Former Fontbonne Men's Basketball Coach to be Honored by NABC
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Basketball Coaches will present its 15th annual Outstanding Service Awards at the Division III meeting of this year’s NABC Convention in Houston, Texas, on April 2, 2011. The award has been presented annually since 1997 and is given to coaches whose actions “inside and outside the lines” of coaching have distinguished them as valuable members of their communities.
Three extremely deserving coaches will be recognized at the convention. This year’s honorees are Lee McKinney, former head basketball coach and athletic director at Fontbonne University in St. Louis, Mo.; Skip Molitor, retired head basketball coach and currently assistant athletic director at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington; and Mike Neer, recently retired head basketball coach at the University of Rochester (N.Y.).
McKinney has been the head men’s basketball coach at Fontbonne University since 1988. He has over 500 career collegiate coaching victories and has led Fontbonne to the NCAA. Division III national tournament on four occasions. McKinney was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, St. Clair High School Hall of Fame in 1995, the Missouri Baptist University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003, the Fontbonne University Hall of Fame in 2000, St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 2010 and was honored at the 2002 NCAA Final Four ‘Guardians of the Game’ awards ceremony for his distinguished college career. He also was the first recipient of the Distinguished Service Award presented by the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC). This award is presented annually to the individual that has served or competed in the SLIAC and best exemplifies the qualities of leadership, dedication, service and perseverance. During his years of service to the conference, McKinney chaired the SLIAC Administrative Council and represented the conference nationally, serving on the NCAA Management Council, Financial Aid Committee and Nominating Committee. McKinney is also a two-time cancer survivor. He has dedicated countless hours of service to local community organizations and to raising money for various charities, mainly for NABC’s Coaches vs. Cancer program.
Coach McKinney retired from his athletic director position at Fontbonne in the summer of 2009 and stepped down as the Griffin basketball coach at the end of this season.
Molitor finished his 33-year coaching career and 14 seasons as head coach of Whitman College in 2008. He is one of only two coaches to win over a hundred games at Whitman. Prior to his tenure at Whitman, Molitor coached as an assistant at various colleges and at the high school level for 10 years. He has been actively involved in various basketball and community outreach programs since arriving in Walla Walla. He has been very involved in promoting basketball in Latin America, founded the Evergreen State Amateur Athletic Council, and has organized basketball camps and been involved in missionary work in the U.S. and abroad.
Neer completed his 34-year head coaching career with the most wins in University of Rochester men’s basketball history and a 563-326 record. His Rochester teams earned 12 NCAA tournament berths and advanced to the Final Four on four occasions. Rochester won the National Championship in 1990 and played in the championship game two other times. Neer was honored by the NABC as Division III Coach of the Year in 1990. His Rochester teams have been honored on four separate occasions with outstanding sportsmanship awards from upstate New York officials. Actively involved in university and community projects, Neer also received the Elliot Cushing Award in 1992 for outstanding service by a Rochester citizen.
“The NABC is extremely pleased to honor these gentlemen who, throughout their careers, have been outstanding coaches, great teachers, and significant leaders in their communities,” said Pat Cunningham, head coach at Trinity (Texas) University and chair of the awards committee. “They have done a terrific job in communicating strategies and techniques to their respective teams, distinguished themselves as wonderful role models to their players and associates, and embody the spirit of coaching.”
Courtesy National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC)
