Ole Miss Dedicates Tuohy Basketball Center

It’s been a busy couple of months of dedications on the Ole Miss campus, from the Manning Center, to The Pavilion at Ole Miss, to Chucky Mullins Drive, and now the Tuohy Basketball Center.
The most recent dedication, held Saturday inside the the recently renamed Tuohy Basketball Center, honored the extraordinary contributions of Sean Tuohy and his family to the University of Mississippi.
“This is a perfect fit to have the Tuohy name on the basketball center, one of the best buildings on this campus,” Ole Miss Athletics Director Ross Bjork said. “It couldn’t get any better and be synonymous with our core values and what the Tuohy family stands for. These are great people, first and foremost, who happen to become successful and give back in a meaningful way. That’s the bottom line.”
Sean Tuohy, who played for the Rebels from 1979-82, is synonymous with Ole Miss basketball. The SEC all-time assists leader with 830, his 260 assists as a sophomore are an SEC single-season record. Tuohy also earned All-SEC honors three times and guided Ole Miss to three consecutive postseason appearances, including the 1981 SEC Tournament championship and the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance.
After his playing career at Ole Miss, Sean founded RGT Management, Inc., and has served as its president ever since. He and Leigh Anne, an interior designer and motivational speaker, are the proud of parents of one daughter, Collins, and two sons, Michael Oher and Sean Jr. The Tuohy family was the subject of Michael Lewis’ 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, and the subsequent film adaptation, The Blind Side, in 2009.
“We’re here today to recognize the Tuohy family and we are thankful for all that you do for Ole Miss, our broader community and for making the world a better place,” Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones said. “They are real people. It’s not all that you see in the movie or see in the book by Michael Lewis.
“What you see here today is evidence of some of the giving they do that’s visible for Ole Miss and their support for Ole Miss, but there are scores of things they do that don’t get recognized. They are people with a giving heart.”
Head women’s basketball Matt Insell spoke at the dedication, while head men’s basketball coach Andy Kennedy and head football coach Hugh Freeze delivered video messages to those in attendance, giving thanks to the Tuohy family for their contributions.
“When I go into homes, not only do tell recruits about the Tuohy family and all of the great things they have done here at Ole Miss, but I can tell them they’re going to practice every day in the Tuohy Basketball Center,” Insell said.
“You have given so much to this university and to me personally that it is such an honor that we can give back to you today by naming one of our best buildings on campus after you,” Freeze said. “You are so deserving. I can’t begin to tell you how much thanks we have for what you have done.”
To close the dedication, Sean Tuohy spoke about putting in work in the gym, a sports analogy the Tuohy family has lived out in each of their walks of life, which made it a perfect fit for the entire family.
The Tuohy Basketball Center, one of the premiere basketball practice facilities in the nation, embodies that same spirit as the practice home for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams.
“This is a building where kids show up and coaches have huge hopes for them,” Tuohy said. “They show up from all parts of the country at all different levels of skill. They come here with hope. It’s a hope that they become part of a team, it’s a hope they go on to of a successful career, and it’s a hope that get a college degree. It’s a building of hope.”
Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports Information