CINCINNATI — When Pat Kelsey stepped onto the Elder High School campus late Friday afternoon, he felt at home.
"This place shaped me," said Kelsey, who was named the University of Louisville men's basketball coach on March 28. "The people. The teachers. The coaches. Just to be around these guys — see some of my former teammates, being in the building again. I'm just honored to be back home."
The 1993 Elder graduate and point guard on the '93 Division I state championship team was the featured speaker of the 47th annual Elder Sports Stag Friday night.
The packed Elder Memorial Fieldhouse drew an attendance of 1,010 for the stag, according to Elder alumni director Brian Bill.
Kelsey reconnected with family, friends, teammates and classmates throughout the late afternoon and evening. He conducted several media interviews before the event and went down memory lane as the video replay of the '93 state final played on the large screen inside the Schaeper Center.
Kelsey shared a warm embrace with Elder basketball coach Joe Schoenfeld and connected with his '93 teammates.
"To this day those guys have a special, special bond," Kelsey said. "It was awesome raising that trophy and cutting down the nets. It's just the love that we have for each other years and years after that special run in 1993."
Schoenfeld introduced Kelsey to a large crowd inside the Elder Memorial Fieldhouse.
"Anytime you see Pat your happiness level just goes up automatically," Schoenfeld said. "To see him back there in the setting and the new Louisville coach is so exciting for him. He's done so well everywhere he's been. He's got that recipe of getting people excited and finding the right people. And good people want to be coached by good people. It just makes you feel good he's doing so well. I couldn't be happier for him."
Schoenfeld said Kelsey was a natural leader at Elder among his teammates. Schoenfeld said he knew Kelsey would be a successful coach one day.
"Pat is a guy he could do absolutely anything," Schoenfeld said. "If he didn't waste his time coaching he would be like the world's best marketing executive. He's so good at all that kind of stuff. He'd be an awesome teacher. He could be an awesome car salesman. Whatever he does he's just got that it factor about him. He was so good at basketball, so knowledgeable about basketball. So good with people. Every box checked to be a good basketball coach. He's got that."
Known for his high-energy style, Kelsey, a former Xavier University player, has also coached at Winthrop and College of Charleston and served as an assistant at Wake Forest and XU after Elder. He has 261 career wins as an NCAA Division I head coach in 12 seasons.
He's fully embraced the past few weeks at Louisville with a significant amount of attention going toward the Cardinals' roster.
"We've been flying around literally and figuratively," Kelsey said. "With the transfer portal and with the NIL (name, image and likeness) and the seismic shift of the collegiate industry it's different this spring. It used to be where you had your whole roster set. Everything was set getting ready for guys to come to summer school. But, more often than not you're in talent acquisition mode and roster management. That's what we've been doing talent. A lot of recruiting visits, a lot of flying around the country. And we love where the pieces are falling in place."
Despite his very busy schedule, for a few hours Friday night Kelsey was all about Elder. The audience loved every moment he spoke.
He told the stag audience that attending Elder was the greatest decision of his life. He shared what it was like as an Elder player during his high school career.
Throughout the night, he expressed his gratitude to be a part of the Elder family.
"Fifteen NCAA tournaments — the biggest stage and the brightest lights," Kelsey told the audience. "And I'm going to tell you this from the bottom of my heart, no feeling that I've ever had in sports like running out that door there on a Friday night."
