Charlie Wilkes (1985)

Coach Wilkes was hired by CCRI to be a math professor in 1967 and spent 40 years here.  He became an assistant coach under Coach Cullen for 30 years, retiring in 1997.  He became the first director of the Knight Campus fieldhouse when it opened in 1972 and continued to serve that role along with directing the intramural program until 1981.  During his time as Coach Cullen’s top assistant, both of them had accumulated a 580-216 record and they brought the teams to 6 regional titles, 4 national tournament appearances and that includes them having a 2nd and 3rd place finish.  Before CCRI, Coach Wilkes was an outstanding basketball and soccer player for Rhode Island College; in basketball he accumulated more than 1,000 points in his career at Rhode Island College and for his accomplishments, they named him to RIC’s 75th Anniversary Basketball Team.  He is a part of many halls of fames, those being the North Providence Hall of Fame, International Scholar Athlete Hall of Fame and the RIC Athletics Hall of Fame, the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, and has won awards such as the Words Unlimited Bill Cawley Achievement Award in 1997 and the William “Bill” Kutnieski Memorial Basketball Heritage Award.  That is given based distinguished contributions that have brought honor and prestige to the game of basketball.  After retiring from coaching, he started to work as the Athletic’s Academic Coordinator and with his work, he boosted the academic performance of many student-athletes.