EL PASO, TEXAS -- UTEP Men's Basketball Coach Doc Sadler announced on Monday that center Will Kimble (San Bernardino, Calif.) has been added to the Miner roster.
The 6-10, 230-pound Kimble has been granted a waiver of the transfer residency requirement by the NCAA. He will have a minimum of one year of eligibility. UTEP athletic department officials will petition the NCAA for a second year of eligibility in 2005-06.
Kimble and his mother Irene Donley-Kimble, a practicing physician, approached UTEP officials requesting permission for him to join the team. UTEP officials have granted the request following thorough consultation with Kimble; his mother; Kimble's physician, a renown cardiac specialist; and a UTEP physician. Both physicians have cleared Kimble to play.
Kimble played for two years at Pepperdine University (2000-01, 2001-02) before being diagnosed with a heart condition. He has since been implanted with a Medtronic Marquis DR dual chamber cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD).
"We're very excited," Sadler said. "Will is a very good basketball player. More importantly, he is a great role model for the rest of our team. He already has his undergraduate degree, and he's working on his master's degree. He's going to help in every facet of our basketball program."
"I don't think anybody understands how I feel or what I've been through," Kimble said. "I thank God, my family and my friends. It feels good to be back on the court."
He played in 49 games for the Waves as a member of two postseason tournament teams (2001 NIT, 2002 NCAA). He scored 10 points against Portland in the first round of the 2002 West Coast Conference tournament, and added 11 points versus St. Mary's in the semifinal round.
Kimble was rated the third-best prep center in the West by SoCal Hoops at Pacific High School in San Bernardino, Calif. He earned first team all-league and second team All-CIF honors after averaging 15.7 points, 12.6 rebounds and 4.0 blocks as a senior. He attended the National Student Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. as a prep.