RICHMOND, Ky. — Eastern Kentucky University has lost one of its most beloved and accomplished coaches. The school announced the passing of Roy Kidd on Sept. 12, 2023. He was 91 years old.

Kidd was the EKU football coach from 1964 to 2002, where he led his alma mater to two national I-AA championships and two runner-up finishes, 16 Ohio Valley Conference titles and 314 wins, earning induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.

The university announced the news of his passing Tuesday morning. “Coach Kidd truly represented what it means to be an EKU Colonel, and we mourn his loss alongside his wife and family,” said EKU President David McFaddin.

Services for Kidd will be held at the EKU Center for the Arts with Bill Fort officiating. A private burial will follow in the Richmond Cemetery. Dates and times of the services will be announced.

Kidd was born in Corbin, Kentucky on Dec. 4, 1931. He was the youngest of seven and the third son of Edd and Pearl Bradford Kidd. He was a three-sport athlete at Corbin High School who went on to a standout career at EKU, where he was a record-setting Little All-American quarterback for the football team and a stalwart center fielder who exceeded a .300 batting average in each of his baseball seasons. 

Roy Kidd was a three-sport athlete at Corbin High School who went on to a standout career at EKU, where he was a record-setting Little All-American quarterback for the football team. (EKU Athletics)

After one year as assistant basketball and head baseball coach at Madison Central High School in Richmond, Kidd moved across town and led the Madison-Model high school football team to a 54-11-1 mark from 1956 to 1961.

After a year as an assistant football coach at Morehead State University, he returned to EKU, where he served one year as an assistant football coach before beginning a 39-year reign as head coach of the Colonels. Besides a record of 315-124-8 and two I-AA national titles (1979 and 1982) that book-ended runner-up finishes, Kidd led the Colonels to 25 consecutive winning seasons and 17 NCAA I-AA playoff appearances. He was named Nation Coach of the Year twice and coached 55 All-Americans, with 41 of his players signing NFL contracts.

In Jan. 2023, he received the American Football Coaches Association’s Amos Alonzo Stagg Award, which honors those “whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests of football.”

According to EKU, Kidd was revered by his former players as a stern and demanding coach, but also as a thoughtful and compassionate mentor who cared about their personal growth and success.

Kidd was fiercely loyal to his alma mater, serving part-time for the EKU Development Office after retirement, continuing to rally support for an institution he dearly loved.

“I want our people to have pride in this place, work hard to make it nice, get a good education, be a good person when you go out in the world and treat others the way you want to be treated,” Kidd once said. “My job was to win games and to make our players good people when they go out in the world.”

In addition to a record of 315-124-8 and two I-AA national titles (1979 and 1982) that book-ended runner-up finishes, Kidd led the Colonels to 25 consecutive winning seasons and 17 NCAA I-AA playoff appearances. (EKU Athletics)

The EKU football stadium is named Roy Kidd Stadium in his honor; the street in front of the stadium was renamed Roy and Sue Kidd Way; and a statue of the legendary coach and a wall honoring players, staff and managers is in the north end zone. A street in front of Corbin High School’s football stadium is also named in his honor. Kidd is also a member of the EKU Hall of Distinguished Alumni, the EKU Athletics Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame, the OVC Hall of Fame and the Madison County Sports Hall of Fame.

Coach Kidd in the stadium that bears his name. (EKU Athletics)

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s highest football award, given to the best high school football player in the state each season, is named the Roy Kidd Award, and the Roy Kidd OVC Coach of the Year Award is presented annually.

Kidd is survived by his wife of 62 years, Susan ‘Sue’ Purcell Kidd; their three children, Marc Kidd (Amy Luyster) of Plano, Texas, Kathy Kuhl (Lewis) of Miami, Florida and Keith Kidd (Laura Estepp), Richmond, Kentucky; six grandchildren, Seth Kidd (Mehgan), Evan Kuhl (Ana), Samantha Kidd Shelton (Tyler), Nicholas Kuhl, Kirsten Kuhl and Kody Kidd; and four great-grandchildren, Penelope Kidd, Lucia Kuhl, Otto Shelton and Clementine Kidd along with many nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents Edd and Pearl; two brothers, Earl Kidd and Ray Kidd and four sisters, Evelyn Kidd Marcum, Mildred Kidd Kist, Margaret Kidd and Edwina ‘Snookie’ Kidd.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in his honor to the Roy and Sue Kidd Endowed Scholarship at Eastern Kentucky University. Checks can be mailed to the EKU Foundation, CPO 19, 521 Lancaster Ave, Richmond, KY 40475. Online gifts can be made through the school.