50 Years Plus Club

[BBUK_anon]

I started in1959 when I saw my first basketball game in Memorial Coliseum with my Dad. I remember we were sitting about 3 rows from the court and there was a man sitting in front of us cursing all throughout the game. Up to that point, I had never heard so many bad words said in my life. He was yelling them mainly at the officials but also at some opposing players. At half time when the man got up to walk around, I ask asked my Dad why that man was saying so many bad words, my Dad said, that’s Happy Chandler, he’s the Governor of Kentucky and he’s mad at the officials for not calling a fair game.

Dang... GP

 

[cathouse_rivals216755]

Cathouse- just want to say I enjoyed your post. Brought back memories for me too.

Backer cutter, I expect we got a lot in common. Thanks.

 

[westerncat]

I will be 75 in June and starting following the Cats in 1966 when i came by from overseas and was in New Mexico. When i got back to Kentucky i got my Mom and Dad into it big time. They hardly missed a game up to the time they went home to Heaven. Both of them were big fans of UK.

Have only missed a couple of games since then.

 

[vernoncoy]

since Cotton Nash days......

Me too. I saw UK/Cotton play against Duke/Art Haymen in the Sugar Bowl Tournament (New Orleans). 1961 I think!

 

[Bratkartoffeln]

I enjoy reading all you older fans' experiences as a KENTUCKY WILDCAT fan from back in the day! Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I can still remember when UK played those dang delayed broadcast games on WKYT at 11:30. Even though it made for a very long day the next day, I'd sit up and watch my Cats until the very end of the game. Of course, the trick back then was to let everyone know you were going to stay up and watch the replay, and to not tell you the score, or anything about the game, good or bad!

We live in an absolutely fabulous time of broadcast sports, and missing this month's basketball is killing me worse than this damn virus. The days of delayed telecasts are thankfully over, but we were lucky to get them and were thankful just to see the games even after midnight. Now, it's crystal clear on a huge flat screen, and every game live on TV and taped so we can watch it again and again! There had to be one last tape-delayed game...I wonder when that was.

 

[Poetax]

My dad owned a pool hall and I remember the 1958 season only because on the nights that UK played everyone would stop playing pool and listen to our radio. I was taken back by how grown men reacted to every basket we made but it wasn’t hard to catch the fever even as a 7 yr old.

 

[uky8unc5]

This thread is AWESOME!

Sometimes this Board seems littered with "entitled" Youngsters who expect a title every year and whine when we lose a game.

It's good to know there are Graybeards who remember Coach Rupp and can appreciate the legacy of the Glory Road.

 

[KyFaninNC]

I enjoy reading all you older fans' experiences as a KENTUCKY WILDCAT fan from back in the day! Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I can still remember when UK played those dang delayed broadcast games on WKYT at 11:30. Even though it made for a very long day the next day, I'd sit up and watch my Cats until the very end of the game. Of course, the trick back then was to let everyone know you were going to stay up and watch the replay, and to not tell you the score, or anything about the game, good or bad!

Being raised in the hills and hollers of Cumberland County, we got three tv stations all out of Nashville TN. So very little UK games shown there or even talked about. Then WBKO in Bowling Green came online and they would show UK replays late at night. The Louisville and Lexington stations would not reach down in the valley, no matter which way you turned the antenna.

 

[KyFaninNC]

This thread is AWESOME!

Sometimes this Board seems littered with "entitled" Youngsters who expect a title every year and whine when we lose a game.

It's good to know there are Graybeards who remember Coach Rupp and can appreciate the legacy of the Glory Road.

The thing is that even back then Rupp and all coaches since Rupp were criticized when we lost games we all thought we should win. Course being a UK fan we thought we should every game. Back then there was no social media for fans to vent on. So we vented to our neighbors. So any criticism Cal gets is just the same as Rupp, Joe B, Sutton, Pitino, Tubby, BCG all got. There was never a pure love fest with any of our coaches. We did like them, but none were beyond criticism.

 

[Backer cutter]

“None were beyond criticism”- exactly right. I heard my first cuss words sitting around the old wood stoves in the country stores. Don’t remember too much about Rupp criticisms because I was too young, but they gave Joe B hell every day.

 

[spartacat]

Being raised in the hills and hollers of Cumberland County, we got three tv stations all out of Nashville TN. So very little UK games shown there or even talked about. Then WBKO in Bowling Green came online and they would show UK replays late at night. The Louisville and Lexington stations would not reach down in the valley, no matter which way you turned the antenna.

Lived down around the Cumberland Gap. We had two stations and they were both out of Knoxville. Remember watching the Ray Mears Show with John "BOTTOM" Ward and all that UT propaganda . They did have a pretty good show I liked. The Cas Walker Farm and Family Show. He would get on there and hawk his groceries and bring in musicians . He got Dolly Parton , The Everly Brothers and other Ky/tn kids their start in music.

 

[ukalum1988]

Being raised in the hills and hollers of Cumberland County, we got three tv stations all out of Nashville TN. So very little UK games shown there or even talked about. Then WBKO in Bowling Green came online and they would show UK replays late at night. The Louisville and Lexington stations would not reach down in the valley, no matter which way you turned the antenna.

I grew up in Union County and the Evansville station WFIE would show the games on a delayed broadcast. I can remember watching the Cats play in Memorial on our black and white TV.

I’m 54 so I’m kind of an in-betweener on this thread. I’m personally sorry I have no firm recollection of watching Adolph Rupp coach the team. I can vaguely remember the 73 & 74 teams but I definitely remember the 75 team making the run to the title game.

I really do enjoy reading the old time memories of the great teams and players of the past.

 

[AF Cat]

I began listening to UK via Cawood on the local radio in 1961 (only 6 yrs old at the time). We didn't have a TV then. I grew up in Bell County.

 

[Poetax]

The thing is that even back then Rupp and all coaches since Rupp were criticized when we lost games we all thought we should win. Course being a UK fan we thought we should every game. Back then there was no social media for fans to vent on. So we vented to our neighbors. So any criticism Cal gets is just the same as Rupp, Joe B, Sutton, Pitino, Tubby, BCG all got. There was never a pure love fest with any of our coaches. We did like them, but none were beyond criticism.

It’s no denying that whining is inbred in all sports fans.

 

[bfawns_]

My first recollection of listening to UK was when I spent the night with my best friend, Phil Carpenter and we listened to Caywood and the CATS. I couldn't tell you who they played but his description was so vivid it was like being there.
They went on to win the title in 1958 and I got to see Johnny Cox play in person in 1959 in my freshman year at UK.
I also got to see Cotton Nash play in person the year I got married[1963]
as my wife's former landlady got us tickets as she was affiliated with UK in some way.
My favorite team was Rupps Runts.

 

[Tapemaster8]

Seems like a lot of old blue farts on here. How many have been following UK for 50 years plus? I will start. I started following the Year of the Kennedy assassination, 1963.
That year I signed on with the Cleveland Browns, LA Dodgers and LA Lakers. Have followed all through thick and thin.

December 1961 for me. We moved from Iowa to Kentucky.

 

[ekywildcat_rivals26726]

My earliest memories go back to the 66-67 team and listening on the radio in the kitchen with my dad. The toughest loss since I started following was the loss to Jacksonville and seeing Dan Issel fouling out. Man, back in the day the televised games were few and far between. It was truly a treat when the Cats were on the TVS game of the week. I'd go outside up on the hill and move the antenna around, looking at my dad to give me the OK, and you hoped the signal would be good enough to be able to tell the teams apart.

I agree, the Jacksonville loss was tougher for me than the Duke loss, because I blame RP for that loss for not putting a man on Grant Hill. Issel fouled out early plus 3-4 other starters. Pretty sure we got the Higgins treatment in that game.

We had the antenna on the hill too. Strung out about three people to tune it in. We could only get WSAZ out of Huntington good enough to watch. I did watch The Beatles through the snow on the Ed Sullivan Show when they came over. And the game when Houston ended UCLA's win streak. Hated UCLA back then!

 

[JDHoss]

Lived down around the Cumberland Gap. We had two stations and they were both out of Knoxville. Remember watching the Ray Mears Show with John "BOTTOM" Ward and all that UT propaganda . They did have a pretty good show I liked. The Cas Walker Farm and Family Show. He would get on there and hawk his groceries and bring in musicians . He got Dolly Parton , The Everly Brothers and other Ky/tn kids their start in music.

Ain't that right Mrs Mull!?

I despised Mears and his troll sidekick Stu Aberdeen. Last time I saw Mears was back in the 90's when he was a guest speaker for the 15 & Under AAU national tournament in Kingsport. He was in some stage of dementia/Alzheimer's and I felt really bad for him as he struggled badly to keep his words together, but was mostly incoherent.

 

[bfawns_]

I agree, the Jacksonville loss was tougher for me than the Duke loss, because I blame RP for that loss for not putting a man on Grant Hill. Issel fouled out early plus 3-4 other starters. Pretty sure we got the Higgins treatment in that game.

We had the antenna on the hill too. Strung out about three people to tune it in. We could only get WSAZ out of Huntington good enough to watch. I did watch The Beatles through the snow on the Ed Sullivan Show when they came over. And the game when Houston ended UCLA's win streak. Hated UCLA back then!

I was at that game. It was a heartbreaker. They fouled Issel out on a very questionable call and we had no answer for Gilmore.

 

[BigBlueFanGA]

Getting close, about 44 for me unless I get extra credit for going to UK.

 

[JDHoss]

I agree, the Jacksonville loss was tougher for me than the Duke loss, because I blame RP for that loss for not putting a man on Grant Hill. Issel fouled out early plus 3-4 other starters. Pretty sure we got the Higgins treatment in that game.

We had the antenna on the hill too. Strung out about three people to tune it in. We could only get WSAZ out of Huntington good enough to watch. I did watch The Beatles through the snow on the Ed Sullivan Show when they came over. And the game when Houston ended UCLA's win streak. Hated UCLA back then!

We lived in Wise Co. VA, not too far from the Lynch/Benham/Cumberland metroplex. Watching TV back then was an adventure. We could usually get Bristol (NBC), Johnson City (CBS) Sneedville (PBS) and WBIR (CBS) out of Knoxville, at least good enough to tell what was going on. On a really good day, we got Asheville (ABC) and Spartanburg, SC (carried ACC games). Then there were some days where you couldn't get anything and it was a struggle to tell the teams apart and sometimes the sound wouldn't come through. People today who ***** about ESPN don't know how good they have it.

 

[spartacat]

Getting close, about 44 for me unless I get extra credit for going to UK.

Graham61 and Sawannee Cat are the elders thus far. You will have to lobby them. They may , if you have extenuating circumstances, grant you an honorary membership. If not you will have to ride the pine for six more years

 

[vernoncoy]

I started listening to the Cats on radio about 1958. I’m an old dude! Claude Sullivan and Cawood Ledford (mainly Cawood, he was the best!).

My dad was born in Bryan Station Ky but settled in New Orleans after WW2. He was not a sports fan so I never knew about the Cats history. One night when I was around 11 YO, I was searching on my family's old RCA radio and heard Cawood's voice mention Kentucky. The signal was weak but I was able to hear enough to learn that the Cats had a great BB tradition. When I asked my dad why he never told me about UK, he admitted that he never had the time to become a fan (school, working on the horse farm, joined the Coast Guard at 18 YO, got married/raised a family, work etc.). Needless to say I was hooked and would find that weak signal for EVERY game after that. I can still remember my mom telling me to turn the radio off and go to sleep while listening to the post game shows.
My favorite players were King Cotton, little Louie, and big Dan! Since I was born in '48, the first championship I got to experience was Rick Robey (he was from NOLA) and the '78 team. My worst memory was the loss to Texas Western in '66 - broke my heart!!!!! My most hated teams (in order) are LSU, Tennessee and Loserville. The players I most dislike are Jerry Lucas, Ernie Grunfeld, and Christian Laettner. Like most of us old-timers, I hope the good Lord lets me witness #9 before being called to stay with uncle Adolph in paradise!

 

[YouKay]

I started in1959 when I saw my first basketball game in Memorial Coliseum with my Dad. I remember we were sitting about 3 rows from the court and there was a man sitting in front of us cursing all throughout the game. Up to that point, I had never heard so many bad words said in my life. He was yelling them mainly at the officials but also at some opposing players. At half time when the man got up to walk around, I asked my Dad why that man was saying so many bad words, my Dad said, that’s Happy Chandler, he’s the Governor of Kentucky and he’s mad at the officials for not calling a fair game.

LOLOLOL

So glad I just revisited this thread, been very down this morning about the current situation. Just read this to Mr. YouKay and said “that right there is Kentucky basketball!!”

 

[BigBlueFanGA]

Graham61 and Sawannee Cat are the elders thus far. You will have to lobby them. They may , if you have extenuating circumstances, grant you an honorary membership. If not you will have to ride the pine for six more years

Sadness

 

[YouKay]

This thread is AWESOME!

Sometimes this Board seems littered with "entitled" Youngsters who expect a title every year and whine when we lose a game.

It's good to know there are Graybeards who remember Coach Rupp and can appreciate the legacy of the Glory Road.

I was born in 1958 and was a senior at UK in 1978. So that was the first U.K. championship I knew of, 20 years between titles. And it was another 18 years before the next one. Never stopped believing that “This year we will win it all.” We are all living in a third Golden Age of Kentucky basketball. Maybe it’s a little harder to appreciate it if you weren’t around for the first two.

 

[katwest]

I'm 62 years old and have been watching since 1966 knowing what was going on. I'm sure l watched before that but was to young to know anything about it. I have read everything that ever existed about Kentucky ever since. I remember names like Gayle Catlett, Dickie Parsons, Lynn Nance and Rupp in his brown suit, times have really changed but my love for the cats never will. My father was a lifelong fan of UK and he passed away Friday the 20th, he made sure I became a fan at a young age. He will be greatly missed.

 

[jr40831]

About 50 yrs for me

 

[Backer cutter]

My dad is the reason I’m such a passionate fan. He will be 88 in a month and still watches every game. I’m very fortunate.

 

[Rockford]

Dan Issel 1970. I was just a kid about 12.

I was so mad when Vaughn Wediking of Jacksonville, who took an immoral charge on him at half court as Dan ran down the court, fouling Dan out of his last game. If I ever see that punk out on the street........... been looking for him for 50 years.

Meet Issel later as a camper at the Rupp Issel Pratt basketball camp. He was great with us.

Attended my first UK game as a UK student in the Fall of 1975 at Memorial Coliseum.

It was heaven.

 

[Bratkartoffeln]

Seems like a lot of old blue farts on here. How many have been following UK for 50 years plus? I will start. I started following the Year of the Kennedy assassination, 1963.
That year I signed on with the Cleveland Browns, LA Dodgers and LA Lakers. Have followed all through thick and thin.

Good job starting this interesting thread. Younger folks can certainly learn some important things about UK. I hope we continue to add to this, and enjoy the stories from this eclectic group.

 

[Backer cutter]

Katwest- sorry for your loss.

 

[Bratkartoffeln]

Dan Issel 1970. I was just a kid about 12.

I was so mad when Vaughn Wediking of Jacksonville took an immoral charge on him at half court as Dan ran down the court, fouling Dan out. If I ever see that punk out on the street........... been looking for him for 50 years.

Meet Issel later as a camper at the Rupp Issel Pratt basketball camp. He was great with us.

How petty of Wedeking to have done that and how bad the rules allowed it to happen. Jacksonville did play us tough, and probably deserved to win, but that loss is a deep-seated wound in my soul. Dan Issel and my classmate and good friend Jack Givens are my two favorites (although I love them all like my kids). I'm in favor of doing away with charging altogether, and think basketball at all levels would be well served if we did that. Guarding your man is fine, but jumping in front at the very last minute--or even beforehand--to stop a drive should be outlawed. But, that's something for another day. I met big Dan at Mr Wiggs (department store) of all places in Lexington where it is still being used as the Lexington Peddler's Mall. I see him occasionally at Keeneland...he is still huge!

 

[awf]

Since the early 60's for me.......my buddy's father introduced me to them......been a fan ever since........

My buddy ended going to UL and is now a fan of the slime U6.....his father is probably rolling in his box.....

 

[Poetax]

Being raised in the hills and hollers of Cumberland County, we got three tv stations all out of Nashville TN. So very little UK games shown there or even talked about. Then WBKO in Bowling Green came online and they would show UK replays late at night. The Louisville and Lexington stations would not reach down in the valley, no matter which way you turned the antenna.

I bet a lot of people back then lost a lot of sleep staying up and watching those replays. I know when UK football was so often replayed at 11:30 pm on Saturday night made me really tired going to church the next day.

 

[uky8unc5]

The thing is that even back then Rupp and all coaches since Rupp were criticized when we lost games we all thought we should win.

You no doubt are right, but that wasn't true for me. It may be a weakness, but by nature I am blindly loyal to a fault.

I revered Coach Rupp. Yes, I was disappointed in how he handled end of his tenure. But the Baron could do no wrong in my eyes.

 

[uky8unc5]

We are all living in a third Golden Age of Kentucky basketball. Maybe it’s a little harder to appreciate it if you weren’t around for the first two.

YouKay, that right there is PROFOUND. And TRUE!
This really is the 3rd.
And frankly, all 3 are different but equally satisfying.

 

[kygrandpa]

I started some time in the early 60's listening to them and occasionally seeing a game on TV.. I was in Vietnam when UK lost to Jacksonville listening on the oversea's radio station, and all us UK fan's were very pissed and down on that loss.. So I guess I qualify for a long time listener and fan..
Once a CAT fan always a CAT fan I say..

GBB

 

[KyFaninNC]

I bet a lot of people back then lost a lot of sleep staying up and watching those replays. I know when UK football was so often replayed at 11:30 pm on Saturday night made me really tired going to church the next day.

Especially when you had to get up early for school, or work.

 

[KyFaninNC]

You no doubt are right, but that wasn't true for me. It may be a weakness, but by nature I am blindly loyal to a fault.

I revered Coach Rupp. Yes, I was disappointed in how he handled end of his tenure. But the Baron could do no wrong in my eyes.

Most of the criticism of Rupp came late in his tenure, if I recall it right. But I think most fans revered Rupp as well, Rupp was the King of the Bluegrass. I always enjoyed, what I would call Ruppisms, he had a way with words for sure.