Pratt’s jersey will be the 45th to hang from the rafters of Rupp Arena.
Pratt was born on Aug. 4, 1948. He grew up near the intersection of Gettysburg Avenue and Hillcrest Avenue, and his name began appearing in Dayton newspapers by the time he turned 15.
A note appeared in the Dec. 27, 1962, edition of the Dayton Daily News about Pratt getting ready for his first varsity start for Meadowdale in a game against Sidney.
Meadowdale coach Jack Jones said Pratt “does a fine job on teamwork” and had scored 38 points in two reserve games after starting the season on the freshman team.
A day later, the Journal Herald noted he scored 10 points as the Lions beat Sidney 55-50.
They later went on to make headlines when they upset Belmont — with stars Don May and Bill Hosket Jr. — in the tournament with Pratt being credited with holding Hosket without a field goal for the first time in his storied career.
By the time he was done, Pratt was an all-state performer and the all-time leading scorer in City League play with 1,395 points.
He spurned the hometown college for Kentucky, though, saying at the time the only reason was a desire to “get away from home and grow up while getting my education.”
Fifty years later, he told the Dayton Daily News turning down a scholarship offer from University of Dayton coach Don Donoher was not easy.
“My whole family grew up Flyer fans,” he said in 2016. “When Dayton offered me a scholarship, it was unbelievable — more so than if it would have been Ohio State.
“Coach Donoher and (assistant Chuck) Grigsby were great men. Don May was someone I looked up to in high school, him and Hosket were heroes to me.”
At Kentucky, the 6-foot-4 forward earned second-team All-America and was a two-time All-SEC selection while playing alongside Dan Issel and Mike Casey for coach Adolf Rupp. His 1,359 points still rank 26th in program history, and he was inducted into the UK athletics hall of fame in 2009.
After college, Pratt played two seasons in the American Basketball Association for the Kentucky Colonels, and he coached at UNC-Charlotte before becoming a pro scout and then going into broadcasting.
Pratt was inducted into the Kentucky (state) Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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