Lionel Hollins to Receive Coach Wooden "Keys to Life" Award

PHOENIX - Athletes in Action, an international sports ministry, is recognizing Sun Devil Men's Basketball legend Lionel Hollins at their annual Keys to Life Breakfast.

Held annually during the NCAA Men's Final Four Weekend, the Coach John Wooden Keys to Life Breakfast recognizes individuals in the game of basketball who display outstanding character, leadership and integrity, both on and off the court. Hosted by Athletes in Action, the 27th annual breakfast features the presentation of the Keys to Life Award to a current or former basketball figure who best exemplifies the character and leadership for which the legendary Coach Wooden was known.

Sun Devil Athletics Hall of Famer Lionel Hollins is the 2024 Coach John Wooden Keys to Life Award recipient. Special to this year's event is the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award, in which the organization will be honoring valley sports icon Jerry Colangelo and his contributions to the game of basketball and his community. The duo will be honored at an event on Final Four weekend emceed by broadcaster Sage Steele. The breakfast will be held Saturday, April 6 at 8 AM MST (doors open at 7:30 AM) at the Phoenix Convention Center (111 N. 3rd St. West Building, Room 301 - Phoenix, AZ 85004). For more information about the Keys to Life Breakfast and to inquire about attending, please visit keystolife.us.

"Athletes in Action is honored to name Lionel Hollins as the recipient of the 2024 Coach John Wooden Keys to Life Award. Additionally, being able to honor Jerry Colangelo with the well deserving Lifetime Achievement Award is a small 'thank you' for his countless contributions to the game for which he's given his life's work," said Jared Miller, director of Athletes in Action Basketball. "Lionel and Jerry embody the characteristics that these awards personify."

KEYS TO LIFE AWARD
The 2024 Coach John Wooden Keys to Life Award will be presented to Lionel Hollins, a former Arizona State University Sun Devil standout. In the 1975 National Basketball Association draft, Hollins was drafted by the Portland Trailblazers with the sixth overall pick. As a point guard, he helped the Trailblazers win the 1976-1977 World Championship.

Following Hollins' playing career, he's had a successful coaching tenure—with stops at the college level (his alma mater ASU), as well as G League and NBA head coaching opportunities, most notably as the Memphis Grizzlies' most successful coach. Hollins joins a group of basketball greats who have received the honor, including David Robinson, Allan Houston, Hubert Davis, Rick Barnes, John Beilein, Scott Drew, Del Harris, Mark Price, Billy and Mary Kennedy, and Clark Kellogg—among others.

LIONEL HOLLINS AT ASU
A 1986 ASU graduate with a degree in sociology, Hollins is a 1975 charter member of the ASU Hall of Fame and was a two-time team Most Valuable Player who started every game in his two-year career and led ASU to a 43-13 (.768) record. He was the leading scorer at 17.3 points per game in 1973-74 as the Sun Devils went 18-9 and then averaged 16.7 points as ASU went 25-4 in 1974-75 and tied for the Western Athletic Conference title with a 12-2 record. In 1975, Hollins was a first-team All-American by The Sporting News and Converse Yearbook and earned third-team honors by the Associated Press and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).

A two-time All-Western Athletic Conference first-team selection, he led ASU to the NCAA Tournament in 1975, as ASU beat No. 10 Alabama (97-94 in Tempe in front of a building-record crowd of 14,733) and 16th-ranked UNLV (84-81 in Portland) before falling to top-ranked UCLA 89-75 in Portland.

He also led the team in assists and minutes per game in both his seasons with 3.1 assists in 31.1 minutes per game in 1973-74 and 5.1 and 31.4 in 1974-75. He was the ASU Holiday Tournament Most Valuable Player in 1974, as ASU beat Montana and Nebraska. ASU went 14-0 in his senior year (1974-75) at home in the newly-opened University Activity Center.

A 6-3 guard, Hollins played two years at Dixie Community College in St. George, Utah, before his stellar Sun Devil career. He was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the sixth pick overall in the 1975 NBA draft. He earned All-Rookie honors in 1975-76 and one year later, Bill Walton, Maurice Lucas and Hollins led the Blazers to their first and only NBA championship and. In his five years as a Trail Blazer, he was a three-time All-Defensive team pick and played in the 1978 NBA All-Star Game.

After a decade in the NBA that included three NBA Final appearance and stints with Philadelphia (1980-82), San Diego (1982-83), Detroit (1983-84) and Houston (1984-85), Hollins returned to Arizona State as an assistant coach for the 1985-86 and 1987-88 seasons. He has more than a dozen years of coaching experience at the NBA level, serving as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns (1988-95) and Vancouver Grizzlies (1995-1999), helping the Suns to a 394-180 overall record as they posted at least 50 wins and reaching the playoffs in seven straight seasons. The Suns reached the 1993 NBA Finals and won Pacific Division titles in 1993 and 1995.

Arizona State inducted Hollins into the Pac-10 Hall of Honor in 2006. The Pac-10 Hall of Honor inducted its first class in March of 2002 at the Pac-10 Tournament Hall of Honor Banquet. Byron Scott was ASU's initial inductee while Ned Wulk (2003), Fat Lever (2004) and Joe Caldwell (2005) followed. The Pac-10 Basketball Hall of Honor was created to recognize athletes and coaches who have made significant contributions to the tradition and heritage of each Pac-10 school's men's basketball program. Hollins jersey was retired and lifted to the rafters alongside Byron Scott back in 2011.

MEDIA RESOURCES
To request interviews, media resources or additional information, please email matt.dunn@athletesinaction.org.