A Little St. John's - Kentucky History

 I remember listening to that game and Adolph Rupp and the Kentucky fans were extremely rude to the Saint Johns Redmen at that time with very loud boos and saying nasty things . Frank McGuire was coach of the team and he was so irritated after the game, he called all the players in and have them eat in the kitchen, not in the dining room.. I believe that they beat North Carolina state in the first round and the Ilinois wiz kids in the second round then they came up against Kentucky and beat them by 7 points. They lost in the finals to Kansas and Clyde Lovelette was too much for us even though Bob Zowalek had 28 points , St John's came in second in the NCAA. Frank McGuire coached North Carolina where is was a tremendous success recruiting New York players where he won 29 games in.his first season..He was a very handsome man and appealed not only to the player,but their mothers.. After a few years at the helm of North Carolina he became coach of a rival school South Carolina. And retired there. I believe he won the NCCA there also. By the way he was also responsible for recommending Dean Smith as his replacement.
 
John my guess is that you are from Kentucky. It seems like you are trying to umm, whitewash Rupp's reputation.

Let's bring a little reality to some of your quotes. Without black athletes, UK would not even be a D3 basketball power. They had to change with the times, and didn't field an integrated football team until 1967. It hink it's fair to say that if we took away all those black athletes, Kentucky as a sports school would be non-existent.

If you think this is ancient history, consider that it wasn't until 1984, that a D1 basketball champsionship was won by a black head coach, when John Thompson won with the Georgetown Hoyas.

Southern schools were the last to allow black athletes to play, and many threatened not to play northern schools with black players at all. Kentucky was among those schools. It's not an attempt to insult you or anyone form the south. It's an important, ugly part of our history, our stupidity as human beings to have allowed such things to happen. It wasn't until three years ago that we elected a black President. Some Americans still have a problem with that.

Maybe Rupp was just a product of his times. Today I read in an unrealted story that a Kentucky church voted not to allow interracial couples to worship there. This isn't an old story, it's a brand new story:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/kentucky-church-bans-interracial-marriage-150009470.html

We have a long way to go. If we don't confront our racist past, we aren't going to ever learn to be the people we were created to be.



Respectfully speaking, you need to do some exact research on Adolph Rupp. Try looking up Don Barksdale, the first African-American Olympian who was best friends with Rupp during the London Olympics. Look up Rupps HS days where he coached a multi-racial team. Try looking up Jim Tucker, an African-American from Paris, Kentucky for whom coach Rupp helped arrange a scholarship to Duquesne University in the 1950’s.

If you investigate, you will find out that Rupp spent the night at Wes Unseld's house but guarantee Wes's safety in the volitile south. At the UK Basketball Museum, you can still witness letters penned by Rupp to the SEC suggesting intergration. You'll also find testimonies from Red Auerbach, Pat Riley and other respected men, who claim none of the claims during Rupp's years were consistent. Pat Riley (who was on the 1966 UK team) said the movie Glory Road was highly fictional.

Again, do your own reseach and you'll find things you won't want to find - unless you're just wanting to paint the man a racist. Please remind the media that all-white Duke played UK in the final four in 66, wonder if they would've been branded had they beaten UK and faced Texas Western? UK was the first public SEC school to recruit and sign black football and basketball players. UK was the only Southern school that traveled to Chicago, NYC and other northern cities to play in intergrated cities - so again, all the facts.

Most of UK's athletes, the past 40 years, have been black as have several head coaches in multiple sports - including basketball, football etc. Live in the present and the future.
  
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