More on the Chiefs’ Drum Honoree Program
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State men’s basketball head coach Jerome Tang will serve as the Drum Honoree before Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Chicago Bears at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
At every home game, the Chiefs organization invites an honored guest – Drum Honoree – to bang the team’s 8-foot-tall drum and lead the Arrowhead faithful in the Chop right before kickoff. Those selected as Drum Honorees demonstrate Kansas City Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt’s best qualities, including vision, a pioneering spirit, compassion, humility and love for community.
Since the tradition was reintroduced at Arrowhead beginning in 2012, other Drum Honorees have included owner Clark Hunt, Voice of the Chiefs and K-State Athletics Hall of Fame member Mitch Holthus, Hall of Fame NFL Coach Dick Vermeil and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
Former Chiefs quarterback Chad Henne was the first Drum Honoree of the season.
The second-year head coach, whose team is set to tip off preparations for the 2023-24 season on Monday (September 25), led K-State to a memorable 2022-23 season that included 26 wins and a run to the Elite Eight despite being picked last in the preseason Big 12 poll with just two returning players. He was one of just two first-year Division I head coaches (and the 11th since 1996-97) to advance his team to the Elite Eight in 2022-23.
The 26 wins are the third-most in school history, trailing the school-record 29 in 2009-10 and the 27 in 2012-13, and just the eighth 25-win campaign and first since 2017-18. His win total was the second-most by a first-year Division I head coach. He coached a pair of All-Americans in current NBA players Keyontae Johnson and Markquis Nowell, the latter of whom was Bob Cousy Award winner as the nation’s top point guard.
In addition to earning Werner Ladder Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year honors, Tang was also selected as the Big 12 Coach of the Year by both the league coaches and The Associated Press, while he was honored as the District Coach of the Year by the NABC and USBWA. He was the runner-up for AP National Coach of the Year.
Tang was also honored as the Burns & McDonnell Coach of the Year at the 50th annual Kansas City Sports Awards presented by Populous in June.
Tang was selected as the 25th head men’s basketball coach at K-State on March 21, 2022, after serving as the one of the chief architects in helping build Baylor into a national powerhouse in his 19 seasons as an assistant and associate head coach from 2003 to 2022.
Season tickets for the 2023-24 season continue to be a hot commodity. Fans can purchase tickets by calling toll free at (800) 221.CATS (2287) and/or online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets.
