Eastern Kentucky University unveiled a statue of College Football Hall of Fame coach Roy Kidd on Saturday, Sept. 23.
The statue of the man who won 314 games as the head coach of the Colonels is located in the north end zone, overlooking the field at Roy Kidd Stadium.
The statue was completed using private funds that have been donated specifically for the project over the last two years.
Kidd retired from his coaching duties at EKU, his alma mater, after the 2002 football season. At the time he was the sixth all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division I history (FBS and FCS). He coached the Colonels for 39 years, compiling a 314-124-8 (.705) overall record.
The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame inducted Kidd into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.
During his tenure at Eastern from 1964-2002, he led the Colonels to 16 Ohio Valley Conference titles and made what was then a record 17 NCAA Division I playoff appearances. EKU appeared in four consecutive NCAA national championship contests, winning the 1979 and 1982 national titles.
The championship tradition at Eastern Kentucky started in 1967 when Kidd led his team to a 27-13 victory in the Grantland Rice Bowl. This bowl game was held to decide the NCAA Mideast Regional Championship, which included a 10-state and 100-team area, one of four such college division championships set up by the NCAA that year. After finishing the season with a 7-1-2 record, the Colonels were chosen face Ball State University in the Grantland Rice Bowl in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
A two-time Football Championship Subdivision National Coach of the Year and 10-time OVC Coach of the Year, Kidd has the third most victories at a single school among all divisions in NCAA history. In 39 seasons, his teams recorded 37 non-losing seasons, including a streak of 25 consecutive seasons with a winning record.
Kidd, who coached 41 players who signed with National Football League teams, 55 All-Americans and 202 first team All-OVC selections, is a member of the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame.
A past president of the American Football Coaches Association, Kidd was a two-time Lexington Herald Sportsman of the Year.
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s highest football award each season, given to the best high school football player in the state of Kentucky, is named the Roy Kidd Award. Beginning with the 2003 season, the OVC Coach of the Year award was named the Roy Kidd OVC Coach of the Year Award.
Kidd was inducted into the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame on May 30, 2003.
Kidd received four varsity letters in football and baseball as a student-athlete at Eastern. While establishing a dozen records as quarterback, he was an All-Ohio Valley Conference selection and “Little All-American” choice in 1953.