Tip Off Sports Luncheon

Ken Carter is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, education activist, and former high-school basketball player and coach. He is best known for the punitive measures he took against the ‘Richmond’ students of the 1999 season for not meeting the disciplinary standards set by him. Popularly known as the ''Great Lockout,'' the incident involved Carter banning his unbeaten high-school basketball team from the school's gymnasium for performing poorly in academics. He later suspended them for a season. From the time he joined 'Richmond High' as their coach, his prime motive was to bring in an overall improvement in the academic performance of the students and to encourage the youth to lead a crime-free life. His decision of imposing the lockout was highly opposed initially. However, later, Carter was widely appreciated for sticking to such stern disciplinary measures for the betterment of the students. The ''Great Lockout'' became the subject of the 2005 film 'Coach Carter.' Carter now works as a motivational speaker. He has also authored books and invested in several entrepreneurial projects to generate employment for the youth of his hometown.