Owensboro native Randy Embry speak to local youth and others from the community about his storied basketball journey later this month as the featured guest at the Cliff Hagan Boys & Girls Club’s 41st Annual Steak & Burger Dinner. Embry’s career includes earning Mr. Basketball honors, playing at the University of Kentucky, scouting for the NBA’s Miami Heat, and being a Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022.
The Steak & Burger Dinner will be held at 5:30 p.m. on September 23 at the Mike Horn Unit location (3415 Buckland Square). The event is sponsored by Independence Bank.
Ticket prices are $100 per individual, $350 for one table with four guests, and $700 for two tables with eight guests. All past players of Coach Embry can purchase individual tickets for $65. To RSVP, contact Kalie Winkler at 270-685-4903 or [email protected].
Funds raised will be used to provide Academic Success and Healthy Lifestyle programs and activities for Cliff Hagan’s Owensboro location.
“This event will be a great experience for all attending. I think it’s the originality of the event itself,” said Winkler, Director of RD & Marketing. “Our guests love the experience and how it ties everyone from our Club youth, community leaders, and sports role models together.”
Embry first took the floor for the Owensboro High School Red Devils as a player in 1957, competing through his senior season in 1961. During that time frame, he put up a 50-point game, as a mere blimp of his impressive 1,610 career points.
Embry’s efforts helped him to be chosen to the All-State teams in his junior and senior seasons, before ultimately earning the coveted honor of Kentucky Mr. Basketball. With his name well-known across the Commonwealth, the ever-famous Head Coach Adolph Rupp recruited Embry, who then joined the Wildcats in 1962.
Ember logged 1,174 minutes with Kentucky, shooting 42.8% from the field while compiling a total of 393 career points, 115 rebounds, and 66 assists. Following his collegiate play Embry returned to his hometown, this time participating in a different sport.
He became the Daviess County High School head coach of baseball in 1967, leading the Panthers to a state championship in 1971 and staying in charge of the program until 1980. That’s when Embry made a triumphant return to the hardwood, taking over as the OHS boys’ basketball head coach from 1980-99. During that time, the Red Devils won more than 445 games and played in the Final Four of the Kentucky State Basketball Tournament three times.
Across all baseball and basketball teams he coached, Embry was able to amass 558 wins and eight regional titles, placing him amongst the elite in the Commonwealth in high school athletics.
After hanging it up as a coach, Embry joined the NBA’s Miami Heat in 1999 as a scout alongside former Wildcats teammate Pat Riley. Embry is still a scout to this day and has been instrumental in picking up key Heat players in Kentucky alumni Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, all while working from his home in Owensboro.
Embry was inducted into the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame on August 13, joining a class of 14.
“We are honored to be able to celebrate another hometown hero such as Mr. Embry,” Winkler said. “He has done a lot for our community and coached numerous players. We thought it was a great time to give back to him and celebrate his achievements with his hometown fans, family, and friends, and past players.”
