Ronnie Lyons #14

Woodsmoke

All-Conference
Feb 27, 2023
1,197
3,023
0
Growing up in the Maysville area, everybody wanted to emulate Ronnie Lyons. Similar to modern day numbers 23 (Jordan) and 3 (Chapman, Iverson) everybody wanted to wear #14. That’s how popular he was. He once scored 60 points against Bourbon County in Paris. Had the 3 point shot been in effect, he would have easily scored 90 points. Coach Rupp loved him:

 

travisbickle_rivals252984

All-Conference
Feb 9, 2004
1,876
4,216
0
I’ve got to say I feel like I’m pretty good on UK basketball history but don’t know much about him. My watching days started with Roger Harden, Kenny Skywalker and James Blackmon. Thanks for starting the thread and give me someone to do some research on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cowtown Cat

tug15

Senior
Apr 15, 2007
119
429
0
Ronnie Lyons was 5'9" tall, great ball handler, very quick but had great difficulty guarding tall, physical SEC guards. He played on some of the mediocre UK teams in the early 70's when the talent level was not up to par. Ronnie had a tendency to take some 20' plus set shots often times when the team was losing. Sometimes the fans would boo him when he would take an untimely long shot. On one occasion the booing triggered a " good ole Harlan county *** chewing" from Cawood Ledford. I remember Cawood saying " I've said it before and I'll say it again booing a Ky player is bush league, Ronnie Lyons has played on two SEC championship teams and has been a great representitive of the Ky program and doesn't deserve this type of treatment" That's what I admired about Cawood, he called it as he saw it. I remember numerous times the fans would boo a referee for a questionable call but Cawood would often say the fans didn't like it but I thought it was a good call. Conversely, if the referee was incompetent or obviously bias he didn't hesitate to call him out for his incompetency. The one referee he would criticise throughout the game was Soriano who i think called the 1975 Ky -Ind mideast regional game. If Soriano was calling a Ky game Cawood wouldn't hesitate to tell the listening audience during the pregame show that he was the sorriest referee in the NCAA. There will never be another Cawood!
 

darrellm1234

Junior
Sep 1, 2019
169
217
0
I was a 7th grade basketball player in Tennessee and watched him play on TV and just thought he was great. He was why I still to this very day got me to be a UK fan.
 
  • Like
Reactions: trey g 4 UK

Wunky

Heisman
Jan 16, 2021
4,402
18,354
78
Ronnie Lyons was 5'9" tall, great ball handler, very quick but had great difficulty guarding tall, physical SEC guards. He played on some of the mediocre UK teams in the early 70's when the talent level was not up to par. Ronnie had a tendency to take some 20' plus set shots often times when the team was losing. Sometimes the fans would boo him when he would take an untimely long shot. On one occasion the booing triggered a " good ole Harlan county *** chewing" from Cawood Ledford. I remember Cawood saying " I've said it before and I'll say it again booing a Ky player is bush league, Ronnie Lyons has played on two SEC championship teams and has been a great representitive of the Ky program and doesn't deserve this type of treatment" That's what I admired about Cawood, he called it as he saw it. I remember numerous times the fans would boo a referee for a questionable call but Cawood would often say the fans didn't like it but I thought it was a good call. Conversely, if the referee was incompetent or obviously bias he didn't hesitate to call him out for his incompetency. The one referee he would criticise throughout the game was Soriano who i think called the 1975 Ky -Ind mideast regional game. If Soriano was calling a Ky game Cawood wouldn't hesitate to tell the listening audience during the pregame show that he was the sorriest referee in the NCAA. There will never be another Cawood!

Cawood was as genuine as they come. He probably wouldn’t survive in this era of political correctness. Most of the greats wouldn’t.
 

arenk

Senior
Jan 3, 2003
2,108
927
0
I think addition of jimmy dan and mike flynn was his problem.
Yep, and his defense was a real liability too. Bigger guards who averaged 4 ppg would often score 2, 3, 4 and sometimes 5 times that amount with Lyons guarding them. Nonetheless, Joe B started him his junior and senior years and played Connor at SF in 75. We went all the way to the NCAA finals that year with Connor and Flynn as our stasrting guards. Lyons had already graduated in 74.
 

fs-ripcord65

All-Conference
Apr 29, 2009
5,718
3,880
113
I think addition of jimmy dan and mike flynn was [Ronnie Lyons'] problem.
THIS !
Lyons was a starter for Rupp and played 859 minutes as a sophomore in 1971-72. That was Rupp's last season. Then when Joe B. took over and Jimmy Dan Conner and Mike Flynn became sophomores in 1972-73, Lyons became the third guard and dropped to 699 minutes for that season. As a senior Lyons dropped to 639 minutes.
 

arenk

Senior
Jan 3, 2003
2,108
927
0
Where is Jimmy Dan now? Does anyone know what he's done since playing/attending UK?
 

flakat77

Sophomore
Sep 26, 2004
56
182
33
Remember when Lyons played my Pendleton Co high school team in 10th region in 1970. We were the two top teams, and we won the only head to head that year. Best team we had to that point, but upset in regional. Lyons was unstoppable on offense, not so much on defense. Still enjoyed watching him at UK.
 

P. Fanning

All-Conference
Jan 29, 2021
1,155
1,447
113
Cawood was as genuine as they come. He probably wouldn’t survive in this era of political correctness. Most of the greats wouldn’t.
He told it like it was. Some of the fans on here wouldn't like that because they'd say he was too negative.