Roy Williams gives up national championship game seat to honor Bo Ryan’s late father
.JPG "North Carolina coach Roy Williams talks with Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan prior to their game on Thursday, March 26, 2015 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.")
North Carolina coach Roy Williams did a pretty cool thing on Monday night. He gave up his seat for the Duke-Wisconsin national championship at Lucas Oil Stadium in honor of Butch Ryan, the father of Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan.
It was a symbolic gesture, but one that had to mean a lot to Bo Ryan, whose father died in August 2013. Bo and Butch Ryan attended Final Fours together, and, according to this, Butch Ryan held up a sign that said, “Bring on Duke” after Ryan’s Division-III Wisconsin-Platteville team went undefeated.
The Wisconsin basketball program wrote about Williams’ gesture in a post on Twitter on Monday. The post read, “Sect. 140, Row A, Seat 13 will be left open for tonight’s game. Roy Williams has donated that seat to the memory of the late Butch Ryan.”
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This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Roy Williams gives up national championship game seat to honor Bo Ryan’s late father."