Second-year BYU basketball coach Kevin Young has always been a self-described “family history nerd,” but when the pandemic shut down the sports world five years ago, he took that love of genealogy to a different level.
“I got super into it during COVID,” Young told the Deseret News last week. “I was researching all sorts of different things regarding where I come from. I find it fascinating.”
So when Young was named the 20th head coach in the history of the BYU men’s basketball program, he already knew the answer to the question everybody wanted to know: How is he related to Brigham Young? What is his tie to the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the man after which the school is named?
“He’s my fourth great uncle,” Young said.
His fourth great grandfather is Lorenzo Dow Young, Brigham’s youngest brother and the youngest of John and Nabbie Young’s 11 children — six daughters and five sons.
Kevin Young credited his dad’s cousin, who has long been the family historian, for compiling most of the genealogy he cited.
“We have tons of information on them,” Kevin Young said. “I have tons of journals and books through that line, all the way back to Brigham and Lorenzo (who was born in 1807).”
Here’s how the line got to Kevin Young
One of Lorenzo Dow Young’s sons, John R. Young, was sent to Southern Utah by then-prophet Brigham Young to organize the town of Orderville, Utah.
Eventually, John R. Young made his way to Huntington, a small town in northwestern Emery County.
His son, Frank A. Young, also lived in Huntington, and had a son, Lee Young, who played basketball for Carbon College — which later became the College of Eastern Utah and is now Utah State University — Eastern.
“Lee Young played there, which is kind of cool,” Kevin Young said.
Lee Young’s son, Jonathan Dee Young, came next. Jonathan Dee Young is the father of Phillip Young, who is Kevin’s father and admittedly wasn’t much of an athlete growing up, instead preferring to focus on automobiles.
The love of sports “skipped a generation with my dad, obviously,” Kevin Young said.
For his part, Phillip Young has his lineage back to Brigham Young committed to memory, and can rattle off every name and some interesting facts and figures about each ancestor.
For instance, “If you have ever been to the This is the Place Monument, there is a guy standing near the left rear wagon wheel, holding a long rifle,” Phillip Young said. “That is Lorenzo Dow Young, my great, great, great grandfather. He was one of the originals who came with Brigham Young into the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847.”
Phillip Young tells the story of how BYU graduate and NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young is also related to Brigham Young, but through a “different wife” than his family.
“In fact, when Steve called Kevin last year to congratulate him on getting the job, Steve told Kevin that they might be cousins,” Phillip Young said. “And Kevin said, ‘I sure hope we are, because I have been telling people that for about 40 years now.’ My boys used that as their claim to fame with their football buddies back in the day.”
Kevin Young’s lineage to Brigham Young
- Lorenzo Dow Young — Youngest brother of Brigham Young
- John R. Young — Lorenzo’s son sent by Brigham Young to organize Orderville, Utah
- Frank A. Young — John’s son settled in Huntington, Utah
- Lee Young — Frank’s son lived in Huntington, Utah, and played basketball for nearby Carbon College in Price
- Jonathan Dee Young — Lee’s son and the father of Phillip Young
- Phillip Young — Jonathan’s son and the father of BYU’s 20th men’s basketball coach
- Kevin Young — He is the fourth great grandson of Lorenzo Dow Young and one of Phillip and Jody Young’s five sons; others are Justin Young, Daniel Young, Aaron Young and Adam Young (who are twins); Kevin’s only sister is Kristen Young Birkmeyer