William Gene Kennedy (born November 10, 1966) is an American
professional basketball referee for the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
(NBA).
Kennedy graduated from
St. Mary's High School in
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...
, and
Arizona State University. He refereed in the
Continental Basketball Association (CBA), refereeing the 1995 and 1996 CBA Finals. He began as an NBA referee during the
1995-96 NBA season. He has refereed five
NBA Finals games, as well as the
2010 FIBA World Championship
The 2010 FIBA World Championship was the 16th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship contested by the men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 September 2010. It was co-organised by the Inte ...
s and the
2012 Summer Olympics.
[
Kennedy ejected Boston Celtics' ]coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
Doc Rivers
Glenn Anton "Doc" Rivers (born October 13, 1961) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
After playing for Marquette Universit ...
from a game on March 17, 2009. Rivers was fined $25,000 for remarks he made about Kennedy after the game, and Kennedy was fined an undisclosed amount for his handling of the situation. Rivers reportedly used a gay slur towards Kennedy during the 2009 NBA Playoffs
The 2009 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2008–09 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeating the Eastern Conference champion Orland ...
.Rajon Rondo
Rajon Pierre Rondo (, born February 22, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A point guard, Rondo played two years of college basketball for ...
from a game, and Rondo used a gay slur towards Kennedy, which resulted in a one-game suspension for Rondo. Kennedy later revealed that he is gay.
References
External links
Basketball Reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Bill
Living people
1966 births
National Basketball Association referees
American LGBT sportspeople
Sportspeople from Phoenix, Arizona
Arizona State University alumni
Gay sportsmen
LGBT people from Arizona
LGBT African Americans
African-American sports officials
Continental Basketball Association referees
21st-century African-American people
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century LGBT people