Seidt, Kidd-Gilchrist Inducted into UK Athletics Hall of Fame

By Ryan Clark
CHS Communications Director

Two athletes with ties to the College of Health Sciences were inducted into the University of Kentucky's Athletics Hall of Fame during Hall of Fame Weekend, Sept. 25-26.

Asia Seidt, who graduated from the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program in the Class of 2023, was inducted this weekend with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who famously helped lead his Kentucky basketball team to the 2012 National Championship in New Orleans while utilizing help throughout the season from one of the College's speech pathologists, Meg Shake, MS, CCC-SLP. 

Asia Seidt

"It feels like I never left (UK)," Seidt said Friday. "(This honor) was very unexpected. But it is something you always wish for. My goals were pretty big." 

A member of the women's Swimming & Diving team from 2017-2020, Seidt earned countless honors after excelling in the classroom and the pool. In 2020, she was named UK's first-ever NCAA Woman of the Year — chosen from more than 600 applicants covering all female athletes in all sports in all three NCAA divisions — for her remarkable combination of athletic and academic achievements. 

In the pool, Seidt qualified for the NCAA Championships all four years at UK and totaled 21 All-America honors, including eight first-team honors. She also qualified for the 2020 Olympic Trials and swam for the United States for two years at the World University Games.

She was a 15-time SEC medalist, including four gold medals, five silver and six bronze, and Seidt still holds UK records in five events.

She won the 2019 Arthur Ashe Female Sports Scholar of the Year and was named to the official Academic All-America team for two years. She also won the SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year for all sports and currently works as a physical therapist.

Meanwhile, Seidt maintained a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology before attending UK’s physical therapy graduate program in the College of Health Sciences.

"Swimming was truly my first love,” Seidt said. “I want to thank my teammates — to be completely frank, that's the reason I'm standing here today.”

Seidt said her family has been the one constant in her life.

"I want to thank you  — I love you guys dearly and I hope you know how much that means," she said. "Lastly, I want to say thank you to the entire athletics department. I hope you continue to advocate for what is right and know that everything you give us athletes will always be remembered." 

 

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

For all his basketball talent and skills, Kidd-Gilchrist also had a crippling stutter, something he’d never learned to control. Instead, he coped by avoiding situations, such as public speaking. But being a part of the hugely successful Wildcat basketball team made hiding impossible.

For every interview, every speech, and every sit-down with a teacher or administrator, Meg Shake was there — sometimes as much as three times per week — to help Kidd-Gilchrist to prepare.

“It is always very hard to be open about what I go through,” Kidd-Gilchrist has said. “But I do know … there’s kids out there just like me. It’s always a pleasure to be here, but also to pay it forward.”

Friday, Kidd-Gilchrist said he was "taken aback" when he got the call about being a Hall-of-Famer.

"I'm just trying to be a role model," he said. "I always felt really connected here (at UK)."

When asked if Shake, his speech pathologist, would be recognized during his induction speech, Kidd-Gilchrist said, "For sure. She's my girl."

Kidd-Gilchrist was a consensus All-America Second Team selection and a member of the 2012 All-NCAA Final Four Team. He was named the South Regional Most Outstanding Player after averaging 21.5 points and 7.5 rebounds to get to the Final Four, and averaged 11.9 points and 7.4 rebounds for the season, in addition to being a defensive stopper. He was an All-SEC First Team pick and was selected No. 2 overall (behind Anthony Davis) in the 2012 NBA Draft.

In his professional career, he made the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 2013 and played eight years in the NBA. he has since become a national advocate for people dealing with stuttering, and he endorsed a bill passed by the 2024 Kentucky legislature that expanded insurance for speech therapy.

"This school ... it gave me a chance of always being successful in life, period,” Kidd-Gilchrist said. “I was down on myself in college when I first got here. I was lost as a person. I do have a stutter. So I want to thank the University in general. I feel the love of the fans and my speech therapist as well. I want to thank my family. I think about all the times you had to put your all into me as a person — I'm not even talking about basketball. Through that, I can stand up here and say I am the most confident person ever now.”