It was August 1985, and Sammy Batten, then a second-year sports writer at this newspaper, had just returned to the newsroom after Dan Kenney had been introduced as the new coach of the men’s basketball team at Pembroke State University.
“If enthusiam wins basketball games,” Batten said, “then Pembroke State is going to win a national championship.”
Kenney that day gave a glimpse of what he would bring to what is now The University of North Carolina at Pembroke — a glass-half-full approach, self-deprecating humor, wisdom and warmth.
It was Kenney’s second stop in Pembroke, and his success as the Braves coach would earn him a head job at Winthrop in Division I, but he would return to UNCP a few years later as its athletics director and guide the school’s transition from a NAIA competitor to NCAA Division II, a step up that could have meant less-on-the-field success. But the Braves have continued to shine athletically, despite competing against Peach Belt Athletic Conference foes that didn’t share UNCP’s admissions standard for athletes, and Kenney deserves much of the credit for that magic trick.
Last week Kenney retired from UNCP as a special assistant to the chancellor, a gig he first began under former Chancellor Kyle Carter, putting an end to a career there that included 30 years spread over five decades, and service to all six chancellors in the institution’s history.
The ceremony was as it should have been, rife with memories, laughter, and a few tears as Kenney was dispatched to the next phase of his life, being a granddad and also carving new paths to make the community that is blessed to have him and his large family a better place, such as through an daily social media blog in which he shares happy stories that send people into their day with a smile.
Kenney brought a lot to UNCP’s buffet, energy, ideas, work ethic, a willingness to mentor, but he is probably best thought of as a loyal friend to everyone. If there has ever been a bad word uttered about Dan Kenney, we have not heard it — and would dismiss it quickly as rubbish.
This newspaper’s friendship with Kenney began shortly after he returned to Pembroke in 1985 and he reached out to us about working together to create a basketball tournament that would include all of Robeson County high schools, which were then 10 in advance of the merger. Kenney did have a selfish motive, to grow basketball locally in the belief that it would help his program, but we know that he saw it as a way to raise money to benefit the high schools, and to answer what had been rhetorical questions such as what would happen if Lumberton High were to play Orrum High on hardwood.
It was great fun — and the Robeson County Shootout has not only endured, but has grown to include a girls tournament as well.
It would be foolhardy for us to try to itemize everything that wore Kenney’s fingerprints, but when handed the tall task of re-establishing a football program at UNCP, he not only managed that, but hired a coach that made the program a winner. Everything he touched seemed better for it, whether it was the men’s basketball program, the entire athletics department, the UNCP community as a whole, which is crushing it on so many levels, from attendance to fundraising, to his civic work.
We doubt that retirement for Kenney will mean what it does for most folks, and that he will simply refocus his energy on new ways to make Robeson County a better place to live. But that should not stop us now from expressing appreciation for what has already been acheived.
Thanks coach — and best of luck with what’s next.
