July 14, 2004
ATLANTA–Georgia Tech’s football locker room at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field will be named in honor of former Tech quarterback and long-time radio announcer Kim King, Director of Athletics Dave Braine announced.
King will be formally honored in a pregame ceremony before the Yellow Jackets’ Oct. 2 game against Miami.
Tech’s new football complex at the north end of Bobby Dodd Stadium was constructed as part of the two-year stadium renovation and expansion that was completed last fall. The impressive new locker room covers 7,000 square feet.
A native of Atlanta, King has more than 40 years of association with Georgia Tech dating back to his freshman season in 1964. After a standout prep career at Brown High School, King was a three-year starter under center, leading the Jackets to berths in the Gator and Orange Bowls. One of the highlights of his career came when he helped the Jackets to a victory over eighth-ranked Tennessee in 1966 and was named National Back of the Week by Sports Illustrated magazine. King still ranks among Tech’s Top 10 for career passing yardage.
Since his playing days for legendary coach Bobby Dodd, King has remained an integral figure in Tech athletics. He chaired the initial feasibility study for what ultimately became the Arthur B. Edge Center. At the time of its completion in 1982, the Edge Center was a significant move by the Institute toward a commitment to intercollegiate athletics. In 1988, he was a driving force behind the agreement between the State Board of Regents and the Grant family heirs to add the name of Bobby Dodd to Tech’s home field.
For the last 30 years, his insightful analysis has been an integral part of Tech football broadcasts on radio. Originally dubbed the “Young Lefthander” by long-time radio voice Al Ciraldo, King’s perspective from the booth has been popular with Tech fans for generations.
“I’m speechless,” said King, who earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial management from Tech in 1968. “This is a great honor and overwhelming when you think of all the great players who have played at Georgia Tech. Nothing could honor me more than to have my name on the locker room. It’s truly one of the highlights of my life.”
King was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1978 and the State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, and in 1998 he was honored by the Athletic Association with the Total Person Alumnus Award. He was also named one of Georgia Tech’s “50 Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century” in 2000.
“We are very pleased to be able to bestow this honor on a man who has been such an integral part of Georgia Tech for more than 40 years,” said Braine. “Kim truly loves Georgia Tech, and especially Tech football. He has been a tremendous ambassador for the program, and it is very appropriate that his name be displayed in such a prominent place.”
Head football coach Chan Gailey said, “Kim King is the true Tech Man, from the way he played on the football field to his successful business career, and most importantly, in the way he has lived his life. He’s a tremendous role model for our student-athletes, so it’s only fitting to have his name on our locker room.”
King, who played with a gritty determination and attitude at quarterback, has shown those same attributes in his adult life, when in 1999, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.
In May, King was diagnosed with secondary acute myelogenous leukemia. He returned to the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, where he was again under the care of program director, Dr. Bart Barlogie.
“I had been diagnosed in May, but through experimental treatments and heavy chemotherapy, on July 8, we achieved complete remission,” King explained. “With no leukemia cells, I am scheduled to have some follow-up therapy in August to extend that remission.
“It means I’m very excited about the upcoming football season and working on the radio with Wes (Durham) and continuing my association with Tech.”
One of Atlanta’s foremost business leaders for many years, King is President of Kim King Associates, Inc., the commercial real estate development firm he founded in 1972. He was recently named Georgia’s “Most Respected CEO” for 2004 by Georgia Trend magazine.
King also served as finance chairman for former Georgia Governor Roy E. Barnes and as Chairman of the Board of Georgia Public Broadcasting. He has been active in fund-raising activities for cancer research as well as the Bobby Dodd Charities Foundation, Inc.
Kim and his wife, Gail, have three children and two grandchildren.
“Next to my family and professional life, Tech is the most important thing I’ve ever been associated with,” said King. “It is a tremendous institution and one that I’m immensely proud of.”
