By LARRY VAUGHT

John Calipari will be the keynote speaker for the North Carolina-Wilmington basketball tip-off dinner Sept. 29 at the Burney Center on campus. Tickets are not yet on sale but if you are a UK fan who would like to attend, you will be welcome.

“Obviously he has ties here because he went here and played basketball here,” said Adam Fearing, executive director of the Seahawk Club. “We reached out to the UK athletics department and he (Calipari) was nice enough to take the time to help us out with this. But it will be open to everyone. We usually seat by priority. If you are a Seahawk Club member you will get first dibs but we are not going to turn anyone away who wants to come.”

The club is finalizing pricing now but all proceeds go to help the UNCW basketball program. Kentucky assistant coach Joel Justus also played at the school.

“Being a mid-major school, things like this make a big difference for us and it’s really great to see John Calipari willing to help us out this way,” Fearing said.