LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky Athletics Corridor of Famer Mike Pratt, who helped lead the Wildcats to a few SEC championships and two Elite Eight appearances, has died. He was 73.
Pratt, a UK Sports activities Community males’s basketball radio colour analyst since 2001, died Thursday, a press release from the college stated. No trigger was described.
The Ohio native performed at Kentucky from 1967-70 and was inducted into the UK Athletics Corridor of Fame in 2009, the Kentucky Sports activities Corridor of Fame in 2010 and the Ohio Basketball Corridor of Fame in 2019. The 6-foot-4 ahead averaged 16.8 factors per recreation and eight.9 rebounds per outing in 81 profession video games performed at UK. Pratt additionally amassed 29 double-doubles and completed at Kentucky with 1,359 factors and 718 rebounds.
Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart and basketball coach John Calipari stated he can be missed.
“Mike Pratt has been a part of the material of UK Athletics for greater than a half-century,” Barnhart stated. “As an All-America and All-SEC participant, Mike performed a big position in our basketball historical past. For the final twenty years, he introduced our video games to life along with his insightful commentary on our radio broadcasts.”
“We misplaced a member of the family, part of the Kentucky household and a buddy. If you happen to ever had the pleasure of assembly Mike Pratt, you knew what a particular individual he was,” Calipari stated. “Mike knew that the College and the Massive Blue Nation liked him, and so they by no means forgot what he did as a participant after which later as a connection for this system. I’m going to overlook him.”
Pratt performed two seasons with the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Affiliation and was an assistant coach at UNC Charlotte earlier than changing into head coach of the Charlotte 49ers in 1978. After a stint as knowledgeable scout, he went into broadcasting and labored with the Charlotte Hornets Tv Community, ESPN and Fox Sports activities South.
He was at each Kentucky males’s basketball recreation because the 2001-02 season because the UK Sports activities Community’s radio colour analyst, alongside play-by-play announcer Tom Leach.
He's survived by his spouse Marcia Schmidt Pratt, a daughter, a son, stepchildren and 10 grandchildren.
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