Gene Keady Inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

There are few true giants in college basketball. Legends who are synonymous with their schools and programs.

Which is why for those fans in West Lafayette, the absence of Gene Keady from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame seemed like a glaring miscalculation. For Purdue as a community, there is no bigger name, no more defining coach to college basketball, than the winningest coach in Purdue history, Gene Keady.

On Saturday, Keady and his 550 career NCAA wins and 6 National Coach of the Year Awards joined the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

A wrong righted, that at times looked like it wasn't going to come. Keady had been up for nomination two other times, but hadn't reached finalist status since 2006.

Keady was back in West Lafayette to coach one half of the alumni game, and has announced he will be returning full time to the city where he became the 'standard bearer' for a program stretching itself to new heights underneath his former player and assistant coach, Matt Painter.

Gene Keady will join the Hall of Fame with a remarkable class of Basketball coaches and players including: Greg Popovich, Dwayne Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, WNBA star Becky Hammon, and fellow legendary coaches David Hixon and Gary Blair.

Gene Keady was introduced by Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo.

Gene Keady has already been added to Hall of Famers on Naismith's website and this excerpt is written for the former Purdue basketball coach:

In a business where no quarter is given, and none is ever asked, Gene Keady stood toe to toe against the titans of college basketball. The man was tough, honest to a fault, and above all else, undyingly loyal to those he became associated with during his six decades in the game. Keady landed his first head coaching job at a small-town high school located about 100 miles to the north of his backyard in Larned, Kansas. Humble beginnings for a future seven-time Big Ten Coach of the Year. After bouncing around for several years, Keady eventually landed at Purdue University, where he coached for 25 seasons and found his forever home. His Boilermakers mirrored the personality of their coach, giving everything to and getting everything from the game. Purdue won six Big Ten championships under Keady, including three in a row from 1994 to 1996. Keady was named the CBS National Coach of the Year twice during this same period. Keady was also named national Coach of the Year ten times during his career and often devoted the off-season to coaching for his country with USA Basketball.

Naismith Hall of Fame

Here's a video of Matt Painter in his own words describing what Gene Keady has meant to himself and Purdue University.

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