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Topic: Another Rupp story....or two.
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CATTRACKER
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Member # 55
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posted 12-24-2009 11:32 AM
This occurred on a cold, snowy night in Lexington many years ago. My eldest brother was a police officer and got the duty of driving Rupp home after the game.
Rupp asked him, "Are you a basketball fan?"
My brother replied that he wasn't much on basketball and preferred hunting and fishing as the sports that he enjoyed. And he's NOT a basketball fan to this day. He is my only brother of 5 that doesn't bleed blue and follow the Cats...in the footsteps of our Dad.
From that point on though, Rupp just talked to him about hunting and fishing.
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Now another basketball story about Rupp:
First, a Rupp quote from the book, 'Kentucky Basketball's Big Blue Machine' by Russell Rice(copyright 1976):
"When a Kentucky baby is born, the mother naturally wants him to be President, like another Kentuckian, Abraham Lincoln. If not President, she wants him to play basketball for the University of Kentucky."
Adolph Rupp
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Dicky Parsons commenting on Billy Ray Lickert(who was on the freshmen team and of his first meeting with Adolph Rupp).
Lickert: "I went to old Alumni Gym to get his autograph, and when a ball bounced out of bounds during a scrimmage, I shot it. He turned to me and said, "Get out, kid."
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Further down:
The '58-59 season:
Dicky Parsons, Lickert, Bob Slusher, Ned Jennings, Carroll Burchett, and Howard Dardeen joined the varsity with Johnny Cox, Don Mills and Phil Johnson. Rupp also had to indoctrinate into his system junior college graduates Bennie Coffman and Sidney Cohen of Brooklyn.
"Sidney, I want you to meet Johnny Cox of Hazard, Kentucky," Rupp said in practice one day. "He's working over on that side of the court. He's a pretty good basketball player. He just won the National Championship for us last year. But he won't have the chance to do it again this year unless you let him feel the ball once in a while." ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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On Lou Tsioropoulos:
'Lou Tsioropoulos came to the university on a football scholarship and showed up in the old gym when the freshman basketball players started working out there. Bryant asked Rupp if he had seen a football player with his basketball players.
"I don't know, Paul. What's the guy's name?"
"I don't know, Adolph. He's from Lynn, Massachusetts, a big Greek kid with a prominent nose."
Rupp checked the impromptu workouts, spotted the football player, called him over, and asked, "Son, what's your name?"
"Tsioropoulos."
"How do you spell it?"
"T-S-I-O-R-O-P-O-U-L-O-S."
"I never did learn to spell that name," Rupp said.
"During our first few trips on the road after Lou joined the varsity, I would give the opening lineup to the official scorer. Invariably, the scorer would ask, 'How do you spell that last name?' I had my secretary mimeograph a whole bunch of 'Lou Tsioropoulos' labels that I kept in my pocket to give to those scorers."
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Folks, if you've ever done any reading on Rupp, he was DEFINITELY not only a legend on the court, he was ALSO a legend off the court. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
[ 12-24-2009, 12:05 PM: Message edited by: CATTRACKER ]
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Jarcat
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Member # 95
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posted 12-24-2009 02:28 PM
My favorite Rupp story is one that may be just an urban legend. But it is a good one and it sounds like something he might have said.
It seems at half time in a game when the team wasn't performing particularily well, all he said was "Boys, when you go out there in the second half I want each of you to pull down your shorts and s**t on the floor. That way you can tell your kids and grandkids you did something here tonight.
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The truth is out there
Posts: 3014 | From: Lexington, KY | Registered: Sep 1999
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SCWC
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Member # 2464
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posted 12-24-2009 02:53 PM
John, Ron told me the story of him being dispatched to pick up Rupp that snowy evening in Lexington. I enjoyed the story and enjoyed spending some time with Ron and Martha, great people.
Posts: 17777 | From: Myrtle Beach, SC | Registered: Jun 2005
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CATTRACKER
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Member # 55
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posted 12-24-2009 04:02 PM
Jar...that is NOT an urban legend. I don't have time to look it up--but I think it was John Crigler and the Cats were playing in Madison Square Garden. I may be wrong on the player and where they were playing--but Rupp did say something to the effect of, "John, I want you to go over there and take a dump in the middle of the floor. That way, when we get back home, you can say you did 'something' up here."
Help me out on this one if you can, SCWC.
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bayer
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Member # 462
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posted 12-24-2009 06:16 PM
My favorite Coach Rupp story involved the trip the team took the Middle East. They were in one of the Muslim countries and went to the American Embassy while there. The Ambassador supposedly told them that although they were in a country which frowned on drinking alcoholic beverages, he might be able to find them a drink. Bernie Shively supposedly spoke up and said "I'd be just as likely to commit adultery as drink an alcoholic beverage," to which Coach Rupp supposedly responded, "I didn't know that was an option."
[ 12-24-2009, 06:17 PM: Message edited by: bayer ]
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Kentucky Basketball - Once Again, A Way of Life in the Bluegrass State!
Posts: 17281 | From: the center of Big Blue Nation!!! | Registered: Mar 2000
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CATTRACKER
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Member # 55
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posted 12-24-2009 09:19 PM
From 'Blue Yonder' by Orange Frazer Press (Copyright 1998)
This was after Rupp said to the '54 team who wanted to go to the NCAA Tourney without Hagan, Ramsey and Tsioropoulos by saying, "We won't allow a group of turds to mar the record established in large measure by our three seniors".
I quote from 'Blue Yonder':
'So institutionalized was the name "turds" that for one public scrimmage the second teamers came out with large 'T's on the backs of their shirts.(The newspapers the next day reported that Rupp was already looking ahead to Tennessee). In general, Rupp's attitude towards players that couldn't perform at high levels were that they were basically in the way. During half-time breaks, when he devised his strategy for the rest of the game, he often told the turds that they might as well just stay out on the floor and shoot some baskets.
Often, Rupp either didn't know or care to mention the names of his bench players, referring to them as hometowns. When freshman Doug Flynn, the future major league baseball player from Lexington's Bryan Station High School, hit three straight jump shots in a scrimmage against the varsity, Rupp stopped the action and shouted, "Hey, are you that kid from Lafayette?" When Flynn said no, the Baron turned to his sidekick, Harry Lancaster, and asked, "Who the hell is he, Harry?"
On occasion, the coaches' insults(Rupp and Lancaster) were calculated to run the player away. One story had Lancaster calling a young man from Tennessee into his office and telling him, "Son, I've tried to embarrass you, to humiliate you. You have no pride. You don't know an insult when you hear one. We can't use you here so I want you to get your stuff and go somewhere else." The player wasn't easily bullied, however. "Coach", he replied, "tonight I'll have a little talk with God and I'll let you know tomorrow whether or not I'm leaving." The next day at practice, the fellow advised Lancaster that he'd had a long talk with God and was staying in school. "Son", said Lancaster, "I've talked with the Lord since you have, and you're leaving."
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Here it is, Jarcat....just below what I just typed:
He(Rupp) told John Crigler, "John Lloyd, a hundred and fifty years from now there will be no university, no fieldhouse. There will have been an atomic war, and it will all be destroyed. Underneath the rubble there will be a monument, on which is the inscription, "Here lies John Crigler, the most stupid basketball player ever at Kentucky, killed by Adolph Rupp." He told mountain-boy Ernest Sparkman during the 1944 NIT, "Sparkman, you see that center circle? I want you to go over there and shi*. Then you can go back to Carr Creek and tell them at least you did something in Madison Square Garden."
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WildcatFanatic
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Member # 2932
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posted 12-24-2009 09:42 PM
Rupp sounds pompous and arrogant. I'm glad he had success for U.K. but not too happy to hear he humiliated young men like that. I know it was a different time but he sounds a little like BCG to me. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
Posts: 1531 | From: Lexington, Ky | Registered: Jan 2008
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CATTRACKER
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Member # 55
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posted 12-24-2009 10:26 PM
Rupp just knew how to get on his players and demand their respect. There was another time when one of the younger players was hooping it up in the locker room and the veteran players told him he better knock it off as he doesn't know where he's at or WHO he is playing for!
Rupp stormed into the locker room and yelled, "WHO's MAKING ALL THAT RACKET IN HERE?"
There was supposedly a 'no-talking' rule during his practices. Nobody was allowed to speak except for Rupp and Lancaster---and a player if asked a question by one of the two.
If you could read this book I have, you'd find that not one single player had a bad comment to say about him. They all gave him their ultimate respect---during and AFTER their playing days.
I doubt if you will be able to find it but the greatest book ever written on Rupp(imo) was this one by Russell Rice(Copyright 1976). It is FULL of letters from former players telling their stories about Rupp and not one of them condemned him for his arrogance or pompousness. Rupp was a great recruiter and even Johnny Wooden wrote him a letter once commending HIM as the greatest coach in college basketball history. I do believe that letter is intact inside glass at the UK Basketball Museum at Rupp Arena.
He sure didn't sound pompous when he gave Hatton the game ball. He was just toying with Hatton for awhile and letting him think he wasn't allowed to have that ball.
Note what Rupp said when he reached under his desk(for he apparently was already ready to give the ball to Hatton without Hatton asking for it or he wouldn't have had the ball under his desk).
I quote again from 'Kentucky Basketball's BIG BLUE MACHINE' by Russell Rice:
'On Dec. 7, 1957, when Vernon Hatton hit that 47 footer to tie Temple, go into the first of three overtimes in which UK eventually won, 85-83--and with Hatton scoring 6 of UK's last 8 points to win it---the next day Hatton asked Rupp for the game ball.
"Give you the game ball?", Rupp snorted. "just because you scored two points from 47 feet with one second to go. How would I explain that to the Athletic Board, giving away a $35 basketball? What would they think of me spending all that money? If you hadn't scored the basket, one of the other boys would have done the job, because the play was just one we had been practicing for occasions like that."
As Hatton contemplated quitting the team, Rupp reached under his desk, pulled out the game ball, flipped it to him, and said, "Congratulations, son. You're sure tough in the clutch. You may have the ball. Tell your grandchildren about it."
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Posts: 22091 | From: Wildcat, Country | Registered: Sep 1999
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CATTRACKER
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Member # 55
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posted 12-24-2009 10:32 PM
It was Mississippi State that put a dead skunk under Rupp's seat, apparently. I was thinking it was at Tennessee.
Here are some Rupp quotes I obtained from another website:
"I know I have plenty of enemies, but I'd rather be the most-hated winning coach in the country than the most-popular losing one."
Rupp on winning.
"I don't care if your girlfriend leaves you or
your pet rabbit dies. I just care if you produce for me on the basketball court."
Rupp on dedication.
"The fans are real bad some places we play down South. They're worse than anywhere at Mississippi State. The last time we played down there, they'd put a dead skunk under my bench. I know that boys will be boys. But must idiots be idiots?"
Rupp on opposing fans.
"If they don't bump their heads when they come in, I don't even bother shaking their hands."
Rupp on recruiting, referring to the top of the door frame to his office.
"If they don't let me coach, they might as well take me to the Lexington Cemetery."
Rupp on retirement.
"You darned sportswriters are all alike. Every time I come to Georgia, you misquote me in the papers. You get the fans riled up with lies, and then they come out and boo me."
Rupp on the media
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Posts: 22091 | From: Wildcat, Country | Registered: Sep 1999
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CATTRACKER
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posted 12-24-2009 10:39 PM
Some great Rupp stories here and better than I can contribute:
http://stoneyforkpage.com/rupp.htm
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Posts: 22091 | From: Wildcat, Country | Registered: Sep 1999
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CATTRACKER
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Member # 55
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posted 12-24-2009 10:49 PM
I was trying to find the letter from Wooden online and notice the 'Kentucky Basketball Museum' is now closed---due to financial woes? I didn't know that. That's sad! I loved my visit to it many years ago and I saw that letter, personally....and from my recollection, Wooden praised Rupp as the best coach ever. I could be wrong, tho---sure have been before.
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Bluecat
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Member # 516
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posted 12-24-2009 11:37 PM
A close friemd of mine who died five years ago was a die hard Kentucky fan and told me this story about a friend of his. His friend said he was driving past Rupp's farmhouse one evening when he had the urge to drop in and pay a visit to the legendary coach, even though he had never met him. As the story goes he drove up to the farmhouse and parked his car and walked to the front door and knocked. Rupp answered the door and the man told coach he was in the area and wanted to meet him and tell him how much he adored him and Kentucky basketball. Rupp invited the man into his home and they sat and talked for several minutes before the man left. It has been several years ago since I heard the story and cannot recall if the man got Rupp's autograph
or if he was offered a drink, bourbon of course, while he was there, I can't remember if that was the case. My deceased friend always told the story in awe of the way Coach Rupp treated his
friend on that night many years ago.
Do you guys think the story really happened?
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Bluecat
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CATTRACKER
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posted 12-25-2009 12:37 AM
Yes, I do...BlueCat.
Rupp was tough on his players but I don't ever recall him being 'tough' on his fans...nor have I ever read such a thing about him. As I posted earlier, my brother sure liked him as he and Rupp just talked about hunting and fishing all the way home when my brother drove Rupp home in his police car. Dang, I wish he'd got Rupp's autograph for me.
But that was decades ago.
LOL, but Bill Keightly is quoted in 'Blue Yonder' as saying one of Rupp's sayings was, "Don't speak unless you can improve on the silence."
Rupp had more one-liners than Mark Twain. lol
Also from 'Blue Yonder':
'The liberties Rupp took with the truth were generally innocuous and often as not, humorous. Lancaster liked to tell of the occasion in Chicago when he came into the locker room at halftime to find the Baron backed against the wall by a hefty stranger who was screaming in his face. Lancaster knocked the intruder down and ushered him out, but moments later the unwanted visitor came barging back in, prompting the rugged ex-Marine to hit him again with such force that he broke a finger. Later that night, as Rupp regaled visitors, lounging in his red pajamas and nursing big glasses of bourbon---the coach in formed everybody of how he had decked the large assailant with the same sort of right cross with which he had won the heavyweight boxing championship as a Jayhawk.'
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The point here is that Rupp was very entertaining and amiable to the public.
Rupp never played in-state schools, either. He said, "That's like going to the park to shoot squirrels."
I can't remember the player or friend but Rupp once gave a friend a bottle of bourbon and told him to drink it as his funeral. The friend said, "Coach Rupp..do you want me to drink it before the funeral or after it?" Rupp replied, "H***, drink it on the way out to the cemetery. I won't be with you coming back."
Gonna try to post just a couple of letters now to Russell Rice--if my camera will capture them. These are from the book, 'Kentucky Basketball's BIG BLUE MACHINE', by Russell Rice:
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Bluecat
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posted 12-25-2009 01:16 AM
CT, To add more to my earlier post, when the man knocked upon Rupp' door in the middle of the nigh and asked if he could come in and talk with him, Rupp beamed and bellowed loudly to the man;
"Sure, come on in here" and welcomed him into his home. Rupp seemed genuinely pleased that the man had sought him out just to meet him. I remember finding the whole story amusing that such a celebrity as Rupp would gladly welcome a total stranger into his home unannounced. On further recollection I think my friemd did say that Rupp offered him a drink as they sat talking inside his house on the cattle farm Rupp owned. The man was from Hart County, Kentucky. I'm sure he boasted of that evening on numerous occasions. I do not know his name or if he is still living at this time.
One of my favorite Rupp stories was told to me by Shelby Linville about the time Rupp attended the first game Shelby coached at a high school in Ohio. Rupp was well known to have a very salty vocabulary as did Linville at the time.
During the game as told by Linville, he unleashed
several diatribes in French towards the officials, none fit for family consumprion. After the game Rupp approached Linville and said in his best Kansas drawl...."My Gawd Shelby!, I thought I was BAD before I heard you!".
Shelby told this account at a Kentucky basketball fans convention in Middletown, Ohio in which I was in attendance.
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Bluecat
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bayer
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posted 12-25-2009 07:43 AM
Bluecat, the only reason I would question the story is that, while Coach Rupp had a farm outside of Lexington, he did not live there. It may have had a small farm house or tenant house on it, but Coach Rupp and his wife, Esther, lived on one of the streets just off Cooper Drive, just beyond where Cooper and Tates Creek Road intersect. I was by the home many times when I was in school at UK as I worked for the Herald Leader in circulation.
My only personal story involving Coach Rupp happened my first week on campus at UK. At one time there was a bowling alley and restaurant names the Wildcat, located near where the Joe B Hall Wildcat Lodge is now located. I had finished classes just about lunch time this day, during my first week there and decided to stop by the Wildcat for lunch. I went through the line, place my order and was waiting for my number to be called. I walked over to a table near the front of the restaurant, near window, sat down and was reading a newspaper. Even before I received my food a young, fuzzy cheeked fellow came up to me and said, "You're going to have to move to another table." Now this kid was about half my size and as I said was very young looking, fuzzy cheeked and did not even appear to be dry behind the ears. I looked up to him and said, "What makes you think I even want to move?" He looked me right back and explained the facts of life, "You must be new around here. You're sitting in Coach Rupp's seat and he's going to be in here in about 5 minutes to get his bowl of chili. If you don't get up and make sure he gets his seat it may be a long afternoon for all of us." At which I decided that discretion was the better part of valor, so I moved to another seat at the next table. Sure enough Coach Rupp walked in by himself a few minutes later and as soon as he sat down a waiter brought out a bowl of chili and a glass of milk. Apparently someone had told him I had been in his seat, because as soon as he took his first bite of chili and swallowed he looked over at me, not smiling, and said, "Thank you for getting out of my seat." Then he went back to eating his chili, saying not one more word. Of course, that happened in Sept 1965, early in the year of the Rupp's Runts season which ended so disappointly at College Park, MD in the final game loss to Texas Western (now UTEP).
[ 12-25-2009, 07:46 AM: Message edited by: bayer ]
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Kentucky Basketball - Once Again, A Way of Life in the Bluegrass State!
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CATTRACKER
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posted 12-25-2009 09:30 AM
LOL, bayer, he probably thought he'd lose the next game if he didn't get to sit in 'his seat' at that restaurant. Rupp was very superstitious. Not only with the 'brown suit' that he wore at each game, either. He'd pick up a bobbie pin or a paper clip every time he'd see one on the street for good luck before a game--things like that. I can't remember the precise items he'd pick up as I'm just substituting but he was most definitely superstitious.
Seems like I have either read or heard that he wore the brown suit to one of his first games and won and then wore a suit of a different color and lost. From that point onward, he always wore the brown suit.
Edit: There are scads of letters from former players to Russell Rice describing their personal experiences with Rupp in 'KBBBM' by Rice---as I posted above from Pratt and Riley. I just looked at Amazon and there seems to be 7 used books starting at $7.00 that are entitled, "Kentucky Basketball's Big Blue Machine'[Hardcover], by Russell Rice(copyright 1988, an updated edition). Just thought some of you might be interested in buying it.
[ 12-25-2009, 09:47 AM: Message edited by: CATTRACKER ]
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Posts: 22091 | From: Wildcat, Country | Registered: Sep 1999
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CATTRACKER
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posted 12-25-2009 09:55 AM
Bluecat, I think Shelby Linville became a pastor at Middletown. I have an older brother that knew him quite well as he lives not far from Middletown and I do believe Linville passed away this year.
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Posts: 22091 | From: Wildcat, Country | Registered: Sep 1999
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CATTRACKER
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posted 12-25-2009 09:58 AM
Yes, Linville died at age 78. But I was wrong--he passed away last year in August, 1988.
http://www.wkyt.com/sports/headlines/26306469.html
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