Thursday, September 23, 2010

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - - Belmont men’s basketball will host Northern State University in the inaugural Don Meyer Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. CT on ESPNU, the network announced Thursday.

The game serves to honor Meyer, who retired as head coach of Northern State following the 2009-10 season as the all-time NCAA wins leader in men’s basketball with 923.

Meyer, who was awarded the Jimmy V Award For Perseverance at the 2009 ESPY Awards for his courage in returning to coaching following a Sept. 2008 car crash that cost him his left leg as well as his example battling through cancer of the liver and intestines, and most recently received the 2010 John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for significant contributions to the sport., is an extremely respected figure in Nashville having directed Lipscomb men’s basketball from 1975-99.

That is where Meyer and Belmont men’s basketball head coach Rick Byrd formed a lifelong friendship and mutual respect, taking the ‘Battle of the Boulevard’ rivalry between Belmont and Lipscomb to new heights. Both men led their respective programs to the top of NAIA basketball, with Boulevard games becoming ‘Must Attend’ events.

Meyer and Byrd coached against each other 37 times, perhaps none more notable than Feb. 17, 1990 when Belmont and Lipscomb packed Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gym in what remains the largest-attended basketball game in NAIA history.