Wayne Estes (1943-1965) Center
Wayne Estes was an All-American basketball player for Utah State University from 1963 to 1965. Wayne still ranks as the third-leading scorer in program history with 2,001 points, as well as the fourth-leading rebounder (893). He holds school records for career points per game (26.7), career free throws made (469), consecutive 10-point games (64), points in a season (821), points per game in a season (33.7), points in a game (52) and rebounds in a game (28).
On the night of Feb. 8, 1965, Wayne played the last game of his college career against the University of Denver — a home game in USU’s own Nelson Fieldhouse. Wayne, who scored 48 points that night (trailing only his school-record 52 points in a game the year prior) eclipsed the 2,000-point mark with his final basket of the game, earning him 2,001 total points for his career.
After the game, Wayne and some friends stopped at the scene of a car accident near campus. While crossing the street, he brushed against a downed high-power line and was fatally electrocuted.
Wayne would have likely been a high draft pick in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1965, as he was the second-leading scorer in the nation with 33.7 points per game, just behind Rick Barry.
Wayne was posthumously awarded All-American honors by the Associated Press and consensus Second Team All-American distinction. In 1967, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Kirby Court
Blake Kirby grew up in Cache Valley and spent much of his youth on the Utah State University campus shadowing his father, Lynn Kirby, who worked for the university for almost 30 years. Blake graduated from USU in 1991 with a bachelor’s in accounting. He spent two years in the Consulting & Audit divisions of KPMG International with an emphasis on manufacturing and technology.
Blake has been involved in numerous entrepreneurial ventures in a variety of industries over the past 20 years, including finance, technology and manufacturing. He co-founded Inovar, Inc., and was CEO from 1999-2012. Inovar is headquartered in Logan, Utah and is the largest electronics manufacturing company in the Rocky Mountain region.
Supporting USU student-athletes has been a lifelong passion of Blake’s, and it is the realization of a dream to be involved in a project as significant as the Wayne Estes Center.
Larry H. (1944-2009) and Gail Miller Family Foundation
Larry H. Miller was born in 1944 and grew up in the Capitol Hill area of Salt Lake City, Utah, just a few blocks away from his schoolmate, Gail Saxton, born in 1943 in Sandy, Utah. They first met in the seventh grade and continued to date into their college years. Following his graduation from West High, Larry began working construction until 1964 when he went to work for American Auto Parts. Larry and Gail married on March 25, 1965, beginning their unique family and business partnership.
In 1966, Larry became the parts manager at a Utah auto dealer. He later moved his family to Denver, Colorado, to work as the parts manager for two Denver Toyota dealerships. His talents and drive were rewarded with a promotion to operations manager over five Toyota stores where he continued to excel. In 1979, Larry and Gail went into business for themselves with the purchase of the Toyota of Murray (Utah) dealership, becoming the first of many businesses that would comprise the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies.
Larry was awarded honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Utah, Weber State University, Salt Lake Community College and Utah Valley State College. He was named Utah’s 1997 Master Entrepreneur of the Year and received numerous other honors from business, civic and non-profit organizations. In 2006, Larry and Gail received the prestigious Giant in Our City Award from the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce. Gail received a Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Utah and Salt Lake Community College, an honorary Doctor of Humanities from Weber State University and the internationally-recognized ATHENA Award.
*Note: All bios are current and up-to-date as of Summer 2022.