Bakke Enters Rhodes Hall of Fame

For his accomplishments as the star point guard for a nationally ranked men’s basketball team at Rhodes College (1979-81), Assistant Athletic Director Matt Bakke was honored in November with induction into the Rhodes College Athletics Hall of Fame.
Bakke led two of the best teams in men’s basketball history at Rhodes, then known as Southwestern at Memphis. During the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons, the Lynx won the conference and played in the NCAA Tournament, achieving national rankings and climbing as high as seventh in the nation. Bakke led the team in assists and minutes played, while scoring eight points per game and guarding the best guards on opposing teams. According to Rhodes College Hall of Fame coach Herb Hilgeman, “Bakke was a competitor who could do it all – lead, pass, shoot, play defense and make clutch plays. He was the coach on the court.”

Bakke eventually made coaching his profession, serving Rhodes as an assistant coach for eight years before going on to Millington Central and then to MUS, where he coached basketball, cross country, and track. He served 13 years as assistant coach under Basketball Head Coach Jerry Peters until Peters’ retirement. As head coach from 2012 to 2019, he recorded 109 wins.
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