Ricky Byrdsong
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Ricky Byrdsong (June 24, 1956 – July 2, 1999) was an African American men's basketball coach who was murdered in a hate crime.
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[edit] Career
As coach for the Northwestern University Wildcats from 1993 to 1997, Byrdson led 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.
After Northwestern fired him, he worked as an insurance executive for Aon Corporation until his death.
[edit] 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 10 and 11, he was murdered by Benjamin Nathaniel Smith, a member of the white supremacist Creativity Movement who went on a shooting spree. Over a span of a few days, Smith also killed a Korean-American college student, and wounded six Orthodox Jewish men in nearby Rogers Park, three other black men including a minister, and a Taiwanese 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.[1]
[edit] 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, the Chicago area, and surrounding areas.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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