Hall of Fame
Ken Denne, a former two-sport student-athlete and longtime school teacher, administrator and official, will be included in a group of seven individuals inducted Sept. 29 into the Slippery Rock University Athletic Hall of Fame.
Denne was a member of The Rock basketball program for three seasons, including one season (1957-58) as the team's leading scorer and another (1958-59) as a team captain, and played one season of collegiate baseball.
Shortly after receiving his undergraduate degree from Slippery Rock, Denne began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Duquesne High School. He subsequently served as an assistant coach at Brentwood High School on Long Island before returning to western Pennsylvania to become head coach at Serra Catholic and South Allegheny high schools.
Denne retired from coaching in 1977 but remained a health and physical education teacher at South Allegheny until 1987, when he became assistant principal at Clearfield High School and later at Punxsutawney High School.
A native of McKeesport and graduate of Duquesne High School, Denne also worked 22 years as a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) basketball and softball official. He served as president of the Westmoreland Basketball Officials in 1986.
Denne now resides in Wilmington, N.C., where he has remained active as a volunteer for the local Meals on Wheels, Elks National Hoop Shoot competition, Special Olympics, Senior Softball League and New Hanover Regional Medical Center.
