- Ricky Byrdsong
Ricky Byrdsong (
June 24 ,1956 –July 2 ,1999 ) was anAfrican American men'sbasketball coach who was murdered in ahate crime .Career
As coach for the
Northwestern University Wildcats from 1993 to 1997, Byrdson led them to aNational Invitation Tournament berth in 1994.He had also been head coach at the University of Detroit and assistant coach at the
University of Arizona ,Eastern Illinois University ,Western Michigan University andIowa State University , hisalma mater .After Northwestern fired him, he worked as an insurance executive for
Aon Corporation until his death.Personal life and death
He and his wife Sherialyn had three children.
While jogging near his
Skokie, Illinois home with his son and daughter, aged 8 and 10, he was murdered byBenjamin Nathaniel Smith , a member of thewhite supremacist Creativity Movement who went on a shooting spree. Over a span of a few days, Smith also killed aKorean-American college student, and wounded sixOrthodox Jew ish men in nearby Rogers Park, three other black men including a minister, and aTaiwan ese immigrant. According to eyewitnesses, Smith pulled alongside the unsuspecting Byrdsong and shot him multiple times. Smith took his own life before he could be captured. [cite news
url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_8_96/ai_55398754
title=Ex-College Basketball Coach Ricky Byrdsong Killed In White Racist's Shooting Spree, Mourned
date=July 26 1999
publisher=Jet magazine
accessdate=2008-04-25]The Ricky Byrdsong Foundation
His widow established The Ricky Byrdsong Foundation. Its mission is to "arrest the growing epidemic of hate and violence in our society by and against our youth." The foundation holds a number of events in and around Evanston; the most well-known is the Race Against Hate, a 5,000-meter running race held annually in late June which race draws hundreds from Evanston and surrounding areas.
References
External links
* [http://www.byrdsongfoundation.org/who/ Ricky Byrdsong Foundation website]
* [http://www.raceagainsthate.org/home.shtml Race Against Hate Website]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
