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Sports Information Director Dick Kelley will receive the US Basketball Writers Association’s Most Courageous Award, presented annually to individuals in college athletics who have demonstrated extraordinary courage in the face of adversity.
Kelley, who will receive the award at this Sunday’s BC-Virginia basketball game in Conte Forum, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2011. It’s an incurable disease that affects movement and speech and eventually causes death.
Although confined to a wheelchair and in declining health, Kelley has a viable and vibrant presence on campus and in BC’s athletics department and its basketball program.
“I am overwhelmed and very grateful for this amazing honor,” wrote Kelley when told he was named a Most Courageous recipient. “I have never sought recognition but rather did what I did because I loved my job and everyone I had the privilege of working with.”
The USBWA will make a donation to Compassionate Care ALS in West Falmouth, Mass., on behalf of Kelley.
Oakland University’s women’s basketball coach Beckie Francis was selected as this year’s female recipient of the Most Courageous Award. Francis revealed last fall that she had endured sexual abuse by her now-deceased father throughout her childhood.
The US Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956. With some 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball.
—Boston College Athletic Association