Big South turns spotlight to late Longwood legend Jerome Kersey

The Big South Conference’s ongoing “Cultural Conversations” series turned its spotlight to Longwood men’s basketball Hall-of-Famer and 17-year NBA veteran Jerome Kersey for its latest episode Wednesday and brought in longtime Portland sports writer Kerry Eggers and Kersey’s daughter, Kiara Kersey Stephens, to paint a picture of the late Longwood legend.

Interviewed by former Longwood athletics assistant director of communications and broadcast voice of the Lancers Darius Thigpen, both Eggers and Stephens provided often-overlapping perspective and anecdotes on the podcast about Longwood’s most famous athletics alumnus and the namesake of the university’s home basketball court in Willett Hall.

The interview, produced by the Big South Conference, is available for free in both video and podcast format.

Eggers is the author of the upcoming book “Jerome Kersey: Overcoming The Odds” that will be released on Sept. 28 and was produced by a team that included Longwood University alum Rohn Brown ’84, former Longwood University Sports Information Director Hoke Currie, and Dementi Milestone Publishing President Wayne Dementi.

That book, which is available for pre-order now from Dementi Milestone Publishing at www.dementibooks.com and will be released next Tuesday, Sept. 28, profiles Kersey’s life from his humble beginnings in Clarksville, Va., to his rise on the court at Longwood University and in the NBA, and his charitable post-basketball pursuits in the Portland area and beyond.

Kersey, who won an NBA Championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 1999 and took second place in the 1987 NBA Dunk Contest behind Michael Jordan, passed away at the age of 52 in 2015. Prior to his death, he was inducted into the Longwood Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class in 2005, completed his Longwood degree requirements in 2006, and was the keynote speaker at the University’s 2009 commencement ceremony.

For more information about the “Jerome Kersey: Overcoming The Odds” biography, visit Dementi Milestone Publishing or email [email protected]. Sales from the book will go toward two charitable causes: The Jerome Kersey Foundation and Longwood’s Jerome Kersey ’84 Men’s Basketball Scholarship Fund.