I had the chance to attend the memorial for Bill “Mr. Wildcat” Keightley last night at 6 PM in Rupp Arena. There was a good show of fans and supporters, but the most amazing aspect was the amount of coaches and players there to pay their respects. Among the players were this past year’s team, as well as Kenny Walker, Jeff Sheppard, Jay Shidler, Kyle Macy, Dwayne Casey, Cameron Mills, Scott Pagent, and Walter McCarty as well as many many more. Beyond the players, there were many coaches who were good friends with Keightley that were present. Three of the five coaches and Keightley served under were there (Joe B. Hall, Rick Pitino, Billy Gillispie, with Tubby Smith’s flight being delayed on his way to the service), as well as John Pelphrey (former player and current head coach of Arkansas), Billy Donovan (former assistant coach and current head coach of Florida), Rick Stansbury (native Kentuckian and current head coach of Mississippi State), and Jeff Morrow (head coach of a Kentucky high school basketball team). there were some great speeches given, but my favorite by far came from an unlikely source, Rick Pitino. Here is a video of the great speech Rick gave last night.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqTv8PA0Bd0]

It is easy to say that Bill Keightley impacted many people’s lives. He turned boys into leaders, nervous and youthful coaches into experienced veterans, and anyone he met into a friend. One of the overlooked things he did was not only prepare college athletes for pro sports, but people for whatever life they lead. There are doctors, real estate agents, firemen and more than all dawned a jersey during school.

To see all the speeches as well as the tribute video, you can CLICK HERE and view sections of the memorial that someone captured from TV last night and put up on Youtube. You can also stop by the news page on ESPN and on WKYT to view all the kind and thoughtful comments at both places.