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Coach Adolph Rupp « Thread Started on Aug 2, 2007, 3:20pm »
Overall Kentucky Record: 876 - 190 Years Coached: 1930-31 to 1971-72 (41 seasons) Date of Birth: September 2, 1901 Date of Death: December 10, 1977 Hometown: Halstead, KS Alma Mater: Kansas [1923]
Season Won Lost Rank Notes 1930-31 15 3 - Adolph Rupp's First Season 1931-32 15 2 - - 1932-33 21 3 - - 1933-34 16 1 - - 1934-35 19 2 - - 1935-36 15 6 - - 1936-37 17 5 - - 1937-38 13 5 - - 1938-39 16 4 - - 1939-40 15 6 - - 1940-41 17 8 - - 1941-42 19 6 - - 1942-43 17 6 - - 1943-44 19 2 - - 1944-45 22 4 - - 1945-46 28 2 - - 1946-47 34 3 - - 1947-48 36 3 - - 1948-49 32 2 1st by AP - 1949-50 25 5 3rd by AP - 1950-51 32 2 1st by AP and 1st by UPI - 1951-52 29 3 1st by AP and 1st by UPI - 1953-54 25 0 1st by AP and 2nd by UPI Declined NCAA bid due to stipulation that Graduate Students could not compete in the NCAA tournament 1954-55 23 3 2nd by AP and 2nd by UPI - 1955-56 20 6 9th by AP and 12th by UPI Accepted NCAA bid when Alabama declined 1956-57 23 5 3rd by AP and 3rd by UPI - 1957-58 23 6 9th by AP and 14th by UPI - 1958-59 24 3 2nd by AP and 2nd by UPI - 1959-60 18 7 - - 1960-61 19 9 20th by AP and 18th by UPI - 1961-62 23 3 3rd by AP and 3rd by UPI - 1962-63 16 9 - - 1963-64 21 6 4th by AP and 3rd by UPI - 1964-65 15 10 - - 1965-66 27 2 1st by AP and 1st by UPI - 1966-67 13 13 - Adolph Rupp's Worst Season 1967-68 22 5 5th by AP and 5th by UPI - 1968-69 23 5 7th by AP and 5th by UPI - 1969-70 26 2 1st by AP and 1st by UPI - 1970-71 22 6 8th by AP and 8th by UPI - 1971-72 21 7 18th by AP and 14th by UPI Adolph Rupp's Final Season
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Re: Coach Adolph Rupp « Reply #1 on Aug 2, 2007, 5:51pm »
The Baron of the Bluegrass. The Man in the Brown Suit. The architect of Kentucky basketball. In the 41 seasons that Adolph Rupp paced the sidelines as the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, several nicknames became associated with him. But one word continues to haunt his legacy to this day. Racist.
From his arrival in Lexington in 1930 to his last game in 1972, Rupp accumulated 876 wins, captured 27 Southeastern Conference titles and led the Cats to four national championships.
But in spite of those accomplishments, some remember Rupp for his role in a game that would forever change the public's perception of race in college athletics, and his failure to recruit a black player to UK until the end of his career.
A series of articles written in the years following Rupp's death in 1977 led basketball fans who weren't familiar with the UK coach to believe he was a racist, and future press reports perpetuated that notion. Many of the sources used in those stories appear to have had no personal relationship with Rupp.
A movie due out in the coming months will chronicle the 1966 national championship game between UK and Texas Western, and many of those who were close to the legendary coach are clamoring to tell their story of that game and the man who came out on the losing end of it in more ways than one.
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Re: Coach Adolph Rupp « Reply #2 on Aug 2, 2007, 5:54pm »
Adolph Frederick Rupp was born Sept. 2, 1901, on a small farm in Halstead, Kan. One of six children born to German immigrants Heinrich and Anna Rupp, Adolph spent the first years of his life in poverty. At an early age, Rupp found an outlet in the game of basketball.
After emerging as a model student and standout player for Halstead High School, Rupp enrolled at Kansas University, where he majored in economics and history and played for Forrest "Phog" Allen, one of the game's most revered college coaches.
Rupp graduated with honors, went on to earn a master's degree from Columbia University and landed his first head coaching job at Freeport High School in Illinois.
There, Rupp incorporated the techniques he learned from Allen to lead the team to a 59-21 record in four years without a losing season.
It was his achievements at the high school, coupled with his strict discipline and a devotion to the academics of his players, that earned Rupp the head coaching job at UK in 1930.
The 28-year-old inherited a team that had gone 16-3 the previous season under John Mauer, who left the school after three years because of a contract dispute with UK administration.
Mauer had generated a new interest in the team in his time in Lexington - Alumni Gym was regularly filled to capacity - but no one could have expected the lasting impact Rupp would have on the university and the game itself.
The Baron arrives
In Rupp's first game as the head coach of the Wildcats, it was clear the team and its fans were in store for something they had never seen. The 67 points the Cats scored against Georgetown in the season opening victory were the most in the history of the program.
In the gym, the school's administrators had found someone who could build a winning tradition and excite the fans with a revolutionary style of basketball.
But off the court, they had also hired a man who would make sure his players followed the rules of the school and represented the institution in a positive light.
Rupp's players and assistant coaches say he was a strict disciplinarian whose practices were akin to military drills, and a man who wouldn't put up with disobedience at any level.
"He was demanding," said Larry Conley, who played for Rupp from 1963 to '66 and is now a commentator for ESPN. "He was tough on those who could take it, and he was encouraging to those who needed it. And while he was tough on you and asked a lot of his players, he also asked a lot of himself."
Rupp approached the game with a business like attitude, studying the intricacies of the sport for hours, and creating offensive styles and defensive sets that had never been used.
He expected his players to take the same approach to their academics.
Claude Vaughan started tutoring UK basketball players in 1958 and soon after was asked by Rupp to become the program's trainer and academic adviser while he was an economics instructor at the university.
Vaughan said Rupp regularly spoke at academic functions and on several occasions recruited faculty on behalf of the UK business and medical schools.
Rupp would set aside one practice in the fall semester and open it to members of the faculty and staff.
During that practice, Vaughan said the coach would go down the line and introduce each of his players to those in attendance.
"Now if you have any of these boys in class and they miss class, you pick up the phone and call me," Rupp told the faculty members. "They won't miss any more."
He wasn't kidding.
Vaughan recalled one instance during Mike Casey's freshman year when he caught Kentucky's reigning Mr. Basketball cutting a class.
Vaughan took Casey to see assistant coach Harry Lancaster, and then the three went to meet with Rupp.
The UK head coach picked up the phone and called Casey's father, a deputy sheriff in nearby Shelby County. Twenty minutes later Deputy Casey arrived on campus with sirens blaring.
"We never had any more trouble out of Mike Casey," Vaughan said laughing.
By his senior year in 1971, Casey was an Academic All-American.
While Rupp made sure his players were productive members of the UK student community, his teams enjoyed unprecedented success on the basketball court.
The Cats won the national championship in each of their first four Final Four appearances - the most of any school up until that point - and the state became synonymous with Adolph Rupp and UK basketball.
It was Kentucky's fifth Final Four appearance, in 1966, that changed the manner in which Rupp and Kentucky basketball were viewed by those outside the state.
The Texas Western game
(From left) Larry Conley, Coach Adolph Rupp, Tom Kron, Thad Jaracz, Pat Riley and Louie Dampier after UK defeated Michigan 84-77 in the quarterfinals of the 1966 NCAA Tournament. "Rupp´s Runts" - as the team was commonly known - went on to defeat Duke in the semifinals before losing 72-65 to Texas Western in the NCAA championship game.
The Cats arrived in College Park, Md., in March 1966 as the No. 1 team in the country and the favorites to win a record fifth national championship. "Rupp's Runts" - as the team's starting five of Larry Conley, Pat Riley, Louie Dampier, Tom Kron and Thad Jaracz were commonly known - had unexpectedly followed up Rupp's worst year as a head coach with a 24-1 record in the regular season.
After dispatching Dayton and Michigan in the opening rounds of the 16-team NCAA Tournament, the Cats defeated Duke 83-79 to set up a game with No. 3 Texas Western for the national championship.
Aside from obviously being the most important game of the season, the UK-Texas Western matchup provided a subplot that, though it was widely ignored at the time, has since become engrained in the lore of college basketball.
Texas Western was the first team to reach the national championship game with a starting lineup that featured five black players. And the fact that Rupp's Wildcats included no black players made the story even bigger in the years after the game.
But for the players and coaches who participated in the contest, race was never an issue.
"That's one of the misconceptions of that game," Conley said. "It was as if we all of the sudden showed up and started playing against black basketball players. We'd been playing against black basketball players for years."
Conley pointed out that the Michigan team the Cats defeated in the quarterfinals of the tournament showcased four black starters and that Rupp had been scheduling teams with black players since the 1940s - something few coaches in the South did at that time.
The approach to the game was the same from Texas Western head coach Don Haskins.
"If I told you I thought about us playing five black players - I'd be lying," Haskins said. "I was interested in winning, and that was the only thing that was on my mind."
Texas Western did win - 72-65 behind a 20-point performance by Miners guard Bobby Joe Hill - but the social implications of the victory didn't sink in until years later.
"From my side, I had just lost a national championship," Conley said. "All of the racial ramifications were secondary to that. And to this day, it still mystifies me that all of that was made over that game."
Though Haskins said his team had been the target of verbal abuse and racial slurs from opposing players during that season, he never heard one derogatory comment from Rupp or his players before, during or after the game.
And the one aspect of the game he said he would always remember took place after the contest.
"Every one of those young guys - Pat Riley and the whole bunch - after the game came down to shake hands with our players. And they came to our end of the floor," Haskins said. "Everybody wants to talk about the black and white thing - well, there it is. It was just a basketball game."
But it was a basketball game that would turn Adolph Rupp from a coach who was simply disliked outside of Kentucky because he won more than anyone else, to a coach who was hated because he was seen as a bigot who didn't want black players at the most celebrated program in the country.
A stigma many feel will be perpetuated by an upcoming feature film that centers on the 1966 national championship.
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Re: Coach Adolph Rupp « Reply #3 on Aug 2, 2007, 5:58pm »
Glory Road, a movie co-starring Academy Award winner Jon Voight as Rupp, is already in post-production with Jerry Bruckheimer Films. The movie will focus primarily on the obstacles the Texas Western basketball team overcame on its march to the national championship, but will also incorporate Rupp into many of the scenes, something that concerns those who knew him.
Former UK head coach Joe B. Hall took over for Rupp in 1972 and was an assistant coach during the 1966 season when the Cats lost to Texas Western. He is afraid the film will attempt to perpetuate the view of Rupp as a racist to add to the entertainment value.
"The producers of this movie have an agenda of what they want this movie to be," Hall said. "Without the negativity, it would be a feel-good story, and they're not interested in that. They're looking for a controversial issue.
"Coach Rupp is going to suffer, and his family is going to suffer."
The film's director, James Gartner, said race will play a "fairly significant part" in the movie but promised Rupp would not come away looking like a racist.
"I don't believe anyone will leave the theater believing Rupp was a racist at all," Gartner said. "I think Rupp simply represents a game that was changing. He's not portrayed as a racist in this film whatsoever."
Gartner received the script during last year's NCAA Tournament and said the importance of the story is what enticed him to join the project. He said he was unaware of the 1966 game before seeing the script and did not know much about Rupp before he started working on the movie, which has no release date yet.
Haskins, who makes a cameo appearance in the film and observed some of its production, recently questioned the factual content of some parts of the movie.
"It's certainly not a documentary that we're shooting," Gartner said. "Is it exactly accurate to everything that happened to Don and his team? No. There's certainly some license."
While the film will undoubtedly compare Texas Western's all-black starting lineup to UK's all-white squad, it won't depict Rupp's attempts to make Kentucky the first school in the Southeastern Conference to showcase a black player.
Recruiting and racism in the South
For years Rupp was pressured to make UK the first SEC school to recruit a black player, but the coach always contended he could not take black players into SEC cities because of the segregation laws still in effect there.
Russell Rice was the sports editor of the Lexington Leader in the early '60s, and one of those who called on Rupp to start recruiting black players at UK.
"You go down there Russ - you see the black and white water fountains and the balconies in theaters where they make the black kids go in the back," Rupp told Rice after the Lexington Leader published an article critical of the coach. "We can't even put them up anywhere when we go down South."
But many felt Rupp should have been at the forefront in the effort to integrate college basketball in the South.
While Rupp maintained he couldn't recruit black players to Kentucky, he did help Lexington's black community in other ways.
Rice said the UK coach used his contacts to get black players scholarships to universities in the North, held clinics for black referees and allowed the basketball team from the all-black Dunbar High School to practice in Alumni Gym.
Rupp even coached a black player on his first team at Freeport High School in 1926.
Rice once asked Rupp about that player.
"So what?" Rupp replied. "The kid was black. He could play."
Vaughan said he believes if the racism in the South had been eliminated sooner, Rupp would have had no problem coaching black players.
"If he'd have been coaching in the Big Ten, we would have started recruiting black players years before," Vaughan said. "But you can't get away from this Southern heritage as long as we're in the SEC."
But the racism wasn't limited to Oxford, Miss., and Auburn, Ala.
Lexington had its own racial problems, and many UK basketball fans at the time didn't want to see their team integrated. Rice said some even sent Rupp letters threatening him if he ever signed a black player.
UK was playing a game in the Midwest once, and Vaughan remembered Rupp being impressed with Art White - a black referee from the Big Ten.
On the ride back to Lexington, Rupp told Vaughan he wanted to invite White down to officiate in the following season's UK Invitational Tournament.
"I think it's a great idea," Vaughan said.
"Well, I wonder what all those damn bigots in Lexington will think about it," Rupp replied.
Rupp was also under pressure from the other side. Some people pressured the coach to recruit a black player even if he didn't have the necessary skills to play at UK.
Vaughan said this notion upset Rupp.
"I might have the reputation of being mean, but I'm not that mean," Rupp told Vaughan. "I'm not going to put some kid on the end of the bench and hurt his feelings and his parents' feelings just so we can have a token.
"I'm going to recruit a black kid, and I'm going to recruit one who can play."
If Rupp had had his way, that player would have been Wes Unseld.
In 1964, Unseld was the undisputed king of high school basketball in the state of Kentucky. The 6-foot-7 Unseld had led Louisville's Seneca High School to two straight state championships and, in the process, drew the attention of major colleges across the nation.
Although no SEC school had ever successfully recruited a black player, Rupp decided to go after the superstar from Louisville, two years before his team's loss to Texas Western.
Rupp's objective was hampered by the behavior of basketball fans in Lexington when Unseld and his team played in the state tournament in Memorial Coliseum.
Rupp and Rice were both in attendance for the game.
"I was there - they booed him," Rice recalled. "It was embarrassing. It was embarrassing to Rupp, and it was embarrassing to the UK administration. (Rupp) just said it wasn't right, and he didn't know why they were booing."
Unseld let it be known during the process that he did not want to be the first black player at UK or in the SEC.
Conley played against Unseld's older brother in high school and drove from Lexington to Louisville to see the potential recruit.
"Wes said to me, 'I don't want to be the first one,' " Conley said. "And I understood that. I fully understood what it was going to be like for him to travel down there and receive all of those racial slurs. But I was still trying to get him to be the first one to come."
One year later, Butch Beard led Breckinridge High School to the state championship, and Rupp once again took interest in a black player.
The UK coach traveled to Beard's home twice, but the player said Rupp came off as aloof, and he couldn't tell how interested he was. Rupp also warned the potential recruit of the hatred he would encounter when traveling through the South.
"He came in and communicated to me that, although he'd like to have me, it was going to be tough," Beard said. "But he said he would do everything he could to protect me."
Although he had visited recruits in their homes before, it was not a practice Rupp was used to.
"Rupp was aloof about recruiting," Rice said. "He always had that attitude that people should want to come to Kentucky. He was like Notre Dame in football. The mountain came to Mohammad. He didn't recruit - he chose."
But for Beard to become the first black player in the SEC, Rupp was going to have to sell the idea to him, something he hadn't been forced to do in the past.
And although Beard had grown up a fan of UK basketball, the pressure from both sides proved to be too much.
"There was pressure from everybody in the state of Kentucky," Beard said. "There were people that I'd never met before that would come up and say they wished I would go. There were people who knocked on my door and told me I'd better not go.
"As a 17-year-old from Breckinridge County - a little country boy - it was a very tough decision to make."
Beard ultimately joined Unseld at Louisville but said his decision had nothing to do with a perception that Rupp was prejudiced.
"I'm not calling him a racist, don't even go down that road," Beard said.
Both Unseld and Beard went on to be All-Americans, and Unseld was recently honored as one of the 50 greatest players in the history of the NBA.
Several more black players after Beard would choose other schools over UK in the next few years, but Rupp - and those putting the pressure on him - would finally find their man.
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Re: Coach Adolph Rupp « Reply #4 on Aug 2, 2007, 6:03pm »
Coach Adolph Rupp (second from left) and UK assistant coach Joe B. Hall (right) watched as Tom Payne prepared to sign with the Cats and become the first black player in the history of the program in 1969. Payne averaged 16.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game during his sophomore season before leaving UK for the pros.
On June 9, 1969, Rice - then UK's sports information director - and Joe B. Hall traveled with Rupp to Louisville to watch Tom Payne sign with Kentucky and become the first black player in the history of UK basketball.
"We went to his house - Joe Hall, Adolph and I," Rice said. "We got there a little early, and we had to drive around the block - because Rupp never liked being early. He didn't want to seem too eager."
Once in the Payne home, the three chatted with Payne and his parents and shared some cookies and coffee. Then the letter was signed, and they went back to Lexington.
Hall said Rupp treated it like any other signing, and Payne's parents didn't once inquire about their son's safety.
"He was seven feet tall," Hall said. "I guess they figured if something happened he could take care of himself."
Vanderbilt's Perry Wallace had become the first black player in the conference two years earlier and - as Rupp and others predicted - encountered racial slurs, thrown objects and even physical abuse on the court when traveling to other SEC cities.
Payne wouldn't have to blaze the trail through the South, but that didn't mean the trip would be easy.
The player was booed by Memorial Coliseum fans during his first game at the UKIT, and was met with racial slurs when he traveled on the road.
"(Rupp) raised all kinds of hell about the way they treated Tom," Vaughan said. "He didn't want any of his players mistreated. He was very sensitive about that."
After sitting out his first season at UK because of an NCAA rule barring freshmen from varsity competition, Payne started his sophomore year by dominating teammate Mark Soderberg in the season-opening intra-squad scrimmage. Payne had clearly emerged as the best center on UK's roster.
But Rupp encountered pressure from some back in Lexington to start Soderberg in the first regular season game against Northwestern. And Vaughan himself received letters with Lexington postmarks containing racist and threatening language.
Vaughan remembered staying up with Rupp until the early hours of the morning as he decided which player to start.
"There was enormous pressure from people that Coach Rupp thought were his friends not to play Tom Payne," Vaughan said. "But I knew he was going to do the right thing - and he did.
"But it disturbed him that so many people who he thought were his friends would try to influence him like that. Not only did he resent it, but he never forgot it."
Rupp did start Payne in that game - a 115-100 UK victory - and the sophomore center went on to average 16.9 points and 10.1 rebounds in his only season as a Wildcat before turning pro.
Rupp was forced to leave UK one year later because of the university's mandatory retirement age policy, but the Payne signing wasn't enough to keep his critics from branding him a racist.
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Re: Coach Adolph Rupp « Reply #5 on Aug 2, 2007, 6:07pm »
Adolph Rupp died Dec. 10, 1977, while the team he coached for 41 seasons was on its way to a 73-66 victory in Lawrence, Kan., playing in an arena named for the UK coach's mentor, against the school where he spent four years learning about basketball and life.
After Rupp's death, the cries of racism and bigotry grew louder. Magazine articles were written, and documentaries were made that portrayed the coach as unreceptive toward black players, most without the participation of those who knew him best.
"Absolutely no one that I ever knew thought about him in that respect," Hall said. "I think he had proven he was not a racist. It was those people that didn't know him and had not talked to people that were close to him that assumed that."
The articles written about Rupp in the years shortly after his death were among the first to claim he was a racist and either used incorrect information or sources with no direct connection to the coach, according to those who knew him.
One quote long used by Rupp's critics to prove he was a racist was actually uttered by Lexington Herald sports editor Billy Thompson during a banquet following the Texas Western loss.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently reprinted the quote with the correct attribution.
"At least we're the No. 1 white team in the country," Thompson told the crowd, but Rupp was wrongly credited with the quote.
The misinformation given in these stories and others was used again and again in later books and articles, and the legend of Rupp as a racist continued to grow.
An article posted on Slate.com just last week named UK as one of the top 10 teams to hate in this year's NCAA Tournament, listing "the long, racist legacy of famed coach Adolph Rupp" as a reason.
Those who knew Rupp best said his incredible success and gruff personality earned him many enemies in his 42 years as head coach of the Cats - which probably led to many of the "Rupp is a racist" articles.
"Rupp always said, 'When you're on top of the mountain, they're always going to try to knock you off,'" Rice recalled. "He rode roughshod over the South for so long. He got better arenas, better teams and better coaches, and he won all those championships. So he was a pretty good target."
While the upcoming movie Glory Road could potentially perpetuate the perception that Rupp was a racist, Hall feels it could also be an opportunity for his supporters to tell of the Rupp they knew.
Vaughan remembers Rupp as a good friend and charitable man who donated heavily to the Shriners Children's Hospital and regularly visited the children there.
Rice had an office across the hall from Rupp, and said the coach was "one of the best guys I ever worked for."
Conley said there were days as a player when he had his share of disagreements with Rupp, but he has never questioned the coach's character.
"I don't think - honestly in my heart - that Coach Rupp was a racist," he said. "I just don't think that. And as long as I live and have conversations with people about him, I don't mind standing up and stating my position."
But Conley acknowledges that, with everything said about Rupp in recent years, reversing the claim that he was a racist may be an impossible task.
"I think it has been so engrained in so many people that - for it to change now - I think it would be most difficult," he said. "But for those of us who knew him, I can rest my conscience in knowing that he was not a racist. And I am not going to be convinced otherwise."
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Re: Coach Adolph Rupp « Reply #6 on Aug 2, 2007, 6:11pm »
Coach Adolph Rupp was known for his colorful comments on and off the court.
"I know I have plenty of enemies, but I'd rather be the most-hated winning coach in the country than the most-popular losing one." Rupp on winning
"I don't care if your girlfriend leaves you or your pet rabbit dies. I just care if you produce for me on the basketball court." Rupp on dedication
"The fans are real bad some places we play down South. They're worse than anywhere at Mississippi State. The last time we played down there, they'd put a dead skunk under my bench. I know that boys will be boys. But must idiots be idiots?" Rupp on opposing fans
"If they don't bump their heads when they come in, I don't even bother shaking their hands." Rupp on recruiting, referring to the top of the door frame to his office
"If they don't let me coach, they might as well take me to the Lexington Cemetery." Rupp on retirement
"You darned sportswriters are all alike. Every time I come to Georgia, you misquote me in the papers. You get the fans riled up with lies, and then they come out and boo me." Rupp on the media
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Re: Coach Adolph Rupp « Reply #7 on Aug 2, 2007, 6:51pm »
THE ADOLPH RUPP LEGACY
In order to understand the Rupp legacy, the true meaning of Rupp to UK basketball, it’s important to go back to 1930. For anyone living at that time……there was no UK tradition in basketball…..no banners hanging anywhere in Alumni Gym. Then there arrived a new UK coach…..a 29 yr old young man who had played under the great
‘Phog” Allen at Kansas…..also, while at Kansas young Adolph had known Allen’s former coach…..none other then the inventor of the game of basketball, James Naismith.
Think of it, Adolph’s roots and knowledge of basketball can be traced to the inventor of the game of basketball! So, 1930 was a very special year in UK basketball as it represents the very beginning of UK’s tradition. Rupp immediately started winning at UK and UK was the Helms National Champion in his 3rd year with a 21-3 record. As the years passed from the 1930’s to the 1940’s…..UK basketball was achieving great things nationally with back to back NCAA championships occurring in 1947-48 and 1948-1949.
I was never fortunate enough to see the great Fabulous Five teams of the late 40’s nor did I ever see a game in Alumni Gym. My first encounter with UK basketball was in the early 50’s….I sold cokes and hot dogs in Memorial Coliseum and watched the great Hagan, Ramsay teams. One year I had season tickets and I was hooked…..UK basketball was in my blood. I remember with awe as I watched the Cats warm up drills……the crisp passing….the players cutting to the basket. The drills were well designed and the players executed them flawlessly as Rupp and Harry Lancaster watched from the sidelines. It was a thrill to watch them in action. For those of us who were fortunate enough to have watched the Cats play in Memorial Coliseum…..well it was so very special…..it was an incredible home court advantage……the crowds were magnificient. My memories go back to when at halftime and you went to the concourse….the smoke was so thick, with nearly everyone smoking, that your eyes burned and you could hardly see at times. That I don’t miss! A few years ago my wife and I were in Lexington and went to the UK scrimmage…..it had been many years since I had been in Memorial Coliseum and it brought back so many fond memories.
As the record books reveal, Adolph Rupp laid the foundation for UK basketball success from the very moment he arrived as coach in 1930 and year after year….decade after decade……Rupp built the UK program into a national juggernaut. Rupp’s accomplishment over a 42 year coaching career are truly incredible. A record of 876-190 for an amazing 82% winning %…..4 NCAA championships…..6 Final Fours….1 NIT championship( when winning the NIT was a very important achievement)…..1948 US Olympic Gold Medal…..6 Helms National titles……27 SEC championships (think of it….winning 27 out of 42 SEC championships)…..13 SEC Tourney titles……5 Sugar Bowl Championships…..a lot of UKIT Championships…..4 time National Coach of the Year.
Now much has been written regarding Adolph Rupp the coach and the man. As former players have said, Adolph was a very tough coach, very demanding and not always well liked….but, Rupp the coach was highly respected. His practices are said to have been like military boot camp. There is no question as to how well prepared and well conditioned UK teams were during the Rupp era. Rupp was obviously very passionate about winning and hated losing. It was this great passion for making UK basketball teams the very best they could be on the court…..his great attention to detail……the fact that Rupp teams were always extremely well schooled in the fundamentals of basketball and played tough man to man defense while playing the legendary fast break basketball that produced the great UK winning tradition. I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on what a great assistant coach Harry Lancaster was at UK and how important he was over many years to the success of the UK program. Throughout the Rupp era…..UK fans were blessed with many great and exciting teams. My oh my….the great players under Rupp were countless. Rupp knew talent and how to mold that talent. I never heard Rupp talk about his favorite team or teams….I’m sure he felt affection for all of them. However, I always had a feeling that the1966 team, Rupp’s Runts, were very dear to his heart. I’m sure the loss in the 1966 championship game was extremely painful to Rupp….not only because of his affection for them…..but, because he knew his career was nearing an end and he wanted to win another NCAA championship so very much.
One subject I am hesitant to bring up, but because it has been written about so often in recent years, I feel I must give my opinion. The issue of racism charges against Rupp. Jon Scott on his website gives a great deal of information regarding this subject for those who want to look further into this subject. My opinion, and I feel very strongly about this issue, is that Adolph Rupp was not a racist. Many former players such as Pat Riley, Larry Conley and others have said that they were not aware of any racist comments or attitudes from Rupp. Interestingly, all those who knew Rupp, whether it be former players or other coaches, such as Red Auerbach, saw nothing or heard nothing from Rupp to justify these racist charges. The racist charges have almost entirely come from columnists who never knew Rupp and only passed on false information from others who obviously had an agenda. As Larry Conley said…..UK had played a Michigan team with 4 black starters and had played other teams with black players. At the time the Texas Western game was played it was never looked upon by either team as 5 whites playing 5 blacks…….it was simply two great teams playing for the NCAA championship. Twenty five years later or thereabouts…..we start getting all these articles about the racial significance of the game……which I feel was totally false. In fact Loyola of Chicago had a mostly black team, I believe 4 starters, a few years earlier in the NCAA championship game. UK was obviously not the only all white team….as we all know if Duke had beaten UK then an all white Duke team would have faced Texas Western. The simple fact is that UK competed in the SEC and had to travel in the deep South were black players would not have been allowed in hotels or restaurants with the team…..Rupp knew they would face hostility…..it was a sad time in US history. Now I understand that some people can say “Well Rupp should have been more proactive in recruiting black players and led the way”. Maybe so, but there is a big difference between being proactive and being a racist! However, I truly feel he was worried about the safety of taking black players into the deep South. It saddens me to see the image of this great coach soiled by blatant lies and misinformation. Rupp was not a racist!
Rupp, like all of us, had flaws….he was far from perfect…..but, he was the coach who built the rock that the UK program sits on today. His coaching achievements are staggering. Now as the years fade from Rupp’s tenure as coach, more and more UK fans only know the name….not the man. As we all reflect on how and why we became UK fans……the vast majority of fans say because of my dad, grandfather, uncle or another loved one who passed on their love for UK basketball. My point is that the root of this love and passion for UK basketball can easily be traced back to one man……Adolph Rupp! However, it’s important to never forget that Adolph Rupp not only built the foundation, the corner stone if you will, of UK basketball success…..but his great success has made every coach who followed Rupp very much aware of the high expectations associated with being the coach of UK. From Joe B Hall on….every coach has been aware that UK basketball is very special and that they have the great responsibility of maintaining the greatness that Rupp built. Fortunately, UK has been blessed, for the most part, with coaches who have added to the Rupp Rock of UK basketball with additional NCAA championships.
Importantly, Rupp’s basketball legacy reaches far beyond UK basketball. Rupp had a huge influence on SEC basketball….forcing SEC schools to place greater emphasis on their basketball programs if they were to be competitive against UK. Always recognized as a football conference, the SEC made very positive strides forward in their basketball programs during the Rupp era. Of course, Rupp’s influence and legacy was national in it’s impact….many coaches throughout the nation were positively influenced from Rupp’s teachings. Rupp was always recognized as one of the all time greatest coaches. In addition, we have witnessed a number of former UK players under Rupp achieve past success in pro ball and many achieved successful careers in many fields. I’m sure the vast majority of these former players would point to their careers under Rupp as playing no small part in their success.
Adolph Rupp passed away nearly 30 years ago……I would hope that UK fans in the future would make sure they pass along to their sons and daughters exactly just how much Adolph Rupp meant to UK basketball.....make certain they know who is responsible for their love of UK basketball. Time marches on…….lest we never forget the great legacy of Adolph Rupp. UK fans….take pride when you walk in Rupp Arena……Thank you Coach Rupp....thank you for making all UK fans so very proud of UK basketball and may we carry that wonderful passion for UK basketball, as you did, forever in our hearts!
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Re: Coach Adolph Rupp « Reply #8 on Aug 2, 2007, 9:26pm »
Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) is one of the most successful coaches in the history of American college basketball. Rupp is the third winningest men's college coach in total victories (after Bobby Knight and Dean Smith), winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching, and setting a remarkable standard of excellence that exists to this day. Rupp is also second among all coaches in alltime winning percentage (.822), trailing only Clair Bee. Adolph F. Rupp was enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on April 13, 1969.
Early life
Rupp was born outside Halstead, Kansas to Mennonite German immigrants, the fourth of six children. He grew up on a 163-acre farm which his father (Heinrich) homesteaded. After his father's death in 1910, Rupp's oldest brother Otto took over farming responsibilities. As a youngster, Rupp worked on the farm and attended a school in a one-room school house in the country. He first became interested in the sport of basketball at the age of six years old when Halstead won the first of two consecutive Kansas state high school titles. According to interviews, he and his brothers stuffed rags into a gunnysack which his mother sewed up to use as a basketball on the family farm. Later, after growing to a sturdy 6-foot-2, Rupp was a star on his Halstead high school team, averaging over 19 points a game in both his junior and senior years. Rupp also served as team captain and unofficial coach.
After high school, Rupp attended the University of Kansas from 1919-1923. He worked part-time at the student Jayhawk Cafe to help pay his college expenses. He was a reserve on the basketball team under legendary coach Dr. Forrest "Phog" Allen from 1919 to 1923. Assisting Allen during that time was his former coach and inventor of the game of basketball, James Naismith, who Rupp also got to know well during his time in Lawrence.
In Rupp's junior and senior college seasons (1921-22 and 1922-23), Kansas (KU) had outstanding basketball squads. Later, both of these standout Kansas (KU) teams would be awarded the Helms National Championship, recognizing the Jayhawks as the top team in the nation during those seasons
Coaching
High School After graduation, Rupp looked for opportunities in banking but soon opted to take a teaching and coaching job at Burr Oak (Kansas) High School. Disappointed in the facilities in Burr Oak, he later moved to Marshalltown, Iowa where he coached wrestling, a sport he knew nothing about at the time and learned from a book.
In 1926-29, Rupp accepted the basketball head coaching position at Freeport (Illinois) High School, where he also taught history and economics. He stayed at Freeport for four years, building a record of 66-21 and guiding his team to a third-place finish in the 1929 state tournament.
During his time in Freeport, Rupp met his future wife, Esther Schmidt. Rupp took summer classes at Columbia University in New York City, where he earned a Masters degree in both education and economics. While at Freeport, Rupp travelled to nearby Madison, Wisconsin in order to observe and learn from University of Wisconsin basketball coach Dr. Walter "Doc" Meanwell.
University of Kentucky Rupp coached the University of Kentucky basketball team from 1930 to 1972. At Kentucky, he earned the titles "Baron of the Bluegrass" and "The Man in the Brown Suit" (Rupp always wore a brown suit to games). Rupp was a master of motivation and strategy, often using local talent to build his teams. In fact, throughout his career, more than 80% of Rupp's players came from the state of Kentucky. He promoted a sticky man-to-man defense, a fluid set offense, perfect individual fundamentals, and a relentless fast break that battered opponents into defeat. Rupp demanded 100% effort from his players at all times, pushing them to great levels of success.
His Wildcat teams won 4 NCAA championships (1948, 1949, 1951, 1958), one NIT title in 1946 (when the NIT was a tournament equal in prestige to the NCAA tournament), appeared in 20 NCAA tournaments, had 6 NCAA Final Four appearances, won 5 Sugar Bowl tournament championships, captured 27 Southeastern Conference regular season titles, and won 13 Southeastern Conference tournaments. Rupp's Kentucky teams also finished ranked #1 on 6 occasions in the final Associated Press college basketball poll and 4 times in the United Press International (Coaches) poll. In addition, Rupp's legendary 1966 Kentucky squad (nicknamed "Rupp's Runts") finished second in the NCAA tournament to Texas Western, and his powerful 1947 Wildcats finished second in the NIT. Also, both Rupp's 1933 and 1954 Kentucky squads were awarded the Helms National Championship.
* The team did not play in the 1952-53 season because of involvement in a point shaving scandal
Career after Kentucky
In April, 1972 Rupp was named as Team President of the Memphis Pros, soon to become the Memphis Tams, of the American Basketball Association.
In July, 1973 Rupp was hired as Vice President of the Board of the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association.
Death
Rupp died at age 76 in Lexington, Kentucky on December 10, 1977, the very night UK defeated his alma mater, Kansas, at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas. Ironically, the game that night was promoted as "Adolph Rupp Night", in honor of Rupp. Rupp listened to the broadcast of the game from his hospital bed before finally succumbing to a protracted battle with spinal cancer and diabetes. He is buried at the Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky.
Legacy
29 of Rupp's players earned All-American honors, 52 earned All-Conference honors, 7 won Olympic gold medals, 30 played professionally, and 5 are enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. A 4-time National Coach of the Year, Rupp established a winning tradition at Kentucky later achieved only by John Wooden at UCLA. In 1969, Rupp recruited Tom Payne as the first African American to play on Kentucky's squad. This late date lead many to conclude that Rupp held racist views. This conclusion is inferred in the 2006 basketball film Glory Road. However, there are many who believe that Rupp was not a racist, telling stories about his constant attempts to recruit black players and severely chastising a group of boosters who tried to stop him from doing so.
A little more than a year before his death, the Wildcats moved from their 12,000 seat on-campus arena, Memorial Coliseum, to the (then) new 24,000 seat Rupp Arena. This huge arena, named after Rupp, is located in downtown Lexington, Kentucky. The arena continues to play host to Kentucky home games, as well as numerous other athletic events, such as the Kentucky Boys Sweet Sixteen. In addition, there have been numerous NCAA tournament games played in Rupp Arena over the years, including the 1985 men's Final Four. As a result of the large size of Rupp Arena, along with near fanatical fan support, Kentucky normally leads the nation in men's basketball attendance.
The Adolph Rupp Trophy, named in Rupp's honor, has been awarded annually since 1972 by the Associated Press to the best player in men's college basketball
Rupp is portrayed by actor Jon Voight in the 2006 film Glory Road, which depicts the 1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.
Rupp is a Past Potentate of the Oleika Shrine Temple in Lexington, Kentucky. He was active in the Lexington, Kentucky community in various charity organizations, and was a zealous fund-raiser for the Shriners Children's Hospital.
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Re: Coach Adolph Rupp « Reply #9 on Aug 8, 2007, 10:07pm »
Adolph Rupp UK Record: 876-190 (82.2%), 41 years - 1931-72 Alma Mater (Year): Kansas (1923) Hometown: Halstead, Kan. Born: Sept. 2, 1901 Died: Dec. 11, 1977 (age 76)
A former UK Media Guide began, "In the storied land of Kentucky Colonels, there dwelled but one Baron, a man of consummate pride and a molder of powerful teams which for more than four decades made the name University of Kentucky synonymous with the game of basketball."
Tutored by the great Phog Allen at Kansas and a student of the game under Dr. James Naismith, Rupp learned his craft at an early age. After leaving the high school ranks in Freeport, Ill., to take the UK job in 1930, the "man in the brown suit" becamse the winningest coach in all of college basketball. He was an innovator of the fast break, a trademark of the Wildcats even today.
To become the winningest coach in his sport, Rupp passed his mentor, Coach Allen, on March 12, 1966, with his 747th victory against Dayton in the Mideast Regional. He achieved the top ranking when he passed Western Kentucky's E.A. Diddle with victory No. 760 on Feb. 18, 1967, at Mississippi State.
He finished with 876 wins when he retired in 1972, a mark that stood for 25 years until North Carolina's Deam Smith moved ahead in 1997.
Among the many UK victories were four NCAA titles (1948, '49, '51 and '58), one Olympic Gold Medal (1948), one NIT Championship (1946), 27 Southeastern Conference titles and his Wildcats were voted No. 1 in the final polls on six different occasions.
Rupp coached some of America's best - Sale, Beard, Groza, Hagan, Ramsey, Cox, Hatton, Nash, Riley and Issel. Twenty-three of his Cats were voted All-Americans 35 times and 52 players were honored 91 times as All-SEC performers.
His teams were unmatched in league play, earning a 397-75 (84.1%) record against SEC competition. In the conference tournament, Rupp's Wildcats were 57-6, winning 13 titles in 19 appearances.
Before the end of his 42-year career, the four-time National Coach of the Year was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1969. Rupp also earned SEC Coach of the Year honors on seven occasions.
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Re: Coach Adolph Rupp « Reply #10 on Aug 9, 2007, 7:22pm »
Coach Rupps Autograph 1971
Rupp Arena Dedication and THE Coach, This came from one of several Cats' Pause issues over the years...
Street and Smith's coverage of Rupp Arena's Dedication
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Re: Coach Adolph Rupp « Reply #11 on Aug 15, 2007, 6:55pm »
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Re: Coach Adolph Rupp « Reply #12 on Aug 16, 2007, 3:45pm »
Adolph Rupp 1958
Adolph Rupp Myth,Legend & Fact
UK Coach Adolph Rupp liked to count up his victories too
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Re: Coach Adolph Rupp « Reply #13 on Aug 18, 2007, 1:43pm »
Adolph F. Rupp enshrined as a coach in 1969
Adolph F. Rupp
Enshrined 1969 Born: September 2, 1901 Halstead, KS Died: December 10, 1977 Lexington, Ky
Dubbed "The Baron of Bluegrass," college basketball coach Adolph Rupp was legendary for developing local talent. In fact, 80 percent of his players hailed from the hills of Kentucky and Rupp turned them into champions. By winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching, Rupp set a remarkable standard of excellence. Part of his success was due to his intense desire to win and his ability to instill that drive into his players. He promoted a sticky man-to-man defense and a relentless fast break offense that battered opponents into defeat. His teams appeared in 20 NCAA tournaments and captured 27 Southeastern Conference titles. Rupp demanded 100 percent from his players at all times, pushing them to impressive levels of success. College basketball has seen few coaches who have been more dominant than Adolph Rupp.
Career Highlights * NIT championship at Kentucky, 1946 * NCAA Championships, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1958 * Four-time National and SEC Coach of the Year * Co-coached U.S. Olympic team, 1948
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Re: Coach Adolph Rupp « Reply #14 on Oct 24, 2007, 4:21pm »
This is from a 1961 Basketball Issue of "Sports Review"
Without VICTORY the game means NOTHING. There’s no substitute for winning—including if you’re building character—says the winningest basketball coach, Kentucky’s great Adolph Rupp. In this exclusive and frank interview, you get a good idea of why Rupp wins.
By Bill Surface
Adolph Rupp has been so successful in winning national championships that he is to basketball what Casey Stengel is to baseball, Eisenhower is to politics and Brigitte Bardot is to the movies. Lengthy, exclusive interviews such as this one with Rupp are extremely rare. But the author of this article—Bill Surface—knows Rupp very well. Surface spent his college days as student manager on Rupp’s great teams, and therefore, was able to come up with this hard-hitting interview. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adolph Rupp of the University of Kentucky has won more national basketball championships and major college games than any coach in the world. Thirty-one plaques and twice that many pictures decorate his office walls, and two cardboard boxes contain awards he hasn’t had time to display. The door to his office is blank; an office down the hall in the University’s Memorial Coliseum bears his name on the door to confuse the curious and provide a measure of privacy. When Rupp sits in his office and speaks from very near the heart of his fiery character, it isn’t difficult to see why his teams have been 85 per cent indomitable in winning 627 games over the past 30 years; and why he reigns as the “boss of basketball.” “Let me tell you how hard it was to find a day to spend with you,” Adolph Rupp was saying. “I had to practically insult 25 people, get off jury duty, and take the phone off the hook.”
”Since most of the coaches are talking about you retiring,” I said, “let’s start off with that.”
”All right,” Rupp said. “Most of the guys I beat regularly would like for me to quit. The managers who were finishing behind Casey Stengel and the Yankees for nine or ten years wanted him to quit, too. So would those New York writers—hatchet men, I call ‘em.
“Yeah, I know I have plenty of enemies and the New York writers love chopping me apart,” Rupp said. “But I’d rather be the most hated winning coach in the country than the most popular losing one. I don’t try to be unpopular; it just works out that way.
“I’m not paid to win popularity contests. I’m paid to win basketball games and the national championship and I’ve won it more than anyone else in the country—four times. The people can boo and hoot and ride me all they want to as long as I’m winning.”
Rupp made only a brief stop for breath.
“You know,” he continued, “some darned writer made the statement that I drove a bunch of kids to my last N.C.A.A. championship. If anybody else in the country had won the thing he would have said, ‘So and so LEADS his team to the N.C.A.A. crown.’ But me, I drive mine, he says. Somebody has to get behind a team. Ike didn’t lead the troops into Berlin. They beat him there.
“I’ll admit we work hard. But that’s the kind of boys we’re looking for—the type who are willing to work hard and sacrifice.
“We don’t have a lot of fun during practice. We work hard. We have our fun at the end of the season. What’s more fun than winning the N.C.A.A. championship? You don’t win the thing by playing around.
“Where were those big stars, Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain, when we won our last national championship in 1958? Home listening to the game on the radio, that’s where.”
I asked if he would like to finish on the subject of sports writers before we went any further.
“Yes, I would,” Rupp said with a bite in his voice.
“There are some fine sports writers in New York. Unfortunately, there are some who obviously know little about sports and are destructive. I’ve been saving this one for them. A great artist is one who paints great pictures; vandals destroy them.
“It takes a great architect to design great buildings; any common laborer can tear them down. If the New York writers had been constructive in their writing, they would still have the Dodgers and Giants up there.
“They chased those teams out of town and cut their own throats. What are they doing with the guys who used to cover baseball? Writing about horse racing and dog shows or something. That’s just like me blasting college basketball until the school abandoned it.
“I think the Chicago writers are better than New York’s anyway. Chicago is the only city in the country with two major-league baseball teams. They have better basketball attendance at Chicago Stadium than at Madison Square Garden. Do you think Chicago would have this if the press had been brutal all the time?”
We were interrupted by a would-be visitor who wanted to chat about the team prospects.
Then I recalled to Rupp that I was the student manager for some of his greatest teams and couldn’t remember a year when he didn’t have a good outfit.
“No, and you won’t either. Unless I win, basketball means entirely nothing to me. I don’t agree with coaches who say they’re building character when they’re losing. You build the best character by winning.
“Some sports writer once wrote this thing: ‘And when the last great scorer comes to write against your name, He writes not if you won or lost, but how you played the game.’
“How you played the game, hell! They still keep score, don’t they? People don’t drive hundreds of miles and pay good money to see how two teams played. They want to see somebody get beat.”
“Do you like any other sport?” I asked.
“Not particularly, but basketball, naturally, is the best, even though I’m disturbed at the slow-up that’s crept back into the game. Some of the stalling like last year’s could ruin it like baseball.”
“What’s wrong with baseball?” I asked.
“Baseball has gotten to the point where it’s plain sorry,” he declared. “I saw about 15 Cincinnati Redleg games last year. I was downright disgusted at some of the things—especially the pitchers.
“Say it’s the pitcher’s time to bat. Somebody in the on-deck circle has to tell him to hit. He stands up, smiles like he’s posing for a toothpaste, ad, gets a drink, takes off his jacket. Then the bat is too light. He gets the same bat he knew beforehand that he was going to use and strolls to the plate, knowing all the time he’s going to strike out anyway.”
“Did you do anything different, or anything in particular, in winning your last national title in 1958, than you did in the other three (in 1948, 1949, and 1951)?”
“A heck of a lot of different things. The other years we won I had the horses to do the job and knew it. That year I had only hackney ponies to do a thoroughbred’s job. I still was as strict as ever, but I’m getting mellower with age.”
“About basketball in the future,” I asked. “Do you think the scores will be any higher?”
“No, as long as there’s defense it’s only human nature for some kid to try and prevent the other from scoring. Scores won’t be any higher than they are now. The reason they’re increased so is that we’ve got better basketball players now.
“Defense is the way a boy makes my team. With my system of offense, anybody can score. All the boys can shoot or we wouldn’t have gotten them. Give me the kid who wants to keep the other from scoring. I’d rather have a boy who gets four points and stops his man than somebody who scores 21 and gives his man 29. He helps the team more.”
Now, about your defense, coach?” I started to ask.
“I use an aggressive man-to-man defense that switches on every screen or possible screen.
“I hate a zone, but I can whip one. I’ve got two offenses—one for a man-to-man defense and another for a zone. A lot of coaches have sprung a zone on me, but I was ready for them. Zones can ruin the game. They take out the action and pattern plays that spectators like and eliminate good basketball. The pros were smart in outlawing the zone.
“You getting hungry?” Rupp asked. “Let me look at the mail and we’ll go eat lunch. Here’s a letter from Spain. Some outfit wants me to start a drive for uniforms. I got so many letters from Japan that my book, Championship Basketball, was translated into Japanese.”
Rupp walked from Memorial Coliseum, where Kentucky plays its home basketball games and has its athletic offices.
“The coliseum isn’t just a basketball gym,” Rupp said while walking. “They have concerts, registration, graduation and everything in there.”
“Yes, I know,” I said. “Remember the time you had to practice on one end of the court while Lily Pons was rehearsing on the other?”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s right,” Adolph laughed. “They had Arthur Rubenstein here once. I came out on the floor with my team and they said, ‘You can’t come out here. Mr. Rubenstein has to practice for his performance tonight.’”
(Rupp said, “Listen, if Rubenstein misses a hundred notes tonight, there won’t be a soul who’ll know, but if we blow one easy basket against Tennessee tomorrow, the whole world will read about it.”)
“If you don’t like entertainers,” I asked, “what do you do for entertainment?”
“Win basketball games. Outside of that, read. I’m what you might call nosey. I want to know everything that’s going on. I take five daily papers, the Wall Street Journal, every farm publication possible, and 22 other magazines.
“I don’t play cards. That’s a waste of time and I can find a more profitable way to relax than that.”
“Don’t you attend the movies?”
“No, but I encourage my players to attend them on the road to relax. I hadn’t been to a movie in years until I was invited to this ‘Cat On A Hot Tin Roof’ thing. It wasn’t too bad.”
“Do you like art, then?”
“No, for two reasons. Number one, I’m color blind. Number two, the only art I was accustomed to as a youngster was the picture on a yearly calendar sent to our family by an elevator company.”
“You must do something for relaxation,” I said. “Do you take a vacation every summer?”
“I don’t believe in vacations,” Rupp replied. “A few years ago everybody, including the doctors, said I was sick and needed a vacation. My wife always wanted to visit Daytona Beach. I sunburn easily and spent about 30 minutes in that hot sun. So I went back inside the cabin and got dressed. Esther asked what’s wrong? I said, ‘Nothing’s wrong. We’ve seen everything; we’ve been in the ocean. Let’s go back home.’ I stayed, but it was the most miserable and useless two weeks of my life.
“If I’m going to take a vacation, I like the mountains where there’s a new scene around every curve. We stopped at the Grand Canyon once. I looked at the thing about five or ten minutes and said ‘Let’s go.’ My wife said she was stunned. ‘Stunned, hell,’ I said. ‘We’ve seen the thing. Why stick around any longer unless we want to live here?’”
“What do you look for when scouting high school players?”
“Well, there’s more to coaching than copying plays. You’ve got to get the boys. The first thing I look for in a boy is speed. This includes quick reactions and the ability to start quickly. The second thing is hustle. A lot of my kids with less ability play because they out-hustle the more talented boys.
“A boy must have confidence, be certain about his moves. A hustling boy with some ability and confidence is hard to beat—if he can take criticism. Some kids sulk when you criticize them or try to correct them. Then a lot of our boys are lazy. I like a boy who’s willing to stay out there and work to adapt himself to our system. This helps develop rhythm. Thousands of repetitions bring about the quality known as rhythm. Boys have to have team sense and intelligence. One kid can spoil a play and keep someone else from scoring. I want boys who will accept defense—not just offense. That’s where you win.”
I asked Rupp about his pet peeves.
“Referees,” he answered. “The ones who don’t fully understand the rules and who grandstand, clown and yell louder to cover up for their mistakes. Then if you question them, they call a technical foul. I’ve made a great study of officials and found that many still don’t know what constitutes an illegal screen.
“It’s getting near practice time,” Rupp remembered. “Let’s go to the dressing room and we can talk there while I’m getting ready.”
Switching from his customary brown suit into army khaki, Rupp walked through the corridors to practice, where the gates are covered, chained and padlocked after the last arrival to keep out visitors.
Rupp and his assistant, Harry Lancaster, huddled. Student managers started distributing red shirts. The freshman team worked on defense against the varsity. A sophomore drove in for a lay-up and put a fancy spin on the ball.
Rupp was disturbed. “Son, the season box holders don’t pay a cent more to see shots like that.”
Another player was slow driving under the basket.
Rupp put an edge in his voice. “Boys, the trots are over. They’re running this week at Keeneland Race Course. We can’t win when we’re running like we’ve got rheumatism.”
Billy Lickert, a star forward, did more dribbling than passing. “Hold it, hold it,” Rupp yelled. “The Southeastern Conference has made a new ruling. You’re allowed to pass off this season. You don’t have to dribble the entire game.”
Meanwhile the sideline brigade of statisticians, ex-players and sports writers began recalling “Ruppisms,” a favorite pastime at Kentucky practice sessions.
“Remember the time he told a boy he had violated the 11th commandment?” laughed ex-student manager Humzey Yessin. “Thou shall not be stupid.”
“Yeah, yeah,” someone else said quietly. “Rupp was coaching the Kentucky College All-Stars for a game against Indiana. His team really was out of shape. So he went to the timer and told him to notify him at the end of four minutes.
“The players were dragging when he ordered the fast break drill. Four minutes later the timer signaled. Then Coach Rupp said, ‘Boys, see how long a minute drags out when you’re not in shape?’”
Rupp was holding a conference at the center of the court. “Time for some action,” he was saying. “Oh, manager. Get the clock out so we can have some accurate timing.”
I then left the playing floor and walked to the office of Ken Kuhn, the university’s sports publicity director. “I need some more information on Coach Rupp,” I said. “Let’s look briefly at his record,” Kuhn replied.
Rupp’s record:
A total of 626 victories out of 739 starts for an unparalleled winning percentage of better than 84 percent over the 30 years he has been at Kentucky.
An unprecedented honor roll of four N.C.A.A. Tournament championships picked up by his Wildcats, who hold the all-time record of 11 appearances in the national classic and can claim more victories in N.C.A.A. play (21) than any other team.
A nominal world’s championship as co-coach of the winning U.S.A. entry in the 1948 Olympic Games, which included members of Kentucky’s N.C.A.A. champions.
Selection as the national “Coach of the Year” in 1959 for the second time in his career as he guided an inexperienced group of sophomores to a 24-3 record.
A total of 19 Southeastern Conference titles since the league was organized in 1933.
Development of more All-America players (21) and more material for the pro ranks (17) than any other coach.
Four Sugar Bowl Tournament championships, a National Invitation Tournament title and four successes in the first seven University of Kentucky Invitational Tournaments.
Election to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1946 by Helms Athletic Foundation and to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 1959.
Membership on the N.C.A.A. Basketball Rules Committee.
“The outstanding success of this man as a basketball coach is matched only by the personal fame he has attained outside the sports world,” Kuhn reported. “Coach Rupp is currently in his seventh term as President of the Kentucky Hereford Association. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Central District Warehousing Corporation, the world’s largest tobacco marketing organization. He owns and operates one of the largest farms in the Bluegrass area.
Rupp is a Kentucky Colonel, is active in Shrine affairs and serves as Vice-Chairman of the Shrine Crippled Children’s Hospital in Lexington,” Kuhn went on. “He is a Past Potentate of Oleika Temple and has been honored as one of the ten outstanding Shriners of the nation. He was elected to the Kentucky Hall of Fame in 1945 and four years later was honored as the outstanding citizen of the University city of Lexington. In 1959, he also was the recipient of the Governor’s medallion for meritorious service to the Commonwealth of Kentucky and of a plaque of appreciation from the U.S. Air Force.”
Born in Halstead, Kansas, Rupp attended the University of Kansas where he played under Phog Allen. Following graduation in 1923, he coached high school ball one year at Marshalltown, Iowa, and was at Freeport, Ill., for four seasons before coming to Kentucky in 1930. And “The Man In The Brown Suit” has been a “hit” ever since.
What kind of team will Kentucky have this season? After following Rupp’s teams for 30 years, the safest way to phrase Kentucky’s basketball prospects for any year is to say: “Don’t sell the Wildcats short.”
Adversity, in the form of injuries, sickness and ineligibility, plagued the Wildcats all last season with the result that they were saddled with an 18-7 record that stood as the second poorest season ever in Rupp’s 30-year Kentucky dynasty. And anyone who knows the Baron and is cognizant of Kentucky’s winning habits in basketball should realize that both Rupp and his men are determined to “get back in business.”
While the Kentucky quintet of last season was universally recognized as one of the nation’s strongest when at full physical strength and losses were comparatively light, prospects for the current season might not be considered good except for the anticipated presence of a pair of junior college All-America transfers.
The new faces Rupp is counting on heavily to boost Kentucky back into contention for the Southeastern conference title and an unprecedented fifth N.C.A.A. championship are Vince Del Negro, 6-5 ˝ center-forward from Northeast Mississippi Junior College and Doug Pendygraft, sharpshooting 6-3 guard of Kentucky’s Lindsey-Wilson Junior College. Del Negro, a two-year All-American, has been one of the nation’s leading junior college scorers, while Pendygraft picked up Most Valuable Player honors in the National J.C. Tournament last season and set many new scoring records in tournament and All-Star play.
Kentucky opponents also look with considerable apprehension on the return to top physical condition of the Wildcats’ All-American, Bill Lickert. The versatile, 6-3 forward-guard repeated as an official All-Southeastern choice last season despite being incapacitated nearly a month in mid-season with calcification of a thigh muscle that required surgery. As a sophomore in 1958-1959, Lickert had gained SEC Sophomore of the Year recognition and last season seemed to be on his way to an even greater year as indicated by a 29-point performance against Ohio State’s eventual national champions.
Aside from Lickert, however, the returnees are not so highly regarded. Past performances stamp them as dependable, but it’s debatable in most observers’ minds whether they can take up the slack of the losses. Missing will be leading scorer Don Mills, 6-7 center, and a pair of guards who saw extensive action—starter Sid Cohen and alternate starter Bennie Coffman. All three were drafted by professional clubs.
The biggest man in the Kentucky lineup this season will be 6-9 pivotman Ned Jennings. After that, there is a sharp drop-off in the height department that has Rupp worried to some degree over his board control. With the expected availability of Del Negro, Jennings might not see regular duty as Rupp sacrifices what little height he will have for speed which was lacking last season. The probable starting unit would graduate from Del Negro at 6-5 ˝ down to Captain Dick Parsons, 5-9 guard. Much help is hoped for from 6-4 senior forward Roger Newman, who will be playing his first varsity year due to absences and quirks of eligibility rules.
Defensively, Coach Rupp is hopeful of a continuation of the high standards his teams have maintained in the past several seasons.
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Published: Monday, July 28, 2008 8:28 AM CDT Pamela Scott Johnson
One of the most successful coaches in the history of college basketball was Adolph Rupp. In 41 years of coaching, Rupp won 876 games, making him the third winningest coach in history after Bobby Knight and Dean Smith. He coached at the University of Kentucky from 1930 to 1972, and the state of Kentucky loved him.
Dubbed “Baron of the Bluegrass,” Rupp took 80 percent of his players from Kentucky. Demanding and expecting excellence, he became a master of developing talent. His teams were known for sticky man-to-man defense, which resulted in their fast break offense. Time and time again, teams were beaten into submission.
Under his leadership, the Wildcats won four NCAA championships (1948, 1949, 1951 and 1958,) one NIT title in 1946 at a time when the NIT was a highly regarded tournament of national contenders. They appeared in 20 NCAA tournaments and captured 27 Southeastern Conference titles.
The Baron was selected as “Coach of the Year” four times as he established a winning tradition at Kentucky. This tradition is carried on and expected to this day by the loyal and loving fans of the Big Blue. Twenty-four of his players earned All-America honors, seven won Olympics gold medals and 28 played professional basketball.
The mandatory retirement age in 1972 was 70 for Kentucky state employees. That year, Rupp was forced into retirement. Can you imagine what the Baron might have added to his incredible list of achievements had he stayed? He was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame on April 13, 1969.
But it seems only UK fans remember the titles and accolades. What the world remembers occurred on March 19, 1966 when Kentucky once again fought for a national championship after defeating Duke in the Final Four. After overcoming Kansas, Texas Western moved on to face the number one team in the tournament, the Kentucky Wildcats.
No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 3 Texas Western – nothing strange about that set up. But remember, it was 1966. Kentucky put five white players on the floor while Coach Don Haskins went with his best lineup, which happened to be five black players. The movie, “Glory Road” implies that Haskins only chose an all-black starting five for that game; however, these five starters had been Haskins' regular starting lineup all season.
This was the first time a team started an all-black lineup in an NCAA title game. The Miners defeated the experienced and powerful Wildcats, 72-65, before a televised audience. Coach Rupp gave Bobby Joe Hill credit for the inevitable “turning point of the game.”
Hill, a 5-foot-10 junior guard for Texas Western, dropped in some of the biggest shots of the tourney and scored 20 points. He also was a demon on defense, often taking the ball away from Kentucky players.
Even though the final horn blew, the game would never really be over. It is still talked about, debated over, written about and even a topic of a major film.
It was great for college basketball but would forever label Rupp a racist. He was very aware of this and answered his critics.
“Don't call me a racist. You didn't know me, and neither did those who offer one-liners about my life as basketball coach at the University of Kentucky from the Great Depression to the first Nixon administration,” he said. “I knew (African Americans) could help my program and wanted them to, and anyone who says I didn't is wrong. How badly did I want? Not enough, I concede, to become a civil rights leader and take on the whole south and lots of other areas too. We played in the Southeastern Conference. Look around. Who else in our conference had (African American) players at the time? No one! In fact, SEC schools generally refused to schedule home games against opponents with even one (African American). I was ready to take care of that. Twice I petitioned the league to integrate. That brought fire from college presidents, athletic directors, regents, boosters and fans.”
There are those who believe Rupp is not a racist and tell stories about his constant attempts to recruit black players and severely chastising a group of boosters who tried to stop him. One of these is a former member of “Rupp's Runts,” who started in that most talked about title game, Pat Riley. Riley, as we all know, has gone on to be a very successful NBA coach. These are some remarks from Pat Riley about that game and Rupp.
”I look back 37 years later, at a time when there was a lot of pain in losing. But now, when I look at it from the blue-sky standpoint, the best thing happened for society. It was a breakthrough game,” he said. “Most people that have done something absolutely significant in their industry can often be misunderstood. He was the greatest coach at the time. He was the John Wooden, the Bobby Knight, the Dean Smith and he was bigger than life.
“There were a lot of perceptions about him that absolutely took on a mythical thing. Something he would say, all of a sudden would be something else 10 years later,” Riley continued. “The best thing that ever happened to me in my life was to go to the University of Kentucky and play for a man, who was disciplined, organized and when I left there I thought I was a better person for it. So all the misconceptions about him from the outside world weren't true.”
The movie, “Glory Road,” concerning the 1966 championship was released on January 13, 2006. Director Jim Gartner stated that Rupp would not be portrayed as racist. Draw your own conclusions from the movie’s portrayal of him.
Rupp set the standard for excellence and winning. Someone once said to him, “When the one Great Scorer comes to write against your name, he marks not that you won or lost, but how you played the game.”
To this, Rupp replied, “Well now, I just don't know about that. If winning isn't so important, why do you keep score?”
Rupp died at age 76 in Lexington on December 10, 1977. That night his beloved Wildcats defeated Kansas in a game promoted as “Adolph Rupp Night.” The Baron of the Bluegrass listened to the broadcast of the game from his hospital bed before finally succumbing to a battle with spinal cancer and diabetes.
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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From the Charlotte News and Observer Sunday, March 16th, 1997
Remembering Rupp By Chip Alexander
The Lexington Cemetery has a steady stream of visitors this time of year, when the boys are back in town. The boys "Sweet Sixteen" high school tournament is held in March, welcomed by banners that say "Have a Rupp-Roarin' Time." And many a team, from Paintsville or Highland or Corbin, often finds its way down West Main Street to pay a short visit.
Henry Clay, the famous statesman, is buried at Lexington Cemetery. So is John Bowman, founder of the University of Kentucky. And a basketball coach, Adolph Rupp, founder of Kentucky basketball.
"They always ask directions to Rupp's grave -- the coaches and their players who weren't even born when Coach Rupp died [in 1977]," says Mark Durbin, a cemetery official. "You see fathers bringing their sons here. Old fans, young fans. "Adolph Rupp will never be forgotten, not in Kentucky.''
The "Sweet Sixteen" teams make the pilgrimage, for the coaches are determined the younger generation understands. They need to know that "Rupp" means more than a basketball arena downtown, that he was a basketball institution for more than 40 years. The monument -- not quite rim height -- is distinctive. White granite, a basketball is sculpted near the top. On the stone is written:
"U.S. Basketball Coach 42 years" "Olympic Coach 1948" "Four NCAA Championships" "National Basketball Hall of Fame"
Simple. Succinct. Curiously, "Kentucky" doesn't appear on it.
"Daddy picked out that spot," says Rupp's son, Adolph "Herky" Rupp II. "His longtime assistant, Harry Lancaster, also is buried just a few feet away, which is fitting. "Daddy loved that spot because of a big tree there -- a big, shady oak tree." The tree is gone, though. It was blown over during a recent storm, then chopped and removed. To some, there is symbolism in it -- and not that far-fetched. Rupp no longer is a towering figure in the sport. His record for career victories has fallen, broken Saturday by North Carolina's Dean Smith.
Many memories of Rupp's career have faded, with the graying hair of such former stars as Frank Ramsey and Wallace "Wah-Wah" Jones a reminder that many of Rupp's deeds were accomplished so long ago, sandwiched around World War II, when the South and Lexington and the university and basketball were all so different. Rupp, who went to Kentucky in 1930, is credited by many with bringing big-time basketball to the South. He introduced the fast break, honed offensive execution, pumped up the action, won 876 games.
"He was one of the soundest coaches basketball has ever seen," former UCLA coach John Wooden once said. "He didn't use a lot of fanciness and flair. He didn't need to. "A lot of coaches consider Rupp the best offensive coach and Hank Iba [of Oklahoma State] the best defensive coach, but Rupp's teams were as sound defensively as offensively."
Rupp won championships -- the four NCAA titles, the Olympic gold medal in '48, Southeastern Conference titles year after year. But he also won converts to the sport. "He should be credited with basketball's growth, not just in the South but all over the country in the 1940s and '50s," says Cliff Hagan, a former Kentucky All-America and later the school's athletics director.
"Every time you see a basketball goal on a barn or kids in a playground, you have to credit Coach Rupp. His presence will last forever, in Kentucky and nationally." But like the cemetery oak, Rupp's reputation has been splintered as the years passed. And it saddens those who knew him best.
Rupp was called a lot of things in life: scathing, cantankerous, uncompromising, ruthless. "He wanted us all to hate him -- and he succeeded," Ramsey says. And vain. Rupp could be vain. Once asked why Kentucky was so successful, Rupp bellowed, "Good coaching, of course." He meant every word.
But Rupp also could flash some humor. He once told his players that the Bible says it was better to give than receive. Translation: win. Told that the Bible also says to love thine enemy, the Baron growled: "That's the old version. The rules committee changed all that." Then there's the bit about being the Man in the Brown Suit. Seems Rupp had one brown suit in the 1920s, when he was coaching high school ball. He finally got enough money to buy a new one, settled on a blue suit, and lost his next game. "Blue ain't the color to wear to basketball games," he said. It was always a brown suit, white shirt and brown tie after that.
Such was the legend born.
But there's another view of Rupp and another, far harsher description that came to be used: racist. It's true that Rupp did not sign his first black player, 7-footer Tom Payne, until 1969, just three years before retiring. But the rest of the story mostly is conjecture, subjective. And Rupp has his defenders. "I never heard him say one bad comment about blacks," says Vernon Hatton, an All-America on the "Fiddlin' Five," 1958 NCAA champs.
"That's just the way the South was in that era. Southern teams just didn't have black players, not in the Southeastern Conference." But the perception has grown that Rupp was a coaching white supremacist. That he fought against integration until Kentucky chancellor John Oswald ordered him in 1965 to recruit a black player. Syndicated columnist George Will once wrote that Rupp was "a great coach and a bad man." As the years pass, more tend to agree.
Rupp did pursue such black players as Wesley Unseld, the country's best high school player. He recruited Butch Beard and 7-footer Jim McDaniels of Allen County. Unseld and Beard wound up at Louisville, McDaniels at Western Kentucky. "Daddy petitioned the SEC to change its rule and integrate," Herky Rupp says. "They didn't do it, but it's not his fault."
The watershed moment for Rupp came in 1966, when "Rupp's Runts" rose to No. 1 in the polls and seemed destined to win the school's fifth national championship. The Wildcats topped Michigan -- a team led by Cazzie Russell -- in the regionals then edged Duke in the national semifinals in College Park, Md. The final matched Kentucky against Texas Western, and Texas Western won in an upset, 72-65. At the time, it was just a game. In time, it would be hailed as a landmark -- college basketball's version of Brown vs. the Board of Education. People would say it was the final vestiges of Southern lily-white basketball, with Kentucky starting five white players and Texas Western (now Texas-El Paso) five blacks.
"What I've always wondered is what would have happened if Duke had beaten Kentucky?" Herky Rupp says. "Duke didn't have a single black player. "Vic Bubas was coaching Duke then. Would that have made Vic Bubas a racist? Is that the way he would have been remembered?" Herky Rupp doesn't wait for an answer. "No, Vic Bubas is not a racist," he says. "Neither was Daddy, and I'm terribly upset about it." Herky Rupp notes his father had black players on his teams as a high school coach in Freeport, Ill. "If he was a racist, there wouldn't have been any," Rupp says. "He would have found a way to cut them."
Adolph Rupp was once asked whether he would have liked to have had Wilt Chamberlain, the Philadelphia sensation who played for Kansas in the late 1950s. "Sure," Rupp said, "but could I take him to Atlanta and New Orleans or Starkville [Miss.]?" Rupp reluctantly was forced to give up his coaching duties after the 1972 season after turning 70, the mandatory retirement age in Kentucky. There was talk that he might resurface at Duke, but he turned down a coaching offer when the manager of one of his cattle-raising farms died.
On Dec. 10, 1977, a day before Kentucky played Kansas, Rupp's alma mater, the old coach passed away. A day of mourning was proclaimed in Kentucky, but not everyone did mourn -- then or now. "A lot of the black community still does not like him," says Tom Behr, a Lexington resident. Rupp's critics say that given the racial allegations and animosity, someone such as Smith, who opposed segregation in Chapel Hill in the '60s, is a better fit as basketball's winningest coach. "It's hard to compare eras and Dean Smith is a super coach," Hagan says. "Coach Rupp was very demanding, but his players always held him in high esteem, always thought he was the best coach on the bench, always felt they were the best-prepared, best-conditioned team. "The final judgment should be that the game of basketball would not be where it is today without Coach Rupp."
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
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Coach Adolph Rupp was known for his colorful comments on and off the court.
"I know I have plenty of enemies, but I'd rather be the most-hated winning coach in the country than the most-popular losing one." Rupp on winning
"I don't care if your girlfriend leaves you or your pet rabbit dies. I just care if you produce for me on the basketball court." Rupp on dedication
"The fans are real bad some places we play down South. They're worse than anywhere at Mississippi State. The last time we played down there, they'd put a dead skunk under my bench. I know that boys will be boys. But must idiots be idiots?" Rupp on opposing fans
"If they don't bump their heads when they come in, I don't even bother shaking their hands." Rupp on recruiting, referring to the top of the door frame to his office
"If they don't let me coach, they might as well take me to the Lexington Cemetery." Rupp on retirement
"You darned sportswriters are all alike. Every time I come to Georgia, you misquote me in the papers. You get the fans riled up with lies, and then they come out and boo me." Rupp on the media
“I have a worthy successor. I told him that after 42 years if the program should fail at the University of Kentucky, then I have built it on a sand foundation.” - Adolph Rupp on his legacy at Kentucky
"You can take a boy to the Coliseum, sit him down for 5 minutes, and if he doesn't want to play at Kentucky after just looking at the place, he is too dumb to go to college anyway."-Adolph Rupp
"I just thought it was the Kentucky fans coming in." - Coach Billy Gillispie in Atlanta after a tornado slams into the Georgia Dome.
"Really, UCLA's a great place as well, but they don't have the kind of environment they have here. The fans here have a passion." - Dick Vitale on Kentucky fans, December 23, 1999.
"Apparently the University of Kentucky basketball dynasty is to continue forever." - Philadelphia Inquirer, December 23 1954.
"Turner ... Burner .... and one" - Jim Nantz
"Kentucky has found the secret of basketball, that it's five guys playing together." - former University North Carolina coach Frank McGuire
"I see no reason to end the basketball season in February just so some of these schools can start spring football practice early... Someday they are going to wake up and realize that basketball is here to stay." - Adolph Rupp on his Southeastern Conference brethren in 1934.
"I'd just as soon freeze to death." - Actress Ashley Judd relating a story of being offered a University North Carolina - Chapel Hill jacket on a chilly movie set. - Lexington Herald Leader, August 15, 1996.
"It's not wise to come to Kentucky and try to run them off their court. Not too many teams have ever done that." - Mississippi State Coach Babe McCarthy in 1962.
"When you see Kentucky's fans, you just wonder. You think how wonderful it would be to go to their school. You wish you could trade places for a day, just so you could experience that feeling." - UCLA player Kris Johnson
"They had it before you, they had it during you, they'll have it when you're gone"...." - Al McGuire on Kentucky Basketball Tradition
"In the next four or five years, Kentucky will be at its best. It has taken a lot of hard labor, but down the road we will be at our best." - Rick Pitino in 1995
“I think right now everybody’s on notice,” Telep said. This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice."-Dave Telep
Wildcats Thunder is not affiliated with the University of Kentucky, the Kentucky Wildcat Athletic Department, the NCAA or any other sports programs. The views, takes, and opinions are those of the author, and not of this site. The contents of this website have not been reviewed or approved by Wildcats Thunder.
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