Kenny Grant
{{short description|American basketball player}}
Kenneth Grant is an American-Swedish former professional basketball player and coach.
Career
A native of New York, Grant attended Saint Peter's College. From 1965 to 1968, he saw action in a total of 75 games for the Peacocks.{{Cite web |title=Ken Grant College Stats |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/ken-grant-1.html |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com |language=en}} A 6'1 forward, Grant helped Saint Peter's men's basketball team advance to the National Invitational Tournament semifinals in 1968. The 1967–68 Peacock team was inducted into the Saint Peter's University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.{{Cite web |date=2016-08-05 |title=Saint Peter's Athletics 33rd Hall of Fame Class Announced |url=https://saintpeterspeacocks.com/news/2018/7/5/general-saint-peters-athletics-33rd-hall-of-fame-class-announced |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=Saint Peter's University Athletics |language=en}} As an individual, Grant was inducted in 2001.{{Cite web |title=Ken Grant (2001) – Hall of Fame |url=https://saintpeterspeacocks.com/honors/hall-of-fame/ken-grant/171 |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=Saint Peter's University Athletics |language=en}}
After college, he worked a teacher,{{Cite web |date=1968-12-04 |title=Where AreThey Now? |url=https://repository.saintpeters.edu/downloads/t722h8817?locale=de |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=Pauw Wow}} before joining a basketball tour team compiled by Jim McGregor.{{Cite web |title=The Tour |url=https://vault.si.com/vault/2019/04/22/tour |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=Sports Illustrated Vault |language=en}} Grant went to Sweden in 1972 to play professional basketball. He was a member of the Hageby BK team in Norrköping between 1972 and 1983. In 1980, he won the Swedish national championship with the club{{Cite web |date=2002-12-28 |title=Här är utlänningarna som lyckats bäst i Norrköping |url=https://folkbladet.se/sport/artikel/har-ar-utlanningarna-som-lyckats-bast-i-norrkoping/j85gg4yj |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=Folkbladet |language=sv}} and subsequently competed in the FIBA Champions' Cup.{{Cite web |title=Champions Cup 1980–81 |url=https://pearlbasket.altervista.org/CC81.htm |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=Pearl Basket}}
Grant received Swedish citizenship{{Cite web |date=2006-10-18 |title=Basket (Pro B) : Petit Kenny deviendra Grant |url=https://www.20minutes.fr/sport/115306-20061018-basket-pro-b-petit-kenny-deviendra-grant |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=20 Minutes}} and participated in the 1983 European Championships.{{Cite web |title=Kenny Grant profile, European Championship for Men 1983 |url=http://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/player/p/pid/64906/sid/2259/tid/367/_/1983_European_Championship_for_Men_Final_Round/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518131820/https://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/player/p/pid/64906/sid/2259/tid/367/_/1983_European_Championship_for_Men_Final_Round/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 18, 2024 |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=FIBA}} The same year, he accepted an offer from France, joining Le Mans Sarthe Basket. He played for the Le Mans side in 1983–84{{Cite web |title=Histoire du MSB et du SCM |url=https://www.msb.fr/index.php/club/historique |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=Le Mans Sarthe Basket}} and later became the team's coach. Other coaching stints in France include Stade Français and Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez.{{Cite web |date=2019-09-27 |title=La photo: Nos héros américains |url=https://www.basketeurope.com/la-photo-nos-heros-americains/ |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=BasketEurope.com |language=fr}} He also held coach's clinics in African countries.{{Cite web |date=2020 |title="Basketball Diplomacy in Africa: An Oral History from SEED Project to the Basketball Africa League (BAL)" |url=https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/32908/1/BBDipAF2020%20Carmine%20Calzonetti%20and%20Kenny%20Grant.pdf |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=SOAS University of London}}
Grant got into agent business, in the early 2000s, he and his family moved to Lido Beach, New York. Grant and his wife, whom he met in Sweden, have three children.{{Cite web |date=2001-11-29 |title=Hall of Famer |url=https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=lbh20011129-01.1.18&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------- |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=Long Beach Herald}} Son Kenny Grant Junior attended Davidson College before embarking on a career in professional basketball.{{Cite news |date=2008-09-29 |title=Kenny Grant Jr klar för Dolphins |url=https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/2342230 |access-date=2024-05-18 |work=Sveriges Radio |language=sv}}