The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Sports

May 9, 2008

Bridges spans globe but returns for degree

By Dave Morrison

Keith Bridges will cross over into the world of college graduate today when he gets his degree from Mountain State University.

Bridges is a former MSU player — actually, The College of West Virginia at the time — who is graduating 10 years after he last played at the school.

But with good reason.

Bridges spent nine of the last 10 years playing professional basketball.

“I played in eight countries and actually played basketball in 15 different countries,” the former Cougar standout said. “I played in France, the Dominican Republic, Australia twice, Portugal ... it really was a great experience.”

He said Australia was his favorite stop, evidenced by his two stops in the country.

“The people were friendly and the country was beautiful,” Bridges said. “I still keep in contact with people over there to this day.”

Bridges also has proof that the world, at least in basketball terms, is small.

“I was playing in Portugal and I was looking at the roster and I saw they had a player from Mountain State,” Bridges said. “After the game I went up and introduced myself. It was a left-hander, a shooter, Zane (Gilliard). He told me that coach (Bob) Bolen had mentioned my name a couple times. Yeah, it really is a small world.”

Bridges now operates a youth organization that spans an eight-county area in his native Chattanooga, Tenn.

He took the two remaining courses he needed to graduate at Chattanooga State after retiring following his final season (in England) and had them transferred to MSU.

“I promised my grandmother (Ruth Bridges) that I would get my degree,” Bridges said. “It’s something I wanted to do for a long time. And I wanted to come back and walk because Mountain State was the last school I attended full-time and I have such great memories from my time here.”

Bridges, who transferred to CWV from East Tennessee State, said his most vivid memory is how intense Bolen was before games.

“ I saw them play last year at Knoxville College and I told someone, ‘He’s still the same way,’” Bridges said. “I really admired the way he coached. He was very structured and very organized.”

Bridges said another former mentor, Jay Nidifler (a former East Tennessee State and Cleveland Cavaliers scout), was expected to attend today’s graduation.

“That means I’ll have both my coaching mentors, Jay and coach Bolen, here,” he said.

Kudos to Tammy Kidd, wife of Woodrow Wilson basketball coach Ron Kidd, for putting together a first-class banquet for the Class AAA state champions at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center Thursday.

More than 100 people attended the fete, which featured a 15-minute highlight film and MSU coach Bob Bolen as the keynote speaker.

— E-mail:

demorrison@register-herald.com

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