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Eastern Illinois Athletics wrapped up its 20th year as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference in May.  As a way to celebrate the many accomplishments, both team and individual during that time period, EIU conducted an online poll during the month of May for fans to help select the Top 20 athletes of the Panthers OVC Era.  During the month of June we will unveil the top 20 athletes as selected by the more than 2,500 fan votes submitted.  The original list of 40 athletes was comprised by a committee looking at a variety of criteria including Player of the Year, All-American selection and multiple time first-team All-OVC honors.  
 
#18 Rick Kaye (Basketball / 1995-98)
 
Kaye was a part of the EIU men's basketball team as the Panthers made the transition for the Mid-Continent Conference to the Ohio Valley Conference.   He was a two-time All-OVC selection and helped lead the Panthers to a second place finish in the OVC regular season standings as a senior in 1998 with a 13-5 league record.  He averaged 21.1 points per game as a senior and finished second in the league's scoring race by 0.4 points.  Kaye ended his career in EIU's top ten for scoring with 1,351 points, a total that now ranks 13th on the Panthers career chart.  He was the first player to earn All-OVC honors for the men's basketball team and one of only five EIU players to ever earn first team All-OVC accolades.
 
Kaye currently lives in the Nashville, Tennessee area and works as a senior licensing specialist for Microsoft.