaching figure not only in Kentucky but nationally. He was head coach at Eastern Kentucky from 1964-2002 and had a record of 314-124-8 and his teams won NCAA Division I-AA Football Championships in 1979 and 1982 and were runners-up in 1980 and 1981. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.
Kidd was a three-sport star at Corbin High School who turned down a chance to play football for coach Paul “Bear” Bryant at Kentucky to play both football and baseball at EKU instead. He set numerous records at quarterback for Eastern and was an all-American choice in 1953. He also hit over .300 for four straight years on the baseball team.
“The things he has done for this state are so great. At one point there were more EKU fans than UK fans in football,” current Eastern Kentucky head coach Walt Wells, who was on Kidd’s staff from 1997-2002, said on WPBK-FM Thursday. “He has meant everything to my career.”
Wells worked for Cumberland University coach Herschel Moore, a member of the Tennessee High School Hall of Fame, and then joined Kidd’s staff.
“It was a unique situation that got me to Eastern,” Wells said. “I was hired as tight ends coach and also the dorm ‘daddy’ for a year. Then my wife became the dorm ‘momma’ the next year. Coach Kidd got me kick started in this profession and then promoted me to offensive line coach.”
Wells said he was too young to realize what a “great education” he was getting from Kidd and his veteran staff.
“Even at age 55 now I am still drawing things from those experiences starting out there,” Wells said. “Coach Kidd was such a great person and his wife, Sue, taught my wife, who knew nothing about football and really still doesn’t, about being a football coach’s wife.
“He had an unbelievable career for 39 years and 314 wins. He created a charmed life for himself and he meant so much to me. Before I came to Eastern my father passed away and Coach (Kidd) guided me through that. When he retired and I was not retained, he got my job at Western Kentucky with Jack Harbaugh which ended up being a 10-year run (2003-2012).
What was ironic about that move is that Wells knew that Kidd had a “hatred for Western Kentucky that nobody can match” even though he respected the Hilltoppers.
“For him to call Jack and get him involved with me is just not something I would have ever expected,” Wells said. “At his retirement dinner, he had Jack Harbaugh and his wife at the head table. Three hours before the event, he switched the seating arrangement and me and my wife ended up right beside Jack and his wife to help me get the job.
“That’s just the kind of man that Roy Kidd is and why so many people not only respect him but love him so much. I know I would not be where I am today or the person I am today without Roy Kidd.”
