Former Alcorn State and Texas Southern University head basketball coach Davey L. Whitney passed away Sunday, he was 85. (pictured on the right with Lonza Hardy, Jr., current Athletics Director at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff)

 

Whitney, who is a Lexington, Kentucky native lettered in four sports in high school and is a graduate of Kentucky State. He played shortstop for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro League. 

 

Whitney, know as "The Wiz", started his coaching career at Texas Southern (1964-69). After the 1968-69 season, he took over Alcorn State where he would spend the next 29 seasons. The 12-time Southern Athletic Conference champion coach returned for a second stint with the Braves from 1996-2002 before retiring.

 

Whitney led Alcorn State to five NCAA Tournament appearances, two NIT appearances, and was named SWAC Coach of the Year nine times. he coaches the Braves to the first NCAA Tournament win by a historically black university with a 70-62 win over South Alabama in 1980. He complied a career coaching record of 542-334.

 

The Davey Whitney Complex, a 7,000-seat multi-purpose arena built in 1975, is home to the Alcorn State University Braves basketball team and is named after Coach Whitney.

Whitney was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010 and leaves behind a wife of 62 years, Bernice, five children: Gail, Libby, Lisa, Doreen and Davey, Jr. and four grandchildren Ashantee, Aubrei, Corey and Duonne.