JOHN BLUEBLOOD
08-10-2008, 01:56 PM
I was reading about Don Barksdale on Wikipedia this morning and found this interesting. I had known that Coach Rupp coach blacks in HS (Kansas), had given money and equipment to Dunbar in Lexington and had petitioned the SEC to allow the SEC schools to recruit blacks. I had known Rupp wanted to play in NY and other areas in the north and most of the other SEC schools would not. I had known that Pat Riley and Larry Conley scoffed at the idea of Rupp as a racist but I found this very interesting.
The 1948 Olympic team had five Kentucky Wildcats basketball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Wildcats_basketball) players who had just won the very first Wildcat national championship in the 1948 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_NCAA_Men%27s_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament ). The rest of the Olympic team, consisting of the AAU Champions Phillips Oilers, and the Kentucky team later scrimmaged on Stoll Field (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoll_Field) in front of 14,000 spectators, the largest crowd to watch basketball in Kentucky at that time. Barksdale became the first African-American to play against Kentucky in Lexington. He could not stay at the hotel with the rest of the team, but instead stayed with a black host family.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Barksdale#cite_note-2)
Adolph Rupp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Rupp), the legendary Kentucky coach, was the assistant coach on the 1948 team under Omar Browning.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Barksdale#cite_note-3)
"[Rupp] turned out to be my closest friend," Barksdale said. "We went to London and won all 12 games and got the gold medal." But he had to brush off indignities just about every step of the way. . . Later, coach Rupp told Barksdale, "Son, I wish things weren't like that, but there's nothing you or I can do about it." Barksdale agreed. He lived by a very simple philosophy. He wasn't interested in protest; he was interested in playing basketball. He had faced prejudice before, and he knew that he would face it again.
The 1948 Olympic team had five Kentucky Wildcats basketball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Wildcats_basketball) players who had just won the very first Wildcat national championship in the 1948 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_NCAA_Men%27s_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament ). The rest of the Olympic team, consisting of the AAU Champions Phillips Oilers, and the Kentucky team later scrimmaged on Stoll Field (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoll_Field) in front of 14,000 spectators, the largest crowd to watch basketball in Kentucky at that time. Barksdale became the first African-American to play against Kentucky in Lexington. He could not stay at the hotel with the rest of the team, but instead stayed with a black host family.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Barksdale#cite_note-2)
Adolph Rupp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Rupp), the legendary Kentucky coach, was the assistant coach on the 1948 team under Omar Browning.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Barksdale#cite_note-3)
"[Rupp] turned out to be my closest friend," Barksdale said. "We went to London and won all 12 games and got the gold medal." But he had to brush off indignities just about every step of the way. . . Later, coach Rupp told Barksdale, "Son, I wish things weren't like that, but there's nothing you or I can do about it." Barksdale agreed. He lived by a very simple philosophy. He wasn't interested in protest; he was interested in playing basketball. He had faced prejudice before, and he knew that he would face it again.
