Athlete – Basketball
Leroy Byrd, III, was born to Leroy Byrd, Jr., and Lois Byrd on February 11, 1963, in Lexington, Ky. He spent most of his younger years playing every sport imaginable with the neighborhood kids on Ohio Street in Lexington’s East End. While he was an outstanding baseball player in Lexington’s Parks and Recreation leagues, Leroy’s true love was the game of basketball. The Byrd family, including Leroy’s older sister, Cathy Byrd, later moved to the North End, and Leroy became a star basketball player for the Winburn Warriors. Leroy helped lead his Winburn Junior High School basketball team the city championship title.
Leroy continued his winning ways from 1978-81 at Bryan Station High School, calling on his savvy skills as a point guard to help lead the Defenders to a state tournament and a top-five national ranking. Starting at the varsity point guard position throughout his high school career, Leroy earned All-City honors in both his junior and senior years. Named Bryan Station’s most valuable player, he averaged double figures in scoring and also led the team in assists and steals. Some of his other honors as a Defender include being named to the Fayette County Invitational All-Tournament team, the Louisville Invitational All-Tournament team, playing in the Derby Classic All-Star Game, and being named Lexington’s most valuable player. Leroy received the Jack Givens Award for top male athlete from the Urban League of Lexington. He was also selected to the Dirt Bowl All-American Team, with the Dirt Bowl being one of the top summer leagues in the country.
After his outstanding high school career, Leroy signed to play Division 1 basketball with Coach Jerry “Tark the Shark” Tarkanian’s fast-paced Runnin’ Rebels at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He later transferred to the University of Kentucky and was named the Wildcats’ most exciting player and the team’s spark plug. His stellar foot speed, crisp, clever passing, and brilliant ball-handling made Leroy a crowd favorite for the fans at Rupp Arena and earned him the nickname of “Baby Magic.” Standing at 5’5”, Leroy is the shortest player to ever play basketball for three Naismith Hall of Fame coaches: Jerry Tarkanian, Joe B. Hall, and Eddie Sutton.
After graduating from UK with a bachelor’s degree in Social Work, Leroy played professionally for the world’s greatest dribbler, Marcus Haynes on the Harlem Magicians traveling basketball team. He went on to play in the World Basketball League for the Vancouver Night Hawks, where he averaged double figures in scoring and led the team in 3-pt. field goal percentage, assists, and steals per game. Leroy turned down a professional contract to play in Japan.
Leroy resides in Lexington with his wife, Wanda. His oldest son, Jeremy, lives in Atlanta, GA, and their youngest son, Jarvis, is a student at Stillman College, an HBCU in Tuskegee, AL. Their middle son, Jalen, is deceased.
