Ricky Byrdsong (1956-1999)
Teams coached: Detroit Mercy Titans, Northwestern Wildcats
Detroit record: 53-87 (.379)
Northwestern record: 36-76 (.321)
Overall record: 89-163 (.353)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 1 (1994)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 1993-1997 | Northwestern |
| 1988-1993 | Detroit Mercy |
| 1982-1988 | Arizona (asst) |
| 1980-1982 | Eastern Illinois (asst) |
| 1979-1980 | Western Michigan (asst) |
| 1978-1979 | Iowa State (asst) |
Ricky Birdsong Facts
- Ricky Byrdsong
- Born June 24, 1956
- Died July 3, 1999
- Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia
- Alma Mater: Iowa State University (BA, 1978)
- Growing up in poverty in Atlanta, Birdsong became a starter at Frederick Douglass HS
- Started his collegiate career by playing two seasons at Pratt JC in Kansas
- Finished at Iowa State, where he served as a team captain on Lynn Nance‘s squad
- After graduation, he spent one year on Nance‘s staff then one year under Les Wothke at Western Michigan
- Hired in 1980 to be an assistant at Eastern Illinois under Rick Samuels, one of his fellow assistants at ISU
- Moved on to Arizona in 1982, spending the season as one of Ben Lindsey’s assistants
- Lindsey was fired in 1983, but new head coach Lute Olson kept Byrdsong on his staff
- Coached under Olson for five seasons and was part of the Wildcats’ 1988 Final Four appearance
- Became the head coach at Detroit Mercy in 1988, going 53-87 over five seasons at the helm
- Moved on to Northwestern in 1993, leading the Wildcats to the NIT in his first season
- Finished below .500 in each of the next three seasons and was let go in 1997
- Stayed in the Chicagoland-area, serving as VP of Community Affairs at Aon Corporation
- In July 1999, Byrdsong was jogging with two of his children in Skokie, IL when he was shot and killed by a white supremacist who was in the midst of a shooting spree; as an African-American, Byrdsong was seemingly targeted for his race
- Witnesses said the shooter pulled up in a car alongside the former coach and started firing
- The shooter killed or injured many other minorities in the days after and committed suicide before being brought to trail
- Survived by his wife, Sherialyn, and their three children, Sabrina, Kelly and Ricky Jr.
- The Ricky Byrdsong Foundation was established in Evanston to curb hate and violence in the community
- Every year, the organization holds the Race Against Hate 5K/10K
Ricky Birdsong Coaching Tree
- Patrick Baldwin (Milwaukee)
- Tim Carter (South Carolina State, UTSA, Nebraska-Omaha)
- Scott Perry (Eastern Kentucky)