Ashland University Men’s Basketball to host A Night with Bob Huggins fundraising event

ASHLAND — Huggy Bear is coming to Ashland.

The Ashland University men’s basketball program and the 212 Club is holding a fundraiser at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 23 called, A Night with Bob Huggins where the 2022 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee will host a VIP cocktail hour followed by an interactive speech along with silent raffles, tip boards, a dinner and a meet and greet with AU student athletes and coaches.

Ashland University coach John Ellenwood hopes to make it a series of events to raise money for the basketball program’s bright future.

“We are going to try to get a different speaker every year,” Ellenwood said. “Right now, it is just basketball but we may even try to branch out to other areas. We want people the locals want to hear from and who will proved an interesting Ted-type talk. Bob Huggins is the best one to start us off.”

Huggins has had a legendary coaching career with more than 900 victories, he is just the sixth men’s college basketball coach to reach the milestone, during stops at Walsh, Akron, Cincinnati, Kansas State and West Virginia. He has been to 24 NCAA Tournaments leading his teams to nine Sweet 16 appearances, four Elite Eight berths and two Final Fours. He averaged 23 wins per season and is the second coach to win 300 games as two different schools, Cincinnati and West Virginia.

He had quite the high school basketball career in Port Washington, Ohio, playing for his father, Charles, at Indian Valley South. He led his team to 26-0 record during his senior season and was the Ohio Player of the Year in 1972. All the while, his father built a basketball farm on the family’s property in Carroll County. It turned into a place to hold team camps every summer.

“If you talk about Ohio basketball, you have to look at the Huggins family as royalty,” Ellenwood said. “Whether they want to be known that way or not. They are very humble. Eastern Ohio has shaped a lot of basketball programs. The toughness that raised Bob Huggins and his…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ashland-university-mens-basketball-host-091009127.html

Author : Mansfield News Journal

Publish date : 2024-09-30 09:10:09

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