BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — Martin County High School alum Brady Dingess is no stranger to the basketball court. The Morehead State Eagle found his way back to Inez this summer after reaching the NCAA tournament in men’s college basketball.
“My college career is going great. I truly love it here,” the Inez native said. “I can easily call everyone here my family.”
The Mr. Kentucky Basketball candidate has won the Ohio Valley Conference season back-to-back. The Eagles made the NCAA tourney after winning the OVC tournament and gaining an automatic bid in Evansville this past season.
A dream came true for Dingess when he went to March Madness this year.
MSU took on Illinois in the first round and was only down one point at halftime. The Fighting Illini lost to the eventual champion UConn in the Elite 8.
MSU is producing NBA talent. The squad currently has three previous players in the NBA Summer League. Riley Minnix signed a contract with the San Antonio Spurs.
The former 15th Region Player of the Year will be a redshirt sophomore this upcoming season with four years of eligibility remaining.
Academically, he is less than two semesters from a bachelor’s degree in exercise science. The guard plans to earn a master’s degree and continue to shoot for the moon.
Dingess is hitting the grind this summer.
He will practice eight weeks in Morehead with three-a-day practices, along with strength and conditioning workouts. He plans to add sessions with an assistant coach and individual workouts on top of his already stacked regimen.
Somehow through his busy schedule, Brady came home for a few weeks.
“With that time, I wanted to give back,” Dingess said.
“I grew up always thinking, ‘How can I help kids in the mountains and my community?’ God has blessed me with the talent of basketball and a great work ethic, so I figured that was the best thing I could do through training and teaching other players.”
Brady managed to train over 150 kids during his short stint at home in Martin County.
“I feel like when I train others, I learn something myself,” he said. “It’s all details at the end of the day. Every little detail matters.”
Dingess has an abundance of options for his future. He has already been offered a paid assistant coaching position with a Division I team.
For now, the Morehead State Eagle wants to finish his education and “pursue all my dreams to the fullest” while playing basketball.
“We are all blessed to come from the mountains. We are wired differently. We come to ‘Outwork Every1,’ day in and day out.”