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Don Meyer, a Western State assistant men’s basketball coach from 1968-70, will have his name associated with the likes of John Wooden, Henry Iba, Red Auerbach and Pat Summitt when he receives the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame during the Hall of Fame Family Reunion Dinner Aug. 12.
After serving as an assistant at Western under Bob Decker, Meyer went on to the University of Utah for two seasons to earn his Ph.D. and then accepted his first head coaching position at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn.
At NAIA Limpscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., Meyer spent 24 seasons. His team led the NAIA in scoring in five different seasons.
Meyer moved to Northern State for the 1999-2000 season, where he posted seven straight 20-win seasons and won four Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championships. He gained additional nationwide attention after returning to the court after an eight-week hospital stay from a car accident in September 2008. Meyer ended up losing part of his left leg, and during the operations physicians discovered cancer in his liver and intestines.
After his comeback, Meyer was awarded the Jimmy V. Award for Perseverance at the 2009 ESPY Awards. He also received the Legends of the Hardwood Award at the Final Four in April.