Cawood Ledford Tribute

Cawood Ledford
"The Greatest College Basketball Announcer Of All-Time"
"Voice of the Wildacts"
from 1953-1992The Legendary "Voice of the Wildcats" was none other than Cawood Ledford. For 39 years, Cawood called Football and Basketball. His voice alone symbolized UK Athletics. Cawood called his last Football game vs. Tennessee on Nov. 23, 1991, and retired from the microphone following the 1991-92 Basketball season. Both games were UK loses.

• Football: UK 7 Tennessee 16 Nov, 23, 1991
• Basketball: UK 103 Duke 104 OT March 28, 1992

Cawood Ledford Articles:

• Cawood Ledford "The Voice of the Wildcats" Memories
• Cawood: Kentucky remembers a legend
• WSGS Celebrates Cawood's Birthday Today-Listen to Cawood's conversation with WSGS

Cawood Tidbit Gannet News Services (USA Today's parent organization) voted Cawood Ledford "The Greatest College Basketball Announcer Of All-Time" after he retired.

Quote on Cawood "Somewhere over the Rockies, I dail Teamline from an Airfone at my Planeseat and listen to Kentucky to take an eight point halftime lead over Iowa State. You haven't lived, friends, until you've heard the heavenly voice of Wildcat radio announcer Cawood Ledford at 39,000 feet."-Alexander Wolff, SI Writter

Cawood Quote:"They're coming to the wire, and its all Kentucky! I can almost smell the roses at Churchill Downs!"- Cawood Ledford - as UK defeats Alabama in the '92 SEC tourney

Cawood's Greatest Hits

"Hello everybody! This is Cawood Ledford from Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington..."
The game was on the air

"Write it down"
A shot was made. As in, "Farmer for three."

"Got it!"
As in, "Hord from 15 feet...Got it!"

"Three if it goes"
A three-pointer was in in the air.

"It took a trip, but it stayed."
When a shot danced around the rim before falling.

"He went to war"
Described a particularly impressive "effort play" by a (unually Kentucky) player. As in, Winston really went to war on the boards that time, Ralph."

"He hasn't got it tonight."
When a player had a tough night. As in, "John Pelphrey is a fine basketball player but he just hasn't got it tonight."

"Jiminy Christmas!"
If he stays 10 years, he'll never get a
better shot than that!"
When a Kentucky player missed a gimme.

"They've got to get him out of there."
When a player's repeated mistakes started to hurt Kentucky. As in, "Dale just doesn't have it. They've got to get him out of there"

"He missed that one"
Directed at officials. As in, "Don Rutledge is a fine official, but he sure missed that one."

"He had a notion"
When a player appeared to think about shooting but didn't."

"The Cats are running"
Cawood's signature call in the Rupp era.


Cawood, watches as they raise & retire a banner with his name into the rafters of Rupp Arena..

Cawood in his early years.


Cawood Ledford Bobblehead


Cawood on WSGS Radio in Easten Kentucky


Cawood doing a post game interview with Rick Pitino at Rupp Arena.
VOICE OF THE WILDCATS
I knew him from childhood by the light of the moon
As the voice of the Wildcats invaded my room.
The magic he'd bring to a boy dressed in blue
Was a dream in his heart that he could play too.

When I was away on some distant shore
In a far off country, during the Vietnam War.
I would listen to Cawood from a tape sent from home
And for a sweet moment, I was not alone.

And I'll never forget the last game he called
Was a heartbreaking moment, our progress had stalled.
A blanket of sadness crept over this fan
As I'd listen no more to this wonderful man.

The visions he conjured, are still in my mind
And I miss him today, as I write this line.
I remember his opener- word for word
Hello Everybody, This Is Cawood Ledford.

-Author Unknown

Interview with Bill Keightley, (Week 12)

Kygoff
WT Administrator

We're over half way through the William B. Keightley Oral History Project, and this weeks interview is short, but a very good one.

Keightley discusses the 1978 national championship team and the effect of being the top-ranked team that season on the work ethic of the coaches and players who referred to that year as "The Season of No Celebration". He recalls winning the semifinal game and returning to Lexington, describes fan reaction to the National Championship win, and similar scenes in 1996 and 1998. Keightley also discusses the high expectations of success from basketball fans and the UK administration.

Interview with William B. Keightley, July 25, 2006 (36:21)
Keightley, William B.; Interviewee -- Suchanek, Jeffrey; Interviewer

GOTW: 1998 National Championship Game Ky vs. Utah

Blueworldorder
Administrator

Comeback Cats Usurp Utes Undeniably:

The University of Kentucky Wildcats won their 7th NCAA Championship (and 2nd in 3 seasons) as they defeated Utah in the national finals of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, by a score of 78-69. Kentucky was the #2 seed in the South, with Utah the #3 seed in the West (the Cats had been ranked #5 in the last AP poll, with Utah coming in at #7). In winning, Kentucky set a record - no team had ever won the NCAAs after trailing by more than 8 pts at halftime, yet Kentucky trailed by 10 and came back to win the game by 9. Coach Tubby Smith, by achieving this feat, has become the NCAA's winningest 1st year coach at any school. Tubby also became only the 3rd coach in NCAA history to win the national championship in his 1st season at a school (Steve Fisher of Michigan did it in 1989, but Fisher only coached for the NCAA Tournament games), and is the 2nd such coach to do so while coaching the entire year (Ed Jucker was the new head coach at Cincinnati in 1961 when he won an NCAA title). In the UK Radio Network discussion following the game, it was mentioned by Cameron Mills that Nazr Mohammed coined the name "The Undeniables" for this squad, which is what the team calls itself during the end of the season.

Kentucky got the opening tap, and Mohammed sank a left handed hook shot to open the scoring. Doleac came right back with a 6 ft shot. Edwards missed a 3, but Turner stole the ball and this led to a Padgett layup. Mottola [JNB note - whose name included umlauts which I shall omit] hit a 16 footer to knot the score at 4-4. Mohammed missed inside, and a jump ball was forced on the rebound, but UK got another steal, and Sheppard had a smooth drive to make it 6-4 UK. Following another pair of steals and a Padgett missed 3, Mohammed got a layup inside to make it 8-4. Utah then scored the next 4 pts to tie the game at 8-8. Magloire completed an old-fashioned 3, but Johnsen hit a 3 to tie the score at 11-11. Edwards and Evans missed shots, and Magloire had a solid block of a Jensen shot, but Kentucky fell asleep on the inbounds play and Jensen had an uncontested layup under the basket to put the Utes up 13-11. Sheppard tied the game immediately, but Mottola had a layup following a scramble for the ball. When Mottola put back a missed Jackson 3, Utah led 17-13 and there was a TV timeout.

Following several misses and steals, Mohammed decided to try an 18 foot shot which hit nothing but air. After a Utah foul, however, Nazr got a nice book shot and cut the lead to 17-15 Utah. Miller made 1 of 2 FT attempts, Padgett hit a high bank shot, Doleac hit an 8 ft turnaround shot, and Edwards hit Mohammed for a layup to make the score 20-19 Utah. Doleac made a putback, Padgett had a putback, and Mohammed picked up his 2nd foul against Doleac just before the next TV timeout. Mottola hit 2 FTs when play resumed after a Magloire block (which appeared pretty clean) was called a foul. Sheppard had an airball jumper (he might have been fouled), UK had a steal and a Turner layup ensued to make it 24-23 Utah. Kentucky got a 5 s defensive call, but after a miss, Jensen made a layup for a 26-23 lead. Doleac was left unguarded outside, and he hit a 3 to give Utah a 29-23 lead with around 5.5 minutes left in the half. The Utes continued on their spurt, as Evans got twisted around and lost control (and the ball), and Jackson made a layup past the defense for a 31-23 margin. Coach Smith decided not to call a timeout, however, and when Sheppard missed a 3, Jensen complete an old- fashioned 3 pt play (the foul being totally unnecessary for UK) and a 34-23 Utah margin with around 4.5 minutes to play. Finally Magloire hit a long hook, but Miller made 1 of 2 FT tosses on the next Ute possession. Padgett hit a long hook, and Edwards followed with a beautiful drive to make it 36-29 Utah with 3 minutes to go. Bradley fouled Doleac, who hit 1, then Mills was fouled and made both of his as the next TV timeout occurred.

Kentucky stole the ball when play resumed, but turned it right back over again, and Johnsen hit an 8 footer. Hansen hit a long 2, and it was 41-31. Edwards and Hansen both missed shots, and the halftime score stood at 41-31. Utah might have felt confident - no team in NCAA history had come back to win the national title after trailing by more than 8 pts at the half (this was accomplished by Loyola in 1963, when they trailed 29-21 to Cincinnati at intermission but came back to win 60-58 in OT). The Utes might also have taken comfort in the fact that they had not trailed at all in any 1998 NCAA game in the 2nd half. Utah had an amazing 24-6 halftime lead in rebounds. Utah had 12 turnovers at the break, while the Wildcats had 6.

The Utes stole the ball to begin the 2nd half, and when Mohammed goaltended a Miller shot, Utah had a 43-31 edge, their largest margin of the game. Padgett connected on an alley-oop, then Miller blew past the defense to make it 45-33. Sheppard hit a leaner, and then Utah had a turnover when Doleac failed to move to catch a pass (an early sign that the Utes were beginning to tire). Sheppard drove the lane and connected, and it was 45-37 Utah. Mohammed picked up his 3rd foul against Mottola, who hit both attempts. Evans connected with a 3 with around 16 minutes left in the game, and it was 47-40 Kentucky. Mottola hit a 3, and Magloire missed with a hook as the 1st TV timeout of the 2nd half occurred.

Evans hit yet another 3 to close it to 50-43 Utah, and then both Utah and Edwards missed 3s. Evans sliced to the basket and made a FG which cut the Utah margin to 50-45 with 13.5 minutes remaining. Johnsen walked, but UK made a bad pass for a turnover. Miller could not complete the old fashioned 3, but Utah got 2 more tries on rebounds from the missed FT. Padgett eventually nailed a 3, to make it Utah 52-48. Johnsen had a wide open layup, but Sheppard put back his own miss to make it 54-50 Utah, and the Utes were definitely dragging up and down the court. When Magloire fouled Jensen, he made both FTs, and it was 56-50 Utah at the next TV timeout.

Turner made 1 of 2 FT tosses, and Doleac made both of his when fouled by Magloire for a 58-51 lead with 10 minutes left in the game. But Edwards hit a driving shot, Mohammed bobbled the ball yet laid it in, and Mills hit a 3 which tied the game at 58-58. UK got its 1st lead of the 2nd half as Sheppard stole the ball and went in for a dunk, causing Utah to call a 20 s timeout to try to regain composure. Mottola was fouled, and his FTs tied the game. Miller had a driving shot after a UK turnover, and Jensen had a layup after a Padgett 3 miss, to make it 64-60 Utah. After a Kentucky timeout, Mills hit a 3, and Sheppard made an 8 footer to give the Cats a 65-64 edge. Kentucky never trailed again, with Magloire making a pair of FT tosses after Mottola's 4th foul. Doleac made 1 of 2 FT shots, and Padgett made 2 FTs, to make it 69-65 Kentucky with 4 minutes left. Miller picked up his 4th foul, and Turner made 1 of 2 from the line. UK ran the clock down low but got off a lousy shot with 2 minutes left, with Miller making 1 of 2 from the charity stripe to cut it to 70-66 UK. With 34 seconds left, Padgett made 2 FTs, and when Doleac got his 4th foul, Evans did the same, for a 74-66 Kentucky lead. Miller bricked a 3, and Turner got a dunk for Kentucky's largest lead of the game at 76-66. Jensen hit a 3 with 10 seconds left, cutting it to 76-69. Sheppard was fouled during inbounding, and he made both his throws for a 78-69 edge. Jensen missed a final shot, and Kentucky had reeled in their 7th NCAA championship (with a score rather reminiscent of the 76-67 margin against Syracuse in 1996).

Utah managed only 4 FGs in the game's last 16 minutes, and 1 of these (by Jensen) occurred with only 10 seconds left in the game and the outcome no longer in doubt. UK for the 1997-98 season was 10-2 when trailing at the half. The Utes had only twice all season given up as many as 70 pts to an opposing team (beating Weber State 87-72 and losing to New Mexico 77-74), and Kentucky's 78 pts were the most scored against the Utes this season. The final rebounding margin (39-24 in favor of Utah) was the largest ever for a losing team in a national championship game. Kentucky's 15 of 17 FT shooting was the 5th highest percentage for a title game [JNB note - who, if anyone, would have thought UK would have done this well in the FT department? ]

The NCAA Final Four All-Tournament team consisted of MOP Jeff Sheppard, Scott Padgett, Michael Doleac of Utah, Andre Miller of Utah, and Arthur Lee of Stanford.

Kentucky set an NCAA Tournament record for blocks in a tournament, surpassing the old record of 37 held by UMASS!!! in 1995 (in 4 games). The Cats had 48 total blocks through 6 NCAA games (6 vs Utah, 7 vs Stanford, 1 vs Duke, 14 vs UCLA, 9 vs St Louis, and 11 vs SC State) .

Jeff Sheppard's 1091 career pts at Kentucky put him 36th on UK's all-time scoring list. Sheppard also had 288 career assists, good for 12th place on the UK all-time list (just behind Larry Conley).

Game Writeup - Courtesy of Dr. Jeffrey Neil Burch; Dr. J's UK Newsletter, Vol. 7 No. 30. (All Rights Reserved)



Heshimu Evans flies in to defend



Jeff Sheppard eyes the basket




Allen Edwards tries to score against Utah's Michael Doleac
To download the 1998 National Championship Kentucky vs. Utah game just click here and follow the direction.

Interview with Bill Keightley, (Week 11)

Kygoff
WT Administrator

This interview begins with Keightley recollection of the ROTC building fire in 1970 at the University of Kentucky which led to Governor Nunn's decision to call in the National Guard, and how those events affected the basketball team. He then discusses the athletic department and athletic directors. He also discusses the success of the basketball program as opposed to a historically less successful football program. Keightly specifically talks about University of Kentucky basketball players Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones and Ralph Beard.

Interview with William B. Keightley, July 19, 2006 (47:21)
Keightley, William B.; Interviewee -- Suchanek, Jeffrey; Interviewer

GOTW: Ky vs. Houston (1984) *Bowie & Turpin vs. Olajuwon*

Blueworldorder
WT Administrator

Wildcats Thunder Presents Our Game of the Week

Kentucky vs. Houston (1984) *Bowie & Turpin vs. Olajuwon*

We Bring You the First of Many Classic Kentucky Games This Summer and We are Starting Off With This great game from 1984 to Kick off the Summer. To Download this Game and Others This Summer Check Out The Wildcat Vault Forum at Wildcats Thunder.You Won't Be Disappointed!

Thanks,

WT Staff

Sky-High Kentucky cuts Houston to Size

LEXINGTON, Ky., -- The glass backboards were covered with fingerprints, more than circumstantial evidence that Sunday afternoon's game between national powers Kentucky and Houston was played above the rim.

The Wildcats, with their two 7-footers -- Melvin Turpin and Sam Bowie -- dangling from the Rupp Arena rafters, outhammered the Cougars and 7-foot shot-blocking specialist Akeem Abdul Olajuwon 74-67 in front of 23,992 fans.

I'm not looking forward to going up against Akeem again in the [NCAA] tournament," Bowie said. "We're just glad to get this one out of the way."

Turpin scored 19 points, pulled down 11 rebounds and blocked 2 shots. Bowie, in his best effort since coming back from two years of leg injuries, scored 8 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and blocked a pair of shots. Olajuwon scored 14 points, took down 12 rebounds and rejected 5 shots before fouling out with 6:14 left in the game.

"I would like to play these guys again on a neutral floor," complained Olajuwon, whose team fell to 16-3. "Everything I do, they [the officials] call me for everything. I should be used to it by now, but the Kentucky players, they just jumped into me and the refs called me for the fouls."

Houston stormed to early leads of 7-0 and 11-1, forcing turnovers and missed shots with an aggressive, trapping defense.

"Houston came here to work immediately. They weren't intimidated by the 24,000 fans," said Kentucky sophomore forward Kenny Walker, who led the Wildcats' scoring with 20 points. "Obviously, their objective was to take the crowd out of the game right away."

With the score 11-1, Kentucky coach Joe B. Hall called a timeout and replaced overanxious freshman guard James Blackmon with steady sophomore Roger Harden. With Harden's court direction, Kentucky [14-2] began its slow uphill battle that earned the Wildcats a 35-31 halftime lead.

"I just wanted to get these guys organized. I just did my job," said Harden, a product of Valparaiso [Ind.] High School. "I thought maybe I had gone back to high school because I felt so free out there today."

The outstanding array of individual talent on the floor was evidence by the 25-point performance of Houston guard Alvin Franklin [19 in the second half] and the 19-point, 9-rebound job of Michael Young

But the ominous presence in the middle of Kentucky's Bowie and Turpin and Houston's Olajuwon helped force erratic shooting and poor execution. The Wildcats were guilty of 24 turnovers. Houston made only 34.7 percent of its shots from the field [26 of 75].

"We didn't win this game by execution," Hall said. "We won this one on emotion."

Kentucky stretched its lead to 61-51 with 7:56 to play on a Walker jam after a Harden alley-op. Following a timeout, Houston cut the deficit to 62-59 behind Franklin and Young.

Hall ordered his Wildcats to spread out the offense in the final 3:16, but it almost backfired. Franklin ran off six straight points - two free throws, a pull-up jumper and a steal and layup. That made the score 70-67 with 1:55 left.

"We had a chance to win until about 40 seconds were left," Houston Guy Lewis said. "I would rather have had an 11-1 lead toward the end of the game than at the start."





Sam Bowie and Melvin Turpin have their hands full with Akeem Olajuwon


James Blackmon tries to sneak into the middle

Game Writeup - Fred Mitchell, Chicago Tribune

To Download this UK Classic Basketball game GO HERE...

Interview with Bill Keightley, (Week 10)

Kygoff
WT Administrator

This interview focuses mainly on the local and national media and its treatment of UK basketball. Mr. Keightley discusses local reporters and TV commentators, his relationship with them, and national media treatment of UK. He also discusses the expectations the Kentuckians place on the UK basketball coaches and players each year. Additionally, he covers the loss of a recent recruit, recruiting in general, and the professional relationship between UK Athletics Director, Mitch Barnhart and Tubby Smith.

Interview with William B. Keightley, June 22, 2006 (47:28)
Keightley, William B.; Interviewee -- Suchanek, Jeffrey; Interviewer

John Calipari….UK’s new Star Powered Coach

Lwcat
WT Administrator

As UK fans know very well, the UK program and brand has been damaged in recent years, including the last few years of coach Tubby Smith’s tenure and both years under coach Gillispie. The past 4 years reveal a UK program that had a dismal overall record of 84-52….4 straight seasons with 12 plus loses…..an incredible 19 loses at Rupp Arena including a number of embarrassing losses at Rupp Arena to the likes of Gardner-Webb, San Diego and VMI. Add to that miserable record…..UK was unranked for the last 4 seasons, except for a very brief top 25 ranking. Last season, the wheels came off with UK losing 10 of their last 16 regular season games and missing the NCAA. It had become painfully obvious that coach Gillispie wasn’t getting the job done on the court or in fulfilling his off court UK responsibilities. Thankfully, the UK AD, Mitch Barnhart and President Todd understood that a coaching change had to be made immediately to restore the UK program and brand before further damage occurred.

For non UK fans outside of the state of Kentucky it is simply not possible to understand the incredible love, enthusiasm and support for UK basketball. In virtually every year, UK leads the nation in attendance….even when the program has been down as it has in recent years. In past years, UK’s basketball coach has often been the most popular and well known person in the state….as a result, the coach at UK carries a huge responsibility, both within the state and nationally in promoting Kentucky basketball. Recently, UK built a state of art practice facility and now is moving forward on a new arena in the coming years…..underscoring the huge overall commitment to UK basketball. Although UK fans are very proud of the UK football program achievements in recent year, it is the basketball program that is the golden nugget of the UK sports programs.

Mitch Barnhart and President Todd clearly understood that UK needed a coach who had not only proven himself over his career as a winner, but a coach who would bring star power to match the star power of the UK basketball program. With all this in mind, Mitch Barnhart and President Todd selected and hired John Calipari to restore the UK program to it’s rightful place among the nation’s elite teams.

A review of John Calipari’s career is more than impressive and reveals coach Calipari to be of the most elite and successful coaches in America.

John Calipari played his basketball at UNC-Wilmington for 2 years and then Clarion St., where not surprisingly, Calipari was the PG.

He started his coaching career as an Asst. at Kansas under Ted Owens and Larry Brown from 1982-1985 and then was an asst. at Pittsburgh from 1985-1988 under Paul Evans.

Coach Calipari took his first head coaching job at U Mass where in 8 seasons he achieved a record of 189-70 and included 5 trips to the NCAA in which U Mass achieved a Sweet 16, Elite 8 and a Final Four. U Mass finished 1st in the A-10 conference in Calipari’s final 5 years at U Mass.

After a very successful 8 years at U Mass, coach Calipari decided to jump to the NBA as coach of the New Jersey Nets, but like Rick Pitino and a number of other college coaches who tried the NBA, Calipari’s college success did not carry over to the NBA as he had hoped. So, in 2000, John Calipari returned to the college game as coach of the Memphis Tigers.

At Memphis, coach Calipari soon worked his coaching magic and quickly put the Tigers back on the national stage. In 9 years at Memphis, Calipari achieved a record of 252-69 with 6 NCAA appearances including a Sweet 16, 2 Elite 8’s and a Final Four where Memphis lost in OT to Kansas in the national championship game. In Calipari’s last 4 years at Memphis, the Tigers amassed an incredible record of 137-14, making the Tigers the winningest NCAA program in a 4 year period and included setting an NCAA record of 38 wins in a single season.

Coach Calipari’s 76.1% winning percentage ranks 3rd among active coaches with at least 10 years of coaching….trailing only Roy Williams and Mark Few, but ahead of Coach K and Rick Pitino. In fact, coach Calipari currently ranks 13th in winning % among all coaches, active and non active. Amazingly, Calipari has averaged 25.9 wins per year in achieving his tremendous career record of 441-139!

John Calipari has been A-10 and C-USA coach of the year numerous times and was Naismith National Coach of the Year in 1996 and 2008. He has also collected a host of other coaching awards.

Of course, past achievements are great, but UK fans are interested in future results…..and in the 3 short months time since Calipari became head coach…..Cat fans have already seen fantastic recruiting results…..namely, the number one recruiting class in America. After 4 years of being virtually a forgotten program, UK fans now see UK ranked in the top 5 or top 10 in numerous preseason polls. Coach Calipari has not only recruited a great class, but he has been everywhere, both nationally such as ESPN and locally throughout the state, selling Kentucky basketball. UK fans immediately see a coach comfortable in his own skin and supremely confident in his own abilities….a coach who has embraced UK basketball with great love and enthusiasm. Calipari has made no secret that he always wanted to coach Kentucky and now at age 50, he gets his chance to rebuild the UK program and brand….it’s a challenge that Calipari accepts fully and knows that achieving success at Kentucky will cement his place in college basketball history as one of the great coaches of all time.

A word regarding the totally unfair treatment of coach Calipari by so called sports analysts. As everyone knows, at U Mass, Marcus Camby accepted money and gifts from a couple of sports agents. An NCAA investigation established that coach Calpari had no knowledge of Camby’s actions. Recently, at Memphis, the NCAA is investigating Derrick Rose’s SAT test at his high school in Chicago and whether someone took the test for him. Again, the NCAA has found zero evidence of coach Calipari or anyone from Memphis having knowledge of Rose’s actions. Despite Calipari never being accused of an NCAA violation in all 17 years of his coaching career, there are still a number of classless sports journalists who try and smear him with false charges. As Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas, among others, have said…..enough is enough and coach Calipari deserves far better from the sports media.

UK fans are proud of their new coach….he has great charisma…..he lights up any room he enters….he handles interviews with great skill and shows respect to everyone. Calipari is rightfully proud of his wonderful family….his wife, two daughters and son…..he is a family man through and through. Coach Calipari has made no secret of he and his families intention to give back to the Lexington community as they did in Memphis..…..they will be involved in a number of charities and worthwhile projects in Lexington and likely throughout the state of Kentucky.

Also, importantly, it should be added that at U Mass, the graduation rate under Calipari was nearly 80% and at Memphis, 15 of the last 18 seniors that came through the Tiger program earned their degrees. Obviously, John Calipari is very interested in making certain that his players go to class and get their college degrees.

As one who has followed UK basketball for many years, I must say that I am greatly excited and proud about having John Calipari as UK’s new coach. I personally feel that the selection of coach Calipari was the perfect choice for returning the Wildcats back to their elite status. Cat fans are in for a treat, a new dynamic coach….a new exciting Dribble Drive Motion Offense and the best UK talent to step on the floor at Rupp arena in over 10 years and maybe longer. Believe me, Rupp Arena will be rocking next season!

Yes, the Kentucky basketball program has always had great star power….although in the past several years that star didn’t shine nearly as bright as it has in the past…..but now with coach Calipari, UK has a coach who brings his own personal star power…..and together…..I look for the UK program and brand to return to our glory years….that’s what happens when two great stars merge and become one!

Interview with Bill Keightley, (Week 9)

Kygoff
WT Administrator

In this interview Mr. Keightley discusses the University of Kentucky's summer basketball camps and the waning interest of highly-skilled players. He also discusses the father and son camps that now take place each summer which leads to an extended discussion of the role of the shoe companies and the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) in amateur basketball, recruiting, and off-season play. Keightley picks up his discussion of 1970s era players by talking about the players from the 1975-76 team and the assistant coaches who helped Coach Joe B. Hall. Finally, he discusses equipment changes that have taken place throughout basketball during his tenure at UK. This discussion includes athletic gear, clothing, and basketballs.
Interview with William B. Keightley, June 13, 2006 (59:43)
Keightley, William B.; Interviewee -- Suchanek, Jeffrey; Interviewer