29/03/2024

Young Runs

Young Runs Enthusiast

Kentucky basketball Hall of Famer and radio network analyst Mike Pratt dies at 73

Kentucky basketball Hall of Famer and radio network analyst Mike Pratt dies at 73

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky basketball Corridor of Famer and radio analyst Mike Pratt died Thursday right after a battle with most cancers.

He was 73.

A Dayton, Ohio, indigenous, Pratt played for Kentucky from 1966 to 1970. He was a two-time initial-crew All-SEC assortment. As a senior, Pratt was named a Converse second-staff All-American following averaging 19.3 points and 9.5 rebounds per activity.

Pratt invested two seasons actively playing for the Kentucky Colonels in the American Basketball Association before starting a coaching occupation. As an assistant mentor, he assisted direct Charlotte to the 1977 NCAA Final Four.

Pratt later served as head mentor at Charlotte for 4 seasons, compiling a 56-52 record.

Kentucky basketball Hall of Famer and radio network analyst Mike Pratt dies at 73

Mike Pratt broadcasts the Kentucky versus Indiana sport. Mar. 23, 2012

KENTUCKY BASKETBALL: John Calipari and Uk legends bear in mind coach Joe B. Corridor

Sporting activities Publication: Sign up to get day by day updates delivered to your inbox

In Oct 2001, Pratt was named the men’s basketball shade analyst for the British isles radio community. He ongoing his responsibilities alongside participate in-by-engage in guy Tom Leach in current several years although undergoing cancer solutions.

Pratt also hosted a radio exhibit in Louisville with fellow Kentucky basketball legend Dan Issel, who he performed with for both of those Uk and the Colonels.

“My coronary heart is broken,” Leach said. “He was more brother than broadcaster lover to me and producer Jim Barnhart via so a lot of great periods. We cherished him just like the Significant Blue Nation did. He was an exceptional basketball analyst, but an even far better spouse, father, grandfather and buddy.”

At the time he was hired to be the radio analyst for Kentucky basketball games, Pratt was operating as a Television set analyst for Fox Sports activities South. The original income offer was not enough to encourage Pratt to join the broadcast workforce, according to the 2021 book he wrote with Leach, but British isles was able to raise the income to a point Pratt was comfy earning the go from tv to radio.

The preliminary dedication was just for one year to examination the chemistry between Leach and Pratt, who were being changing Ralph Hacker and Sam Bowie on the radio broadcasts.

The duo finished up operating 20 seasons alongside one another. Pratt’s final simply call was Kentucky’s shocking NCAA Event decline to No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s in March.

“We have a great staff,” Pratt wrote in the book. “Jimmy Barnhart is the finest producer in the world, and I think the three of us suit perfectly. It is like a relatives. It can be been great.”

Pratt served on the coaching lookup committee that at some point brought John Calipari to Uk in 2009. That exact calendar year, he was inducted into the United kingdom Athletics Hall of Fame.

In July 2019, Pratt had a tumor eradicated from his colon. The cancer afterwards distribute to his liver, jaw and back.

In May well, relatives members launched a fundraising energy to aid pay back for an experimental procedure. Calipari pledged $50,000 to the campaign.

In accordance to the marketing campaign web site, Pratt was scheduled to start off the treatment on June 16, the working day he died.

“We shed a family members member, a element of the Kentucky family and a mate. If you ever had the satisfaction of conference Mike Pratt, you knew what a special human being he was,” Calipari claimed. “Mike was a dear friend to me and was an integral component in aiding me become head mentor here. Ellen and I will without end be grateful to him for his assist and kindness. We should really all be grateful that he was in our lives. Mike knew that the College and the Major Blue Country cherished him, and they under no circumstances forgot what he did as a player and then afterwards as a link for the software. I’m going to overlook him.”

Kentucky Wildcats guard Mike Pratt (22) in action during the 1967 season.

Kentucky Wildcats guard Mike Pratt (22) in motion throughout the 1967 season.

Pratt is survived by his spouse, Marcia Schmidt Pratt brother, Patrick Pratt daughter, Tamaryn Pratt son, Christopher Pratt stepchildren, Christina Stone, Andy Schutz and Tim Schutz as nicely as 10 grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be produced to Kentuckiana Close friends of V. Options for a celebration of daily life are getting finalized.

“Fail to remember about the basketball, overlook about the broadcasting, I imagine the legacy that Mike leaves is he was just a darn superior dude,” Issel explained Friday early morning in his first episode of his ESPN 680 radio demonstrate because Pratt’s loss of life. “He under no circumstances met a stranger, he often experienced time for everyone, and I’m going to miss out on him dearly. I can choose solace in the reality that I know where by he is right now. My mate will never have to experience that excruciating suffering once again.”

E-mail Jon Hale at [email protected] Observe him on Twitter at @JonHale_CJ

This post at first appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Mike Pratt, Kentucky basketball Corridor of Famer, dies at 73