First UK Game You Can Remember

[Wildcat Larry]

Radio, television or in person, what is the first UK game that you can remember with any clarity? How's that for a challenge?

I vaguely remember listening to Claude Sullivan (I think) broadcast games in the late '50s with Billy Ray Lickert, Ned Jennings, Bennie Coffman and Dickie Parsons.

However, my first specific game memory is when UK played Duke for the Sugar Bowl Tournament Championship on New Year's Eve of 1963. There were lots of great players on the court including Cotton Nash, Ted Deeken, and Larry Conley for the Cats while Duke had the great Jeff Mullins and Jack Marin. But on this night, it was Terry Mobley who was the hero hitting a jumper from in the lane with three seconds to go to beat the Blue Devils, 81-79.

Cotton Nash had 30 points that night and Jeff Mullins had 26, but it was Mobley's last two of his nine points in that game that made a lasting impression on me. After that my blood turned blue and I was a UK fan for life.

[TRexSmarts]

My first UK game I listened too in 1982. The reason I listen to it was because my mom had a date that night and they went to the UK game as the date.So, I decided that UK was my favorite team. Don't ask me who it was against or anything.

My first UK game that I actually watched was in 93 or 94 I do believe when I visted Rupp Arena for the first time to watch UK play Auburn. Of course, the crowd wasn't what I really expected. It was during Christmas break and what I remember about this game besides the hot UK Cheerleaders that came up in the stands during halftime to talk to some people right in front of me, and that this was my first game with my oldest brother, was the fact that when I went home and saw highlights of it on ESPN that they hold all these crowd noise that wasn't even there at the game. I thought that was kind of funny.

TRexSmarts

[scathendo]

around 1977, i was about 8 or 9 years old,'kiss' posters all over my walls, i'd just started playing in the parochial (sp?)league. me and a friend watched thewildcats vs. georgia at his house and tracked the stats for all the players...i remember it was a close, ugly game with poor shooting... looking back at the scores on the uk website i'd guess it wasthe 01-03-07 game withUK beatingUG; 64-59.that's just a guess though...

[scathendo]

whoops, i meant 01-03-77!

[TRexSmarts]

scathendo wrote: whoops, i meant 01-03-77!
:D There for a second I thought you could look into the future. UK basketball for me trumps all things in my life. My whole life is scheduled around when UK plays!

TRexSmarts

[scathendo]

my wife has finally realized that she has to check the b-ball schedule to see if i'm going to be 'busy' or not :?

[Spanish Moss]

Good topic.

My first memories were in the late 1940's (47-48) I recall living
in Panama City, Florida and my dad had a big Hallicrafters short wave
radio. He would get down in the floor and tune in
WHAS. Dad thought recepiton was better in the dark so he would
turn out the lights and demand silence. I would
get down with him and listen for the names of Beard, Groza,
Wah Wah and others and just imagine being in the crowd as they
rolled up victory after victory.

When I was about 14 years old (1958) dad bought tickets to the Final
Four in Louisville. We drove up from Clearwater, Florida and I
saw my first games in person. The first game was with a great
player, Guy Rogers and the Temple Owls and the second game was against
one of the greatest players that ever lived, Elgin Baylor. So, my
first games brought me the pleasure of watching the Cats win an
NCAA title.

The next year dad bought season tickets and years later I traveled many
trips from Florida to Lexington to watch the Cats. I would
leave on Friday afternoon after work, drive all night and take in the
game Saturday. Then I would hit the road and drive all night to
make it back Sunday in time to get ready for work on Monday. You
can do that when you are a young man. :)

[WildcatRick]

The first game I remember seems like yesterday, it was the UK/UCLA game in 75. What a heart-breaker that was!!

[CoquieKat]

My memory is extremely fuzzy on this, but I remember Kenny Walker's name being mentioned on TV during a game.

For something a bit clearer--I remember a UK/UofL matchup sometime in
the mid-80s (I know it was before 1988 because we were still living in
our old house). It was the one where the huge fight broke out partway
through the first half. I think UofL was leading by 10, and UK came
back and whooped them.

Apparently I'm quite the youngin' on this thread... :)

[catfeverintennessee]

I am sure there were others when hubby and I were dating as he is the ultimate sports fanatic! But the one that sticks out in my mind is Kenny Walker against Chris Mullins. My nephew who was about 3 or 4 so this would have been in the mid 80's was with us watching as were a whole house full of other guys.(Note to self--that must have been when it started that everyone comes to our house to watch UK and I am the only wife there!:shock:) That was when Chris Mullins poked Kenny in the eye and he left the game. ( Was supposed to have been accidentally scratched butI thought ChrisMullins did it intentionally! Seems like he always did play dirty!)After that Kenny always wore googles and my youngnephew thought that anyone whoplayed basketball and wore googles was Kenny "Sky" Walker!


After that we listened to the radio and Cawood and ..WOW.. what I learned about the game from just listening to Cawood! I remember a youngboy calling in and telling Cawood that he was blind and he could picture the game just by listening to Cawood. That Cawood was his eyes!


The LORD is my shepherd... Tubby Smith is my coach!!

[jaspcat]

First TV game I remember was the 78 championship. I had to beg my folks to stay up that late and I think I fell asleep before we cut the nets down.

[rsjones1983]

The first UK game I can remember watching on television was the regional final againstDuke in 92. I remember the Dukies broke my heart in 91 because I had adopted Larry Johnson and the UNLV runnin rebels as my team. The Blue Devils made me cry two years in a row, and for that, I'll never forgive them.

[KenR]

'64 on radio; my family had just returned from living in S. Dakota for 2 years, I was 12 years old and had gotten into sports at 10. Don't remember the specific game that was my very first but listening to Cawood on the radio I was hooked. BTW, Tom does a very good job but I sure miss Cawood......

[Jeff Craddock]

The first game I remember is the first one my
grandfather took me to at Memorial. I was only seven and it was
the season that the great Hagan/Ramsey Cats went
undeafeated--1953-54. I have no idea who the Cats played, but I
still remember standing next to the court during the shoot-around and
thinking that those giants had to be the biggest people I'd ever
seen. I was in awe.....

[cumberlandredskin]

The first game I can remember is the last regular season game of the 1971 season against UT. I was just becoming aware of sports at the time(I wasn't quite 8) and I can distinctly remember watching this game and keeping score. My dad had to work that day and I can remember telling him all about it when he got home even though I think he was able to listen to the game at work. UK won a close game and IIRC Tom Payne was ejected from the game for fighting. Unfortunately I can remember the next game too. It was against WKU and the Cats got routed.

I probably had listened to and kept score of games before that UT game but Ijust can't remember them now.

[ACORE]

95 ncaa tourny loss too UNC's Jerry stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace in the elite 8

[JPB]

That is exactly the first game I remember as well. After that I remember our NIT run in 1976 when Larry Johnson went the length of the court to hit a layup and keep us alive.

[HOMEYCAT]

I remember sitting on the floor atmy dad's feet listening to Claude in the late 50's. Billy Ray Lickert and that bunch. By the time that Cotton Nash came alongiwas a young teen selling sodas at Memorial Colleseum. We didn't call them "sodas" they were "cokes". I'd pay $2.05 for a case of 24 cokes and sell it for 2.40. I made .35 per case. Sell all night and make maybe $11.00 or $12.00. I didn't care because i got to see the Cotton Nash team you speak of.

When I was a kid in Lexington playing basketball, if anyone threw a bad pass that went over your head, the inevitable complaint was, "Who am I, 'Spivey'"!

Everything we did in Lexington seemed to be better because this was the place where the Wildcats played.

New member: HOMEYCAT

[MSU Cat]

I'm a bit younger (no insult intended). The first game I remember watching was at Rupp Arena with my Dad and cousin. We had Chris Mills as a freshman and I think Richie Farmer hit a game winner. We might have been playing UMass. I had a "Keep Sutton Button" on for that game. I was probably 7 or 8 years old and obviously didn't know any better.

[beachedkat]

March, 1954. UK vs. LSU, SEC playoff game, Memorial, Nashville. We drove down from western KY. My dad, his three friends, and me. When the bottle of Early Times was passed it passed me. I have several distinct memories of that day and night. The smell of the whiskey in the car, how gray and drab Memorial Gym was, a 12-15 foot hook shot by Cliff Hagan (truly a thing of beauty), the toughness of Bob Pettit, the speed of Frank Ramsey, and a late celebratory dinner afterwards at a Nashville supper club served by waiters in white jackets, with starched cloth napkins, and the brown-bagged Early Times sitting in the middle of the table. I thought we were truly in the high cotton. I was twelve.

[Tom Blevins]

I watched Kentucky play Texas Western in the 1966 NCAA championship game. (On television) Even though the Cats lost that gsme, it was the start of my love for Kentucky basketball.

The first UK game I ever saw in person was in 1978 at Oxford, Mississippi. I sat right behind Kentucky's basket in the 2nd half, and had the best seat in the house when Jack Givens took a Kyle Macy length-of-the-court pass for an uncontested layup. They called that play,"Rick, Rick," and it was used to break the other team's full court press.

[Terry L. Wildcat]

:cool:2/25/56: I was nine and my dad was sitting at the kitchen table with his GE electricradio and a notebook...he was keeping score of the Kentucky/Alabama game and we got are aspenskicked 101-77...from then one I would listen to all the games with my dad...some of my fondest memories.

[Blue Heaven]

The 1978 Championship game. I was 7 and really the only thing I remember was James Lee slamming 2 home at the end. I remember my Dad being very excited.

[WildcatGirl]

Well for me this isn't really a challenging question since I'm a 'newbie' as sports fans go. It wasn't only my first UK game but my first game of any type period, I'd never been to a football or basketball game before that even my high school ones. I'd been to a couple of local minor league baseball games and college hockey games (UAH), but more just to hang out with my friends, not because I really cared or even knew who won.

First UK game I went to was a football game in October of 2000 at LSU...Brad and I had just recently started dating and we went down for the weekend to New Orleans and drove over to Baton Rouge for the day. The fans there were nuts and we got seriously lost trying to get back out of there to New Orleans, not getting back to our hotel until about 2 hours before we needed to leave for our early morning Sunday flight back home. (and the hotel was another story entirely, won't even go there, we still laugh about that entire trip...lol) but I still just absolutely loved it and have been a Wildcat fan ever since...having been to several other football and basketball games since, @ GA, AL, Vandy and home games....but I definitely won't forget my first Wildcat experience.

[BigBlue75]

The first game I remember watching on television was Dan Issel and Mike Pratt's last game as Wildcats. I hate to admit it, but my memory of that game is pretty fuzzy. I can't even remember the opponent or the score of the game, but I do remember my dad and uncles sitting around watching it with me.

The first game I saw in person was when they played Kansas at Freedom Hall. It was during the Joe B. Hall era.

[Wildcat Larry]

BigBlue75 wrote: The first game I remember watching on television was Dan Issel and Mike Pratt's last game as Wildcats. I hate to admit it, but my memory of that game is pretty fuzzy. I can't even remember the opponent or the score of the game, but I do remember my dad and uncles sitting around watching it with me.

The first game I saw in person was when they played Kansas at Freedom Hall. It was during the Joe B. Hall era.
Issel and Pratt's last game would have been the NCAA loss to Jacksonville led by Artis Gilmore. Now why did you have to remind me of that game? ;):?

[catfanintn]

Remember listening to Issel & co. with my dad over the radio. The only "particular" game I can remember (can't recall the year) was the last game of the year AT Tennessee with UK and UT both vying for the SEC championship. Game came down the last second with KY ahead by one and Tennessee's best free throw shooter (if I recall correctly, one of the best in the nation - English, I think was his name) shooting 2 free throws which could have won the championship. Rupp called 2 timeouts to freeze him. After he missed the first, Rupp called his last timeout. He missed the second also and KY won! Now calling time outs to freeze an opponent is a common tactic.

[BigBlue75]

Wildcat Larry wrote: BigBlue75 wrote: The first game I remember watching on television was Dan Issel and Mike Pratt's last game as Wildcats. I hate to admit it, but my memory of that game is pretty fuzzy. I can't even remember the opponent or the score of the game, but I do remember my dad and uncles sitting around watching it with me.

The first game I saw in person was when they played Kansas at Freedom Hall. It was during the Joe B. Hall era.
Issel and Pratt's last game would have been the NCAA loss to Jacksonville led by Artis Gilmore. Now why did you have to remind me of that game? ;):?Oops. Maybe that's why I couldn't remember the opponent or the score. I was so stunned it caused long term temporary amnesia. ;)

[Littlemeyer]

Great topic! It has been some interesting reading so far...

First game I can remember is the 1984 Final Four loss to Georgetown. I was 7, and I can remember being at my grandparents' house, which at the time seemed like it was in another universe (it was actually only 7 miles from our house). All of my uncles, my dad, and my granddad were all watching the game, and I can just remember the disappointment that they all expressed. I asked my dad what was wrong, and he told me Kentucky lost. I guess thats the moment that I learned that it sucked when Kentucky lost.

[CatFanInTheBathtub]

I remember parts of the St. Johns tourney loss in '85, and Chris Mullin having his way. I remember all of the LSU tourney loss in '86, and I know I watched most of the games from that season, as a nine year old living in the ville.

[Rockober]

jaspcat wrote: First TV game I remember was the 78 championship. I had to beg my folks to stay up that late and I think I fell asleep before we cut the nets down.
I remember sweating it out against Michigan State in the Elite 8. What a game. We beat a tough team that had Magic Johnson and they would cut the nets down the next year. Then playing a quick athletic and Sutton coached Arkansas team. Kentucky was just too good.

I was 11 and watched the first half of the Duke game. I had school the next dayand my dad said you have to go to bed now. I was crushed. I cried and ran into my room and listened to Cawood on the radio.I couldn't stand it any more. Being the loyal wildcat fan-I had to go against my dad's wishes and sneak back and watch the game. My dad was so into the game he didn't notice. He saw me with about 10 minutes left and at that time he was in a pretty good mood. He knew he couldn't deny his son towitness for the first time his beloved CATS cutting down the nets.

[Catlanta91]

That was the first UK game I remember too, the NCAA title game. What is most vivid in my memory was that a UK cheerleader was injured and several of them were vividly upset, tears streaming down their cheeks.

[sCATback]

I remember watching several basketball games when Kenny Walker played but don't recall who they played against. My first real memory of Ky's opponent was the 1984 football game against UT. I remember watching it on TV. My parents weren't real big sports fans but would watch ky every now and then. Little did I know that would be the last time I saw Ky's football team win against the vols.

[ryanebelhar]

The first game I remember seeing was a Blue/White Scrimmage at the SportsCenter in Owensboro, back when teams were allowed to do that.

the first real game I remember seeing was that same year, when my family went up to Indianapolis to see UK play IU in the hoosier dome in 1991. We sat about mile from teh court, but it didn't matter. Still doesn't. I'll sit anywhere.

We stayed in a hotel right by the hoosier dome, and my moms boyfriend (now my wonderful step dad) told my brother and I that the players were staying there, so we should grab paper and roam around the hotel. Of course we didn't belive him so we just ran around without any pens or paper.

Of course who should be in the elevator as soon as we get on? Jamal Mashburn :wildcatface

[yitbos]

The first game i can remember watching the whole thing was Duke 92. I vaguely remember some of the games previous to that, but that game is what set in stone my love for UK basketball. I got started a bit late because my family moved to KY from Colorado, where football was king, I didnt even really know anything about b-ball until I moved to KY.

[CATFAN0416]

The first game I remember was the 1992 Duke game. I was only 5 years old and most of my family member didn't believe that I actually remember it until I started explaining that i knew we watched it in the basement at my grandparents house and that i remember my aunt (an IU fan) calling mydad right after the shot and him having some choice words for her before throwing thephone to the ground

[Wildcatcrazy11]

1998 Championship game. I was in 4th grade and haven't lost and probably never will lose the obsession with UK basketball. :wildcatface

I am headed there next year on an academic scholarship and am just as pumped about school as I am getting 5 dollar tickets to games. :thumbup

[ProfJT]

I began listening to UK games in the mid-50s with my grandfather, but I don’t have any recollection of specific games. The first game that I can specifically remember was on Dec. 7, 1957. I was 12 years old and a Boy Scout, and in those days we were used as ushers at both UK football and basketball games. I was fortunate enough to get to usher at that game between UK and Temple. This was UK’s Fiddlin’ Five against a very tough Temple squad with All America Guy Rogers. UK won the game in triple overtime. With 1 sec to go in regulation, the score was tied and Rupp called timeout to set up a play. The ball was thrown in at mid-court to Adrian Smith who was the best shooter on the squad. He missed from mid-court and the game went into overtime. Same scenario at the end of OT, but with UK down 2 pts. - 1 sec to go, UK’s ball, Rupp calls time out. This time the ball goes to Vernon Hatton, and he drills it from mid-court, sending the game into the 2nd OT. One of the things I remember so vividly about the game is that when Rupp called time out, many of the fans began to leave. When Hatton hit the shot, Memorial erupted, as you can imagine! Well, all the fans that left early came running back into the arena asking, “What happened? What happened?” They had just missed one of the great moments in UK basketball history. Since then, I’ve seen hundreds of UK games, many in person, and I never leave early, no matter what the score! That experience is still thrilling to me almost 5 decades later.