Forever on the Hill: Travis Hudson statue unveiled outside of Diddle Arena

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Saturday afternoon, a legendary head coach was immortalized on the Hill, commemorating 31 years and counting of volleyball success led by Travis Hudson.

“ Today, Travis joins the legendary WKU icon Ed Diddle as only the second person in WKU athletics history to have a statue in his honor,” WKU Director of Athletics Todd Stewart said. “Travis Hudson now has a distinction, the equivalent of being on the Mount Rushmore of WKU athletics, and deservedly so.”

Over 800 wins later, there are 14 conference tournament titles and 17 NCAA appearances that speak to the successes seen on the court for the teams that have played under Coach Hudson, but to be memorialized in a statue, that’s something that speaks much louder than statistics could ever do.

“He epitomizes leadership, he defines humility and he embodies the WKU spirit. He not only drives his team to do better, he drives all of us to do better,” WKU President Timothy Caboni said.

It was a moment in time where a man who has given his all to Hilltopper volleyball received the recognition he deserved.

For Hudson himself, the lifelike representation should serve as a motivation for the many others that will journey to Diddle Arena in the years to come.

“I’ve always said when I get to the end of my coaching career, when my name comes up, if the first thing people talk about is us winning volleyball games, that’ll be a shame,” WKU volleyball head coach Travis Hudson said. “It is part of the story, but it’s not the part of the story that I want people to remember.”

“I hope they talk about the way that I trusted people, the way I treated them, how much I loved Western Kentucky, and maybe an occasional story about how I helped change somebody’s life along the way, the way this beautiful hill helped change mine,” Hudson said.