#23, Brandon Kimbrough. This lightening-quick point guard wore the number 23 on his Panther jersey for three years: 2004-2007. Today he becomes the only the 23rd player in the storied history of Drury Panther basketball to be enshrined as a member of the Sports Hall of Fame. While all 23 basketball inductees have had unique careers, one constant has stood the test of time. All 23 were winners...and Brandon Kimbrough is a player with the same pedigree. He is a winner, he enables those around him to be winners, and he is one of the best basketball players to have ever worn the “scarlet and gray.”
Kimbrough came to Drury in the fall of 2004 after one year at SMS-West Plains. That fall he rejoined his Springfield (Mo.) Glendale high school coach, Steve Hesser, who had just taken the reigns of the Drury program. With Hesser on the sidelines and Kimbrough serving as “field general” over the next three years, the Panther teams had a 63-25 record (.715 winning percentage). Kimbrough started all 88 games and, after missing the NCAA-II tournament field in 2005, the “Kimbrough-led” Panthers qualified for back-to-back NCAA-II national tournaments in 2006 and 2007. In his first year at Drury Kimbrough earned Heartland Conference First Team honors and was the conference Newcomer-of-the-Year. He led the Panthers to an 11-0 league mark and a share of the conference championship. Teams quickly realized Kimbrough was the the Panthers’ “go to” player and he soon became Drury’s “Mr. Clutch.” Time after time Kimbrough won games in the final seconds. For three years a close game in the final minute soon became known as “Kimbrough time.”
After playing in the NCAA-II Heartland Conference for one year, Kimbrough took his considerable talents to the Great Lakes Valley Conference in 2005-06. Neither he nor the Panthers missed a beat. Back-to-back 21-9 seasons, with Kimbrough leading the team in assists and second on the team in scoring each year, earned Drury two trips to the national tournament. Kimbrough earned All-GLVC honors each year and concluded his three-year Drury career by being ranked among Drury’s best in scoring with 1,052 career points and ranked 7th on the all-time assist list with 434. At the end of his career he was presented with the prestigious Dr. Curt Strube Memorial Award for leadership and athletic excellence. That night Panther head coach Steve Hesser commented, "In all of my years Brandon Kimbrough is, without a doubt, the greatest competitor I've ever coached.”
Five years later Kimbrough’s career is remembered even more fondly by Hesser. “I have known Brandon since he was a 14 year old high school freshman basketball player. He comes from a tremendous family; he is a winner and a heck of a competitor. On the floor he saw the game before it happened. He made the game a lot easier for the people he played with and he is the ultimate professional who brought it every day.” Hesser concluded, “He is a class act.”
Kimbrough graduated from Drury on May 12, 2007 with a major in Exercise and Sport Science. After his graduation he played professionally in Europe and has since returned to Drury, bringing with him his professional basketball skills and outstanding personal character. He is now a member of the Panther coaching staff while working toward his graduate degree. As a player he was a leader and made his teammates better. As a coach he provides much the same: helping develop better players while molding quality people.
On this date, November 24, 2012, for his accomplishments and success in athletics and academics the Drury Community, along with his family and friends, proudly witness the enshrinement of #23, Brandon Kimbrough, into the Drury Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 2012.
