Jan 06 2026

Ken Black, Jerome Westbrooks, Michelle Fahy and Shane Coughlan will be inducted into Basketball Ireland’s Hall of Fame in 2026. The quartet will formally take their place as the 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th members of the prestigious hall at the Baskteball Ireland Annual Awards ceremony on Saturday, May 23rd at The Osprey Hotel in Naas. 

Westbrooks, Fahy and Coughlan all left their mark on Irish baskteball as players, with Coughlan becoming the first Irish men’s player to be inducted into Basketball Ireland’s Hall of Fame. Meanwhile, Black has brought huge success in particular to Neptune in the role of head coach, while also bringing his expertise to Irish schools basketball through Chanel College and Loreto Swords over a period of decades.

Ken Black

Ken Black is one of the most influential coaches in the history of the Irish national leagues as well as being a tremendous servant to the game at schools and the grassroots level.

A native of South Carolina, Black first came to Ireland in the autumn of 1984 having been recommended to the Burgerland Neptune head coach position by Terry Strickland, a former player of his at the University of South Carolina at Aiken.

Read more about Ken here.

Jerome Westbrooks

Jerome Westbrooks has been one of the great ambassadors of Irish basketball for his remarkable longevity, integrity and service as a player, coach and leader with Killester and beyond.

A native of Chicago and graduate of Eureka College, Illinois, Jerome first arrived in Ireland in the early autumn of 1981 after becoming the first American pro ever signed by Killester, the club he would play most with over the ensuing decade.

Read more about Jerome here.

Michelle Fahy

Michelle Fahy is largely considered the best post player in Irish basketball history for her magnificence at collegiate, national league and international level.

After coming up through the ranks with Maree and Calasanctius College in her native Galway, Fahy played NCAA D1 ball with Iona College, New York, where in her senior year (2003-4) she averaged a conference-leading 19 points a game.

Read more about Michelle here. 

Shane Coughlan

Shane Coughlan of Blue Demons BC fittingly becomes the first Irish men’s player to enter the BI Hall of Fame having played most of his career in this millennium.

Coughlan was the standout backcourt Superleague player of his generation, contesting a record 10 Superleague Cup finals from his rookie season as a teenager in 1998-99 to his last in 2014-2015 when he captained Demons to an astonishing treble; to this day that Demons side remain the only top-tier men’s team to go an entire season unbeaten in all competitions.

Read more about Shane here.