Kenny Klein, the beloved longtime Louisville Athletics sports information director of four decades who saw the Cardinals through two men's basketball national **** les and an ascendance through five conferences, has died. He was 65.
Klein's family confirmed his death to The Courier Journal on June 25. The Southside, Tennessee, native spent 39 years working for the Cardinals — arriving in 1983 as a sports information director and retiring in 2022 as a senior **** ociate athletics director.
During a June 18 meeting of the University of Louisville Athletic **** ociation board, athletics director Josh Heird said Klein had been hospitalized after "a pretty tragic event a week ago" and was "battling to survive."
Klein was best known as the primary spokesperson for Louisville men's basketball — logging 1,309 consecutive games, according to a university release when he announced his retirement. He worked alongside two Hall of Fame coaches in Denny Crum and Rick Pitino, then moved into a part-time position as a consultant when the program changed hands from Chris Mack to Kenny Payne.
In 2010, Pitino famously gifted Klein a red Lexus IS 350 convertible for his 50th birthday. Klein spent the past two seasons as a special advisor to the coach at St. John's. In multiple posts to X during that stretch, Pitino referred to him as his "main man."
Klein's family confirmed his death to The Courier Journal on June 25. The Southside, Tennessee, native spent 39 years working for the Cardinals — arriving in 1983 as a sports information director and retiring in 2022 as a senior **** ociate athletics director.
During a June 18 meeting of the University of Louisville Athletic **** ociation board, athletics director Josh Heird said Klein had been hospitalized after "a pretty tragic event a week ago" and was "battling to survive."
Klein was best known as the primary spokesperson for Louisville men's basketball — logging 1,309 consecutive games, according to a university release when he announced his retirement. He worked alongside two Hall of Fame coaches in Denny Crum and Rick Pitino, then moved into a part-time position as a consultant when the program changed hands from Chris Mack to Kenny Payne.
In 2010, Pitino famously gifted Klein a red Lexus IS 350 convertible for his 50th birthday. Klein spent the past two seasons as a special advisor to the coach at St. John's. In multiple posts to X during that stretch, Pitino referred to him as his "main man."
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