Kenny Battle, an Aurora native, college basketball standout, and the first person from the City to be drafted to the National Basketball Association (NBA), was honored at Aurora’s Tuesday night City Council meeting for his impressive basketball career and extraordinary representation of Aurora on the national stage.
Mayor John Laesch proclaimed October 10, Battle’s birthday, as “Kenny Battle Day” in the city of Aurora in perpetuity, plus presented Battle with a commemorative city of Aurora basketball jersey and showed a video tribute to Battle with interviews from formers teammates, coaches, and close friends.
“It’s a true honor for me to issue this proclamation,” mayor Laesch said. “As a farmboy from Newark, it was always awesome watching him play in high school and college.”
Battle starred on the West Aurora Blackhawks legendary 1984 Varsity Boys Basketball team that finished third in the IHSA Class 2A State Basketball Championship. Collegiately, Battle dominated in two seasons at Northern Illinois University before transferring to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he helped lead the “Flyin’ Illini” to an NCAA Final Four appearance in 1989. He was then selected in the first round of the 1989 NBA Draft, later competing in the 1990 Slam Dunk Contest and the 1990 NBA Playoffs as a member of the Phoenix Suns.
“I have always been an Auroran,” Battle said. “The entire coaching staff at West Aurora believed in me, pushed me, and made me excel. I love everybody that believes in Aurora. Doesn’t matter which side of the river you’re on, Aurora is Aurora.”
Battle’s memorable basketball career also includes induction into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame, serving as a member of both Northern Illinois University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Men’s Basketball All-Century Teams, and becoming the namesake of the Kenny Battle Leadership Award, presented yearly to an Illini player who demonstrates the most hustle throughout the season.
— City of Aurora government