Emcee
Bill Raftery 
Bill Raftery is one of America’s favorite television sports announcers and has worked for CBS Sports for over 30 years. Raftery has called many UConn games for both CBS and ESPN over the years and now also works for Fox Sports. Raftery has been part of the CBS Sports Final Four crew for the past three years. Raftery is a coaching contemporary of Coach Rowe, serving as the head coach at Fairleigh Dickinson (1963-68) and Seton Hall (1970-81).



Speakers
Geno Auriemma

Geno Auriemma has developed the UConn women’s basketball team into one of the most dominant programs in the country in any sport. Auriemma, a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, has led the Huskies to 11 NCAA Championship titles during his career and 45 conference titles. Auriemma is a nine-time Associated Press Coach of the Year. He also led the United States Olympic Team to gold medals in both the 2012 and 2016 games.


Jim Calhoun
Jim Calhoun led UConn to three national championships as the head coach of the Husky men’s basketball team from 1986-2012 and is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. His building of the Huskies into a national power is unprecedented in college basketball history as UConn made 18 trips to the NCAA tournament under Calhoun with nine Elite Eight appearances. Calhoun also led UConn to seven Big East tournament championships and ten regular season championships.


Tony Hanson
Tony Hanson played for Coach Rowe at UConn from 1973-77 and remains the third-leading scorer in school history with 1,990 – only surpassed by Chris Smith and Richard Hamilton. Hanson helped lead UConn to the 1976 NCAA Sweet 16 and a trip to the 1974 and ‘75 NITs. Hanson had a very successful professional career in Italy, France, England and Ireland. Hanson later coached in England and received the Master of British Empire for his work with young people and basketball.


Kevin Ollie
Since the time Kevin Ollie joined the UConn family as a freshman student-athlete in the fall of 1991, he has considered Coach Rowe one of his closest confidants and advisors. Ollie was a two-time team captain at UConn and earned All-Big East honors. After a 13-year NBA career, Ollie became an assistant coach for the Huskies in 2010 and took over as the head coach following the retirement of Jim Calhoun in 2012. Ollie led UConn to the 2014 NCAA national championship in just his second year on the job and has guided the Huskies to two NCAA tournament appearances overall.


Dom Perno
Dom Perno enjoyed UConn basketball success as a student-athlete, assistant coach and head coach. Perno played for the Huskies from 1960-64 and led the Huskies to their first-ever trip to the Elite Eight as a senior as the Huskies upset Princeton in the Sweet 16. He later served as an assistant under Coach Rowe at UConn from 1972-76, including a trip to the 1976 Sweet 16. Perno was UConn’s head coach from 1977-86 and led the Huskies to an appearance in the 1979 NCAA tournament. He still ranks third among UConn head coach in career wins.


Bob Staak
Bob Staak played for UConn from 1968-71 and in his junior and senior seasons for Coach Rowe. Staak scored 1,288 career points, which was fourth in school history at the time of his graduation. Staak was a two-time team captain was team MVP in his senior year. Staak was an assistant coach for two years at UConn under Coach Rowe and later became the head coach at Xavier and Wake Forest. He also had a long career as an NBA assistant coach and scout.



Robert “Snake” Taylor
Snake Taylor played for Coach Rowe at UConn in 1969-70 and averaged double-figures. He later went on to become an officer in the United States Army and earned undergraduate, master’s and MBA degrees. Following his military career, Taylor worked for Texas Instruments and has had a long and successful independent insurance career. He also has a majority equity positions in an apparel operation that sources directly from China and India, as well as a software company.


Mike Tranghese
Mike Tranghese is widely regarded as one of the most influential and innovative administrators in college athletics. He helped create the Big East Conference and later served as the league’s commissioner. Tranghese was the league’s first full-time employee in 1979 working with the legendary Dave Gavitt. He succeeded Gavitt as the commissioner in 1990 until he retired from that position in 2009. Tranghese was later on the selection committee for the first-ever College Football Playoff.