Alumni Hall of Fame
Academic and Professional Achievement (2008)

Floyd A. Keith, a native of St. Marys, is a member of the Memorial High School Class of 1966. Mr. Keith has notably distinguished himself as the Executive Director of the Black Coaches and Administrators. He has also notably distinguished himself as a high school athlete, college athlete, assistant football coach and head football coach at the collegiate level. Therefore, it is worth noting that Mr. Keith’s hall of fame induction could have been for athletic achievement.

After graduation from Memorial High School, St. Marys Roughrider football’s first 1,000 yard rusher attended Ohio Northern University and graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of Science in Education. Upon graduation from Ohio Northern University, Floyd followed in the footsteps of his mentor, the legendary head football coach of the St. Marys Memorial High School Roughriders Eugene L. “Skip” Baughman, and began his coaching career, only on a different level, as an assistant football coach at Miami University of Ohio, then home of the Redskins. Mr. Keith coached at the noted “Cradle of Coaches” from 1970 to 1973 under Head Coach Bill Mallory. From 1974 to 1978, Floyd was an assistant football coach at the University of Colorado, home of the Buffaloes, under Head Coach Bill Mallory. Assistant Coach Keith would leave the University of Colorado to become Head Coach Floyd Keith at Howard University, home of the Bisons, located in Washington, D.C. Coach Keith was at the helm at Howard University from 1979 to 1982. In 1983, Floyd spent one season as an assistant football coach at the University of Arizona, home of the Wildcats, under Head Coach Larry Smith a Van Wert, Ohio native. In 1984, Keith would rejoin Head Coach Bill Mallory as an assistant football coach at Indiana University, home of the Hoosiers. He would remain in Bloomington until 1992. From 1993 until 1999, Floyd was the head football coach of the University of Rhode Island Rams. This coaching career allowed Floyd to positively touch the lives of thousands of college student – athletes and to share his love and passion for the game of football.

In 2001, Mr. Floyd A. Keith was appointed the Executive Director of the Black Coaches and Administrators, formerly known as the Black Coaches Association. As Executive Director, Floyd has been the driving force in meeting the mission of the organization to foster the employment, growth, and development of ethnic minorities at all levels of sports both nationally and internationally extending from the professional level to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (N.C.A.A.) to junior colleges to the high school level. The Black Coaches and Administrators pursues its mission with aggressive and persistent action coupled with a positive, cooperative, and collaborative approach. Floyd has led the association in restoring its solid financial footing and increasing corporate sponsorship. At the same time, Mr. Keith has affected collegiate head coaching and administrative hiring practices through "Equity in Hiring" summits which have been followed up by the "Hiring Report Card". Floyd has further worked on meeting the association’s mission and development through programs such as the Achieving Coaching Excellence Program, which promotes the advancement of ethnic minority basketball coaches to become head basketball coaches at the collegiate level.

Currently, Floyd Keith serves on the Honors Court of the National Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame, which annually selects the inductees of the College Football Hall of Fame. For his outstanding athletic, coaching, and professional achievements Floyd has received numerous awards and recognitions which include induction into the Ohio Northern University Athletic Hall of Fame, Coach of the Year recognition, the All – American Football Foundation 2005 Johnny Vaught Outstanding Coach Award, for accomplishments as a head football coach, and the All – American Football Foundation 2004 Executive Director of the Year. In 2004, Sport Illustrated recognized him as one of the 101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports. In 2005, Black Enterprise Magazine listed Floyd as one of the 50 Most Powerful Blacks in Sports. In 2007, the National Consortium for Academics and Sports awarded Floyd the Giant Steps Award for Coaching. Most recently, Mr. Keith was recognized as one of Ohio Northern University’s Distinguished Alumni.



It is for his outstanding work as a Coach, which has allowed him to positively impact thousands of young lives and as an Executive, which has allowed him to impact the goals of reaching racial equality in every corner of our nation that Mr. Keith serves as a shining example to the people of the St. Marys community and beyond of what it means to be a leader of people, to touch young lives, and to work for the betterment of our common humanity.

The above text, in its entirety, is embossed on a St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Hall of Fame plaque permanently on display in Memorial High School.