Hall of Fame
Roy Kidd, head football coach of the EKU Colonels for 39 years, was an outstanding football and baseball player in his own right in his four year collegiate career at Eastern. Kidd received four varsity letters in football and baseball at Eastern. While establishing a dozen records as quarterback of the Maroons (each of these has since been tied or broken), he was an All-Ohio Valley Conference selection and “Little All-American” choice in 1953. Kidd was also a star centerfielder for Eastern, bettering the .300 mark four consecutive seasons.
Kidd served as a student assistant on the staff of Glenn Prenell’s 1954 Eastern team which went undefeated, won the OVC and lost 7-6 to Omaha in the Tangerine Bowl. After a year at Madison Central High School, he went to Richmond Madison where in six seasons, his teams compiled a 54-10-1 record. He returned to Eastern in 1963 as an assistant for one season before being named head coach in 1964.
Inducted the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003, Kidd led the Colonels to 16 Ohio Valley Conference titles and a national record 17 NCAA Division I-AA playoff appearances. When he retired following the 2002 season, Kidd was the sixth all-time winningest coach in NCAA history with 314 victories.
The two-time Division I-AA National Coach of the Year recorded 37 non-losing seasons, including a streak of 25 straight with a winning record. Kidd coached 55 All-Americans, 202 First Team All-OVC selections and 41 student-athletes who signed National Football League contracts. A member of the OVC and Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fames, the EKU football stadium is named in his honor.
