JPS
11-08-2005, 10:03 PM
The series history (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/GeorgetownCollege.html) between Kentucky and Georgetown College dates back to the very first game UK participated in. On February 6, 1903, the two teams met in the recently built Barker Hall (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/arenastatecollegegymnasium.html) on the Lexington campus. Georgetown, which had already played a few games that season and had fielded teams in the years prior, won the game 15-6 (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Games/19030206GeorgetownCollege.html) (according to the Leader or 17-6 according to the Herald).
The Kentucky squad (then known as Kentucky State College) was composed of a group of students who pitched in to buy a $3 ball. For most of the decade, the KSC squad would be managed and run by students. Georgetown apparently had a coach, W.S. Kline, starting in 1904, and perhaps that was the difference as Georgetown won the first six games between the two schools.
Later in the decade Kentucky started to make some in-roads. In 1908, the two teams split and each had a claim to the Kentucky State Championship [which was generally claimed by the school with the best record between KSC, Kentucky University (Transylvania), Georgetown, Central University (Centre College), Kentucky Wesleyan etc.] Kentucky and Georgetown were looking to end up the season in a dead-lock with a third and deciding game promising to break the tie. However, Kentucky was upset by Central. KSC fans were hopeful that they could at least wreck Georgetown's claim to the throne but there is no record that the third game was played.
By the early teens, both squads had head coaches. Kentucky's first coach was Edwin R. Sweetland (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Coaches/Edwin_R_Sweetland.html), who came to UK from Cornell. Georgetown's coach was Robert Hinton (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/CoachesOpposing/RobertHinton.html), who remained at the school until 1920.
In those days, the local schools had formed a small conference called the K.I.A.A. (Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Association). Kentucky was also part of the broader S.I.A.A. (Southern Intercollegiate) which was the precursor of the Souther Conference which eventually changed into the SEC and ACC of today. There was much internal conflict among the K.I.A.A. members with many incidents and accusations of broken contracts, ineligible players, the use of ringers etc. In 1912, Kentucky broke free from the K.I.A.A., claiming they had outgrown the conference which they felt was stacked against their best interests with the little schools banding together against them. Kentucky had just seen Central renege on a promise to play a game in the middle of the season, and this came on the heals of arch-rival Kentucky University (Transylvania) reneging on a three-game commitment which had left Kentucky State scrambling to fill its schedule. The move may have been a preemptive strike by Kentucky as some of the other KIAA schools were readying charges of rules violations by the KSC football and baseball teams.
Regardless of the true reason for the split, Kentucky did not play any other KIAA schools from 1913 until 1916. The KIAA for its part claimed Kentucky owed back membership dues and prevented any of its members from facing the school. The ban was broken only when Louisville wanted to join the league, but also wanted to retain their fledgling relations with Kentucky State College. A compromise was worked out whereby Kentucky repaid their dues and the schools could once again compete if they chose to.
With that, Georgetown and Kentucky restarted their annual games. Kentucky began to steadily win more games in the 1920's as they began to expand beyond their local roots and compete as a major southern college. One example of this expansion can be seen when the two teams faced each other in the first round of the 1922 S.I.A.A. tournament held in Atlanta. The two teams shared a railcar coming down to Atlanta and the victory (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Games/19220224GeorgetownCollege.html) for the Wildcats allowed them to claim the State Championship, however Kentucky didn't fare so well in the tournament as they were beaten by Mercer in the following game.
In 1924, Kentucky saw the opening of a new gymasnium, Alumni Gym (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/arenaalumnigym.html) (capacity 2800), to hold the ever increasing crowds for basketball. Georgetown followed by building it's own Alumni Gymnasium (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/arenageorgetownalumni.html) in 1926. Incidentally, Georgetown's previous gymnasium (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/arenageorgetowngym.html) (40 x 70 feet with a running floor above) was part of a multi-use building which also served as a chapel, library, office building and meeting hall among other uses. In 1930, while the students were attending service in the chapel, the building caught and fire and burned completely (http://www.georgetowncollege.edu/archives/default1.htm). (read the link for more information on this incident)
http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Graphics/Arenas/georgetowngym_outside.jpg
Original Georgetown Gymnasium
On February 1, 1927, Georgetown beat (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Games/19270201GeorgetownCollege.html) a hapless Basil Hayden (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Coaches/Basil_Hayden.html)-coached Wildcat team 26-19. This would be the last time the Tigers would beat the Wildcats, and that year would be the last time Kentucky had a losing record for sixty years. That was also the final time Kentucky would travel to Georgetown for a game; all other games would be played in Lexington.
After that game, it was all Kentucky in the series as the Wildcats under John Mauer (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Coaches/John_Mauer.html) and later Adolph Rupp (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Coaches/Adolph_Rupp.html) began to run up large scores on the Tigers. The competition got so lopsided that early in his career, Adolph Rupp likened beating Georgetown to 'shooting squirrels in Woodland Park.'
In fact, Rupp's first game as a Kentucky coach came against Georgetown. The Wildcats unveiled a new 'run and gun' offense and ran away with the game 67-19 (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Games/19301218GeorgetownCollege.html). Forest "Aggie" Sale led the victors with 19 points, followed closely by "Little" Louis McGinnis who scored 17. High man for the Tigers was Harry Lancaster, who scored 10, over half of his team's points. Lancaster would later become better acquainted with Rupp and eventually became Rupp's assistant coach, right-hand man, and later boss.
Despite Rupp's decree about the ease of playing Georgetown, the two continued to meet during most of the 1930's, usually as the opening game of the season to get his Wildcats tuned up. In the mid-30's, former UK All-American Carey Spicer coached the Tigers, but as with the others, his teams were steam-rolled by the Blue and White.
As the 1930's came to a close, the series was ended. Kentucky was well on its way to becoming a national power and Rupp saw less and less utility for entertaining in-state rivals. The final game against Georgetown came in 1938, a 39-19 victory (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Games/19381202GeorgetownCollege.html) for the Wildcats. The following year, Kentucky cut ties with Berea which (with the exception of a few games during World War II against local armed services teams) ended the era of in-state regular season competition between Kentucky and its neighbors in the Commonwealth for many decades, until the Louisville Cardinals forced the issue in the 1980's. [By the 1920's, series with Louisville and Centre College went by the wayside. The rivalry with Transylvania was never renewed after the 1912 debacle.]
After the dust had settled, Kentucky's overall record (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/GeorgetownCollege.html) against Georgetown stood at 35-15, which is not half bad for the Tigers considering that to this day, they still have won the most games against UK than any other Kentucky school.
The Kentucky squad (then known as Kentucky State College) was composed of a group of students who pitched in to buy a $3 ball. For most of the decade, the KSC squad would be managed and run by students. Georgetown apparently had a coach, W.S. Kline, starting in 1904, and perhaps that was the difference as Georgetown won the first six games between the two schools.
Later in the decade Kentucky started to make some in-roads. In 1908, the two teams split and each had a claim to the Kentucky State Championship [which was generally claimed by the school with the best record between KSC, Kentucky University (Transylvania), Georgetown, Central University (Centre College), Kentucky Wesleyan etc.] Kentucky and Georgetown were looking to end up the season in a dead-lock with a third and deciding game promising to break the tie. However, Kentucky was upset by Central. KSC fans were hopeful that they could at least wreck Georgetown's claim to the throne but there is no record that the third game was played.
By the early teens, both squads had head coaches. Kentucky's first coach was Edwin R. Sweetland (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Coaches/Edwin_R_Sweetland.html), who came to UK from Cornell. Georgetown's coach was Robert Hinton (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/CoachesOpposing/RobertHinton.html), who remained at the school until 1920.
In those days, the local schools had formed a small conference called the K.I.A.A. (Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Association). Kentucky was also part of the broader S.I.A.A. (Southern Intercollegiate) which was the precursor of the Souther Conference which eventually changed into the SEC and ACC of today. There was much internal conflict among the K.I.A.A. members with many incidents and accusations of broken contracts, ineligible players, the use of ringers etc. In 1912, Kentucky broke free from the K.I.A.A., claiming they had outgrown the conference which they felt was stacked against their best interests with the little schools banding together against them. Kentucky had just seen Central renege on a promise to play a game in the middle of the season, and this came on the heals of arch-rival Kentucky University (Transylvania) reneging on a three-game commitment which had left Kentucky State scrambling to fill its schedule. The move may have been a preemptive strike by Kentucky as some of the other KIAA schools were readying charges of rules violations by the KSC football and baseball teams.
Regardless of the true reason for the split, Kentucky did not play any other KIAA schools from 1913 until 1916. The KIAA for its part claimed Kentucky owed back membership dues and prevented any of its members from facing the school. The ban was broken only when Louisville wanted to join the league, but also wanted to retain their fledgling relations with Kentucky State College. A compromise was worked out whereby Kentucky repaid their dues and the schools could once again compete if they chose to.
With that, Georgetown and Kentucky restarted their annual games. Kentucky began to steadily win more games in the 1920's as they began to expand beyond their local roots and compete as a major southern college. One example of this expansion can be seen when the two teams faced each other in the first round of the 1922 S.I.A.A. tournament held in Atlanta. The two teams shared a railcar coming down to Atlanta and the victory (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Games/19220224GeorgetownCollege.html) for the Wildcats allowed them to claim the State Championship, however Kentucky didn't fare so well in the tournament as they were beaten by Mercer in the following game.
In 1924, Kentucky saw the opening of a new gymasnium, Alumni Gym (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/arenaalumnigym.html) (capacity 2800), to hold the ever increasing crowds for basketball. Georgetown followed by building it's own Alumni Gymnasium (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/arenageorgetownalumni.html) in 1926. Incidentally, Georgetown's previous gymnasium (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/arenageorgetowngym.html) (40 x 70 feet with a running floor above) was part of a multi-use building which also served as a chapel, library, office building and meeting hall among other uses. In 1930, while the students were attending service in the chapel, the building caught and fire and burned completely (http://www.georgetowncollege.edu/archives/default1.htm). (read the link for more information on this incident)
http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Graphics/Arenas/georgetowngym_outside.jpg
Original Georgetown Gymnasium
On February 1, 1927, Georgetown beat (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Games/19270201GeorgetownCollege.html) a hapless Basil Hayden (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Coaches/Basil_Hayden.html)-coached Wildcat team 26-19. This would be the last time the Tigers would beat the Wildcats, and that year would be the last time Kentucky had a losing record for sixty years. That was also the final time Kentucky would travel to Georgetown for a game; all other games would be played in Lexington.
After that game, it was all Kentucky in the series as the Wildcats under John Mauer (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Coaches/John_Mauer.html) and later Adolph Rupp (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Coaches/Adolph_Rupp.html) began to run up large scores on the Tigers. The competition got so lopsided that early in his career, Adolph Rupp likened beating Georgetown to 'shooting squirrels in Woodland Park.'
In fact, Rupp's first game as a Kentucky coach came against Georgetown. The Wildcats unveiled a new 'run and gun' offense and ran away with the game 67-19 (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Games/19301218GeorgetownCollege.html). Forest "Aggie" Sale led the victors with 19 points, followed closely by "Little" Louis McGinnis who scored 17. High man for the Tigers was Harry Lancaster, who scored 10, over half of his team's points. Lancaster would later become better acquainted with Rupp and eventually became Rupp's assistant coach, right-hand man, and later boss.
Despite Rupp's decree about the ease of playing Georgetown, the two continued to meet during most of the 1930's, usually as the opening game of the season to get his Wildcats tuned up. In the mid-30's, former UK All-American Carey Spicer coached the Tigers, but as with the others, his teams were steam-rolled by the Blue and White.
As the 1930's came to a close, the series was ended. Kentucky was well on its way to becoming a national power and Rupp saw less and less utility for entertaining in-state rivals. The final game against Georgetown came in 1938, a 39-19 victory (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Games/19381202GeorgetownCollege.html) for the Wildcats. The following year, Kentucky cut ties with Berea which (with the exception of a few games during World War II against local armed services teams) ended the era of in-state regular season competition between Kentucky and its neighbors in the Commonwealth for many decades, until the Louisville Cardinals forced the issue in the 1980's. [By the 1920's, series with Louisville and Centre College went by the wayside. The rivalry with Transylvania was never renewed after the 1912 debacle.]
After the dust had settled, Kentucky's overall record (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/GeorgetownCollege.html) against Georgetown stood at 35-15, which is not half bad for the Tigers considering that to this day, they still have won the most games against UK than any other Kentucky school.
