Rupp the Legend

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.

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