Photo Gallery | George Kennedy's Speech: Part 1 | George Kennedy's Speech: Part 2
JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Former Saint Peter's University men's basketball head coach Don Kennedy was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame on September 19 at the New York Athletic Club. Kennedy's son George accepted the honor for his late father.
Also inducted at the event was Lee Jones, Manny Sokol, Gerry Harkness, Vaughn Harper, George Thompson, Hank Whitney and the 1972-73 New York Knicks championship team.
Kennedy is the Peacocks' all-time winningest head coach after posting a 323-195 record from 1950-72, including five appearances in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). He coached eight 1,000-point scorers and 20 future Saint Peter's Athletic Hall of Fame players in his 22-year tenure.
Kennedy, a Saint Peter's Athletic Hall of Fame inductee, registered a winning season in 19 of his 22 seasons and notched three 20-win seasons, including the program's first 20-win campaign in 1957-58 and a program-record 24 victories in 1967-68.
Kennedy was ahead of his time with his fast-pace offensive tactics even with the addition of the shot clock in 1954. According to legendary St. Anthony's high school coach and Saint Peter's graduate Bob Hurley, Sr., "Offensively, Coach Kennedy was far ahead of his time. The speed and precision of his team's fast break just ran opponents into the ground. To this day at St. Anthony's, we employ the fast break principles I picked up in the 1960's while observing many Saint Peter's games at the Jersey City Armory."
The fifth head coach in program history, Kennedy arrived in Jersey City for the 1950-51 season. The Peacocks finished 9-16 in his first season, but Kennedy would go on to record 13-straight winning seasons at Saint Peter's.
The Peacocks went 13-11 in his second season before finishing with its best season to date with a 19-8 record and the program's first postseason berth in the NAIA Tournament in 1951-52. The squad won its final eight regular season contests going into the postseason and then defeated Fairleigh Dickinson and Southwest Oklahoma before falling to East Texas State in the third game of the tournament.
Saint Peter's returned to the NAIA Tournament in the next two seasons and made the squad's first NIT appearance in 1956-57, finishing with a record of 18-4. The Peacocks lost to Dayton in the first round of the NIT.
During the 1957-58 season, the Peacocks won 11 in a row and 11 of its final 12 regular season games to make its second-straight NIT appearance. Saint Peter's lost to Saint Joseph's in the first round of the tournament.
Kennedy led his team back to the NIT in three-straight seasons nearly a decade later. The Peacocks recovered from their first losing season under Kennedy since his first season in 1966-67 with an 18-6 record and its first trip to the NIT in nine years. The team lost to Southern Illinois in the first round.
Saint Peter's then enjoyed one of its best seasons in program history in the next season after the team finished 24-4 and returned to the NIT. The "Run, Baby, Run" Peacocks downed Marshall 102-93 in double overtime to notch the program's first win in the postseason. Kennedy then guided his team to what some might say is the biggest win in program history with a 100-71 victory against top-ranked Duke in the second round to reach the program's only Final Four appearance at Madison Square Garden. The squad lost to Kansas 58-46 in the semifinals and to Notre Dame 81-78 in the third-place contest.
The team notched its second-straight 20-win season with a 21-7 mark and a trip to the NIT for the fifth time under Kennedy. Saint Peter's defeated Tulsa in the opening round 75-71 before falling to Temple in the second round 94-78.
The Peacocks finished 13-11 in 1969-70 in Kennedy's final season at the helm of the team.
Kennedy was born in Brooklyn on Apr. 7, 1907. He earned a degree from the Savage School for physical education. He got his start in coaching at age 20 at the New York Dental College. Later, he would simultaneously coach two or three high schools, including Regis in Manhattan where he won the national schoolboy championship in 1948. Kennedy also ran Camp St. Regis, a summer camp in East Hampton on Long Island, from 1944-82.
Kennedy passed away at the age of 97 on Oct. 26, 2004.
