Thursday, June 25, 2009

Supreme Court Justice Stanley Reed Oral Histories Online


The Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History has completed an initiative to provide online access to the Stanley F. Reed Oral History Project--an impressive collection of interviews about his career as a Supreme Court Justice. Reed was from Mason County, Kentucky and served the Supreme Court from 1938 to 1957.

Colleagues, relatives, and law clerks discuss various aspects of Reed's career as well Reed's ideology and judicial philosophy.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Basketball royalty

Given basketball's place of honor in Kentucky, and the storied tradition of the sport at the University of Kentucky, perhaps it is no wonder that there have been several fathers and sons who have coached or played on the team. In fact, three of the last six UK coaches have coached their own sons on the team.

The "Baron of Basketball," Adolph Rupp coached his son Herky from 1959-1962. Herky was a forward who didn't see a lot of playing time despite being the coach's son. He played in 14 games over those three seasons, and scored a total of 11 points during that time.



Adolph Rupp, 1976 -- 2004ua046_17688_009
Herky Rupp, circa 1959 -- 2004ua046_2020_002


Eddie Sutton's son Sean joined the team just two years after Sutton became coach. Sean played for two years before transferring to Oklahoma State after his father resigned as coach at UK. Sean went on to follow in his father's coaching footsteps, as did his brother Scott.

Eddie Sutton, circa 1988 -- 2009ua017_02_035

Sean Sutton, circa 1988 -- 2007ua023_325_006_05

Tubby Smith's sons G.G. and Saul both played college basketball, but only Saul played at UK. Saul played his entire college career at Kentucky, from 1997-2001. Saul is currently assistant coach at the University of Minnesota, where his father, Tubby, is head coach. Son G.G. (who played for Georgia) is now assistant coach at Loyola.

Tubby Smith (left) -- 2007ua023_127_039
Saul Smith, 1997 -- 1997 Men's Basketball Media Guide

Father and son players have been rarer than coach and player, but there are at least two fathers who have passed down the UK basketball genes to their sons. Allen Feldhaus was a forward-center at UK from 1959-1962, playing a total of 72 games with 299 total points. Twenty-five years later, his son Deron played as a forward in 124 games with a total of 1232 points.

Allen Feldhaus -- 2007ua023_156_080a
Deron Feldhaus -- 2007ua023_079_006_05

Joe and Joey Holland are another father and son team. Joe Sr. played forward from 1945-1948, playing in 105 games with 504 total points. Son Joey was a guard from 1974-1976, playing in 17 games with 14 total points.

Joe Holland -- 2006ua056_01_111

Joey Holland -- 2007ua023_228_018_02

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

They don't make them like they used to




We have all heard the line they just don't make them like they used to. Well it certainly applies to former University of Kentucky Men's Basketball player Vernon Hatton. During the 1956-57 season Hatton overcame considerable adversity to help UK win the Sugar Bowl Tournament. The adversity was an inflamed appendicitis, which was misdiagnosed before the final two games of the tournament. Despite feeling ill Hatton added 12 points against a troublesome Virginia Tech and 17 points against Houston in the Championship game.

Upon returning to Lexington following the tournament "the attacks began anew and an immediate operation was ordered to remove his appendix, which doctors said was acutely inflamed and in a condition that should have prevented him from seeing action for at least a week previously," reported Ken Kuhn of the Sports Publicity Office on July 2, 1957.

Hatton returned to action a month after his surgery helping prevent an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Mississippi. A reporter was so impressed with Hatton's performance that he wrote, "It may become standard procedure for Rupp players to have appendix operations in mid-season." Vernon scored 14 points in less than twelve minutes for the Cats that day.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Funny Flickr Photos

7/31/1953. The multi-headed cabbage, John C. Wyatt photographs: 2004AV001

Every archives sees its fair share of funny, or just plain odd, photos. Now there is a place to share them: the Funny Photos From the Archives group on Flickr. UK is now participating in this photo group, as are 19 other archives. Tag a photo, let us know what you think, and be sure to bookmark the site as we'll continue adding to our photostream.