Luke Kennard 2013-14 Season:
CHICAGO (March 21, 2014) — In its 29th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Luke Kennard of Franklin High School as its 2013-14 Gatorade Ohio Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Kennard is the first Gatorade Ohio Boys Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Franklin High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Kennard as Ohio’s best high school boys basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March, Kennard joins an elite alumni association of past state boys basketball award winners, including Dwight Howard (2003-04, SW Atlanta Christian Academy, Ga.), Chauncey Billups (1993-94 & 1994-95, George Washington HS, Colo.), Jason Kidd (1991-92, St. Joseph Notre Dame HS, Calif.), Paul Pierce (1994- 95, Inglewood HS, Calif.) and Chris Bosh (2001-02, Lincoln HS, Texas).
The 6-foot-6, 185-pound junior guard averaged 41 points, 10.4 rebounds, four assists and two steals while shooting 84 percent from the free throw line this past season, leading the Wildcats (20-4) to the Division II sectional final. A First Team All-State selection as a sophomore, Kennard tallied a career single-game high and set a school record with a 59- point effort in a 72-64 win over Monroe in February. He is ranked as the nation’s No. 16 recruit in the class of 2015 by Rivals and No. 24 by ESPN.
Kennard has maintained a weighted GPA of 4.26 in the classroom. A member of the National Honor Society and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, he has volunteered locally collecting and delivering canned goods to families in need and as a youth basketball coach.
“No player has made me feel more helpless as an opposing coach than Luke Kennard,” said Ben Buehner, head coach at Valley View High. “He makes everyone on the floor better and he is a threat from anywhere on the court. To me there is no other person who is as valuable to their team’s success as he is.”
Kennard will begin his senior year of high school this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Kennard joins recent Gatorade Ohio Boys Basketball Players of the Year Jack Gibbs (2012-13, Westerville North High School), Adolphus Washington (2011-12, Taft High School), Travis Trice (2010-11, Wayne High School), Jordan Sibert (2009-10, Princeton), C.J. McCollum (2008-09, GlenOak High School), B.J. Mullens (2007-08, Canal Winchester High School), and Jon Diebler (2006–07, Upper Sandusky) among the state’s list of former award winners.