The man who took Eastern Kentucky University’s football program to the top level and made a significant impact on young men in college and well beyond their playing days has died. Roy Kidd was head coach at EKU from 1964 to 2002 and amassed 314 wins including two national championships in 1979 and 1982. Karl Park was sports information director at Eastern for 34 years and is still active in Colonel athletics.
“A lot of people go into the coaching profession and everybody wants to win but Roy Kidd knew how to win. He was excellent in the last part of games,” said Park.
While the word “legend” may be overused in some cases, Park says that word does describe Coach Kidd’s tenure heading up the EKU football program. The 91-year-old Corbin native passed away early Tuesday morning in Richmond.
Park said when traveling for EKU contests, many in sports outside football, the name Kidd would come up in conversation and that reflected back favorably on the Richmond University.
“We would go on road trips with basketball and football. They would come up to us and say Eastern Kentucky…Roy Kidd. We said yeah he’s an excellent coach and we’ve got him. Coach Kidd made us kind of a nationwide name,” said Park.
Park said players from years ago would return to thank Kidd for his guidance. He said that meant a lot to the Corbin native, who was a star athlete in high school and at his EKU alma mater. Visitation and the funeral are planned for the EKU Center for the Arts with the schedule to be determined.
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