This day in Kentucky basketball history

[The Old School JPS]

On June 9, 1969 Tom Payne became the first black player to sign with Kentucky.

JPS's excellent site has a very good section on Tom Payne and his career including and also beyond his time at UK.

http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/rupp.html#tompayne

That section is part of a terrific section examining claims - often carelessly made but rarely if ever carefully substantiated - about Rupp's alleged racial attitudes:

http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/rupp.html

[JPS]

Payne was an army brat, who had lived most of his life on army bases etc. and moved around a lot.

IMO if he had lived in Louisville for a long time, he probably would have been 'dissuaded' by the local community not to attend UK, just like Wes Unseld and others after him were.

To his credit, he stuck to his committment, even having to sit out a year and pay his own way his freshman year, to play for UK.

Unfortunately, things didn't work out in the end, for him or the school. One thing that I think is often overlooked is thatduring that time, he lost his father, who wasliterarlly his authority figure and moral compass. Without his father's guidance, Payne's life apparently wentdownhill quickly. He's still (and will always be) an important figure in Kentucky basketball history.

Jon