The University of Michigan-Flint hosted “Trey Day” on May 14 in the Riverfront Conference Center in downtown Flint to celebrate Flint-native and 2026 National Collegiate Athletics Association Men’s Basketball National champion, Trey McKenney.
McKenney was awarded the key to the city of Flint by Flint City Mayor Sheldon Neely and had a resolution passed by the Genesee County Board of Commissioners to recognize May 14 as “Trey Day” in Genesee County to honor his achievements.
Attendees for the event could pick up shirts depicting McKenney holding the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship trophy and line up after the presentation to take photos with McKenney.
McKenney said he was “really excited and grateful” when he first heard about Trey Day.
“When you put the work in for this type of stuff, and you do, like, very extraordinary things like that national championship, you don’t really do it for attention,” McKenney said.
Todd Covert, McKenney’s former basketball coach at St. Mary Preparatory High School, said that Trey was always there, always ready to work.
“When it’s 6 o’clock in the morning, on a February. When it’s cold, and windy and you’ve gotta walk across campus, there he is.” Covert said
Event organizer and Executive Director of Explore Flint & Genesee, Amari Steward, said that local businesses were essential to put the event together.
“Business owners involved donated not only their time, their talent, but their effort in order to secure T-shirts for the event, reception for those who will be participating, and all the things all the bells and whistles,” Steward said.
Sheldon Neely (left) presents the key to the City of Flint to Trey McKenny (right). Photo taken on May 14 by Andres Ochoa/MTimes. 
Executive Director of Explore Flint & Genesee Amari Steward (left) and Trey McKenney (right) speaking on stage. Photo taken on May 14 by Andres Ochoa/MTimes. 
UM-Flint Chancellor Lawrence B. Alexander speaking with Trey McKenney. Photo taken on May 14 by Andres Ochoa/MTimes. 
Delrico J. Loyd (middle) and Dale K. Weighill (right) present the resolution by the Genesee County Commissioners to recognize Trey Day to Trey McKenney (left). Photo taken on May 14 by Andres Ochoa/MTimes. 
Trey McKenney taking photos with attendees in the Riverfront Conference Center. Photo taken on May 14 by Andres Ochoa/MTimes.
All local organizations responsible for supporting the event include the Office of Genesee County, UM-Flint, Explore Flint & Genesee, the City of Flint, the Community Foundation for Greater Flint, Ven Johnson Law, Brown Consulting Group, Bedrock Apparel and Complete Towing.
Steward, who was acting as the speaker for the event, was joined by the County Commissioners Delrico J. Loyd and Dale K. Weighill, as well as Neely, in speaking for the “Trey Day” celebration ceremony. Neely thanked McKenney directly for his contributions to the city.
“Trey, your mark, has been placed upon this community forever,” Neely said.
UM-Flint Chancellor Lawrence B. Alexander also spoke along with Mateen Cleaves, the Player Development Coach for the Phoenix Suns, and a former member of the Michigan State University “Flintstones”.
“For generations, this city has produced extraordinary athletes who have excelled on the court, on tracks, in arenas across the nation,” Alexander said.
McKenney’s success is another significant moment in Flint’s NCAA Basketball history. With one of the most recent basketball stories being the MSU Flintstones, four players from Flint who won the NCAA with Michigan State University in 2000.
Before then, the University of Michigan won its first NCAA title with two Flint athletes, Glen Rice and Demetrius Calip, in 1989.
“Trey, thank you for carrying that legacy, man, thank you for carrying that Flint torch. Thank you for keeping that legacy alive,” Cleaves said.
McKenney said during the “Trey Day” ceremony that he hopes to play for the Detroit Pistons.
“I grew up watching the Pistons a lot, but, yeah it would just be exciting to play for the hometown team,” Mckenney said.
