Ricky Byrdsong

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Ricky Byrdsong (June 24, 1956 – July 2, 1999) was an American former men's basketball coach for Northwestern University. Byrdsong coached the Wildcats from 1993 to 1997, leading them to a National 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 and Iowa State University, his alma mater. He was murdered outside his Skokie, Illinois home in a hate crime committed by the Creativity Movement's Benjamin Nathaniel Smith.

[edit] The Ricky Byrdsong Foundation

The Ricky Byrdsong Foundation was started after Byrdsong's death by his wife, Sherialyn Byrdsong. The mission of the Ricky Byrdsong Foundation is to "arrest the growing epidemic of hate and violence in our society by and against our youth." The Ricky Byrdsong Foundation holds a number of events in and around Evanston. The most well known as come to be the Race Against Hate, a 5,000 running race held annually in late June. The race draws hundreds from Evanston, the Chicago area, and further.

[edit] External link

• Ricky Byrdsong Foundation website