[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 147 (Thursday, November 14, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2033-E2034]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING ROY KIDD, LEGENDARY EASTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY HEAD FOOTBALL 
                                 COACH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ERNIE FLETCHER

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 14, 2002

  Mr. FLETCHER. Mr. Speaker, Eastern Kentucky University head football 
coach Roy Kidd is retiring at the end of the 2002 season. Kidd, who is 
serving his 39th year as the Colonel's head coach, leaves Eastern 
Kentucky University after establishing one of the most successful 
college football programs in America.
  His 39 years of coaching football at his alma mater, Coach Roy Kidd 
stands as a monument to his loyalty and dedication to the University, 
the game of football and to his student-athlete players and has set a 
high standard of excellence and reminded us what is best about college 
sports. All his victories, championships and honors only begin to 
reflect the impact he has had on Eastern Kentucky University, the 
Commonwealth of Kentucky, and beyond. It is his players, and their 
successes, who offer the best testament to Coach Kidd's unique ability 
to help young men make the most of their time here, and in their lives 
beyond EKU's campus.
  Kidd has put together a I-AA footfall program acknowledged throughout 
the country, year in and year out, as one of the nation's elite. He has 
a produced 24 straight EKU teams with winning seasons and 29 
consecutive Eastern teams with nonlosing seasons. There have been only 
two losing seasons at EKU in his 39-year tenure.
  Along the way, his 38 Eastern Kentucky teams have won two NCAA I-AA 
national championships, two national runners-up titles and 16 Ohio 
Valley Conference championships. He has also directed Eastern Kentucky 
to 17, I-AA playoff appearances, the most by any school in the nation.
  A native of Corbin, KY where he starred in football, basketball and 
baseball, Kidd chose Eastern Kentucky over the University of Kentucky 
under Bear Bryant's tutelage because EKU would let him play both 
baseball and football.
  That decision set forth a legacy that is unmatched at all but one I-
AA school and just five other programs in the history of college 
football.
  In 1963, Kidd received the call from Eastern president, Dr. Robert R. 
Martin, offering him the position as EKU's head coach. 1964, Kidd's 
first at the helm of the Eastern Kentucky football program, produced 
just one of two losing seasons in the 38 years as follow as the 
Colonels went 3-5-1.
  It only took Kidd and his staff four seasons to turn that around and 
produce an Ohio Valley Conference championship in 1967 that culminated 
with a 27-13 Grantland Rice Bowl victory over Ball State, which gave 
the Colonels the NCAA Mideast Regional Championship. He quickly 
followed that up the next season with a second OVC title as the 
Colonels went 8-2 behind quarterback Jim Guice and future American 
football League Rookie of the Year, wide receiver Aaron Marsh.
  In between 1968 and the formation of Division I-AA by the NCAA in 
1978, Eastern's teams produced winning seasons, collected two more 
conference crowns (1974 and 1976) and completed in the NCAA Division II 
playoffs in 1976.
  EKU football's decade of the 80's arguably the most prestigious by 
any I-AA football program ever, produced seven conference 
championships, three trips to the NCAA title game with one remarkable 
13-0 season that tended with the Colonel's second national title. Two 
other Colonel teams were eliminated in the national semifinals and a 
third Colonel squad made it to the quaterfinal round of the I-AA 
playoffs before losing.

[[Page E2034]]

  EKU teams coached by Kidd made seven more trips to the I-AA playoffs 
in the 90's with EKU securing five additional OVC crowns during this 
10-year span.
  During the past 38 and one-half football seasons at Eastern Kentucky, 
there have been two National I-AA Coach of the Year awards, 10 OVC 
Coach of the Year honors, 55 EKU All-Americans, 197 first team All-OVC 
players, a term as President of the American Football Coaches 
Association, all with Roy Kidd's named stamped beside them.
  Forty-one former Colonels have gone ahead to either sign or play in 
the National Football League. Four former Eastern Kentucky stars are 
still playing in the NFL, including defensive Chad Bratzke of the 
Indianapolis Colts, offensive tackle Tyrone Hopson of the Detroit 
Lions, tight end Jason Dunn of the Kansas City Chiefs and wide receiver 
Alex Bannister of the Seattle Seahawks.
  Roy and his wife, Sue, have three children--Marc, Kathy, and Keith--
and six grandchildren.
  Roy Kidd is truly one of the legendary football coaches in America 
and, certainly, in the history of college football. His record speaks 
for itself and I wish him and his wife Sue, happiness and success 
always. May God continue to Bless Roy Kid and shine on Eastern Kentucky 
University for many years to come.

                          ____________________