1948: The Fabulous Five & the Championship Beginning
What many consider the greatest team in Kentucky Basketball's illustrious history won the university's first NCAA
Championship in 1948. This team has
become known as The Fabulous Five. The players that comprised this legendary squad were Cliff Barker, Kenny
Rollins, Alex Groza, Ralph Beard and
Wallace 'Wah Wah' Jones. This was a unique team playing during a unique era in college sports. The lure of
glamour and money from the pro game
was not so strong, not to mention the fact that the league was not as large as it is today. The pro game did not
have a large following, as a matter of fact
the New York Knicks seldom played at Madison Square Garden. It seems that boxing and college basketball were
the most popular events held there.
During this period many people even viewed professional sports as an undiginfied way of making a living, with the
possible exception being pro
baseball. Many players with enough talent to have been considered first round draft choices by today's standards
elected to take jobs with companies
that sponsored AAU teams such as the Phillips Oil Company. Phillips sponsored one of the most successful AAU
teams in the country during the
1940's. These teams were considered "amatuer" squads, since the players held jobs with the sponsoring
company and played basketball for the
company team simply as recreation. During the World War II year's players were often drafted into military service,
college provided no exemption as it
did for us baby boomers in the Vietnam War. So many players returned after their tour of duty to play for Coach
Adolph Rupp and UK. I am certain this
was typical at other schools throughout the country at this time. These players were not only older physically, but
I'm sure having experienced the war
first hand had matured them psychologically far beyond their years. I would think the difference in the pressure of
the situations would be quite dramatic.
After spending time in Europe or the Pacific just trying to stay alive, last second, game winning shots or free
throws would seem trivial by comparison. I
believe the maturity of many of these players contributed greatly to Kentucky's success during this period.
World War II had stolen a great number of the countries best athletes from their sports. One aspect that is often
overlooked is the fact that during the war
many universities suspended play. Kentucky continued to field a team and played a schedule each year. When
the rest of the country resumed their
basketball programs UK and other schools like them almost certainly had an advantage. While the war did rob the
colleges and fans of these players in
the early years of the 1940's, ironically it would result in creating an abundance of talent in the latter half of the
decade. Coach Rupp found himself in an
unusual dilemma in the fall of 1947. All of his boys had come home from serving their country and with those
already there the Baron found himself with
a truckload of all-star players. Kentucky had won the NIT in 1946, it was the first national title for Rupp and UK. At
this time, the NIT was considered by
many the most premier tournament in college basketball. The NCAA was just beginning to garner the same
respect and prestige of the NIT and would
soon come to be recognized as the event that would crown the collegiate champion in years to come.
This team had some of the stars at the early stage of their careers and it had some that were in the early stage of
their careers, but were older than
most college seniors. While I am not aware of all of the actual ages of the members of the 1948 Squad I do know
that Cliff Barker was the oldest at 27.
Barker had enrolled at UK in the fall of 1939, after one year he joined the Air Crops. Two years later in 1941
Kenny Rollins joined the team and was a
starter by his sophomore year, then at the end of the 1943 season Rollins was drafted into the Navy. Coach Rupp
offered Alex Groza a scholarship in
1944, believe it or not it was the only scholarship offer he received. Since the war had created a shortage of
player's freshmen were now allowed to play
with the varsity. Groza led the Cats in scoring as UK went undefeated in their first 11 games before Uncle Sam
invited Alex to spend some time in the
Army.
The following year, 1945, two of the most outstanding basketball players in the history of the college game, Ralph
Beard and Wallace 'Wah Wah' Jones,
signed to play for UK and the rest is history. Thus the core of the Fabulous Five was assembled, but this team had
far more talent then just these five.
Kentucky returned nine lettermen from the '46 NIT championship team that had posted a 28-2 record. Jack
Parkinson was named All-American, while
Wallace Jones, Ralph Beard, Kenny Rollins, Joe Holland and Jack Tingle received All-SEC honors. Parkinson was
drafted into the Army after the
season, but Rupp began to get the other players back.
Rupp must have been like the kid in the candy store, more than 40 players tried out for the team. Even though
some of them had already worn the
Kentucky uniform Rupp showed no favoritism. Everyone had to win a spot; even former All-Americans! Bob
Brannum had been named All-American for
the Wildcats in 1944, while in the service he was a teammate of Alex Groza on an armed forces team at Fort Hood,
Texas. Jim Jordan had been All-
American two years at North Carolina Pre-Flight School. Kentucky already had more talent than most programs
see in many years and you add to it
outstanding freshmen Dale Barnstable and Jim Line. So as I said Rupp had a dilemma, but it was one any coach
would be happy to deal with.
In an odd way the time these players spent in the service actually helped to improve their games. All of the players
participated in some form of
basketball, many playing on armed forces teams that would rival any college team in the country. So along with
the extra years of maturity, almost all of
the Wildcat players returned stronger, wiser and better players than they were when they left. Kenny Rollins
became an expert floor leader while in the
Navy. Cliff Barker had spent 16 months in a German POW camp after his plane was shot down. He found a
volleyball in a Red Cross package and used
it to
become a magician at handling the ball. None returned more improved than Alex Groza. As was pointed out
before, Kentucky was the only school to
offer Groza a scholarship. He had wanted to go to Ohio State where his brother Walt was a player, but they didn't
seemed to be interested in the tall
skinny kid. Coach Rupp found Groza an almost different person when he met him at the train station as he arrived
home from the army. "I had grown
two inches and weighed 220," said Groza. "Rupp didn't recognize me." Rupp walked past Groza stopped, turned,
looked for a few seconds and asked
"Alex, is that you?"
"Adolph's eyes really lit up." said Groza.
The 1946-47 team was loaded and that is an understatement. Kentucky did almost lose one of its greatest players
before he ever suited up for them.
Ralph Beard had decided to play both football and basketball at UK, but he separated both of his shoulders early
in the football season and was unable
to continue. Beard became depressed and decided to quit school and transfer to Louisville. When he told Coach
Rupp what he was contemplating
Rupp said, "Son, I don't know why you would want to go to that damned normal school, but I can assure you we
still plan to play our schedule." After his
high school coach convinced him it would be a huge mistake for him to leave Beard changed his mind.
Since winning the NIT title in the previous season most considered UK the favorite to repeat as champion,
especially Rupp, but who could blame him. A
streak of seemingly bad luck, the war, had conspired to create a team so deep that former All-Americans couldn't
break into the starting line-up. To
show just how crowded the bench had gotten when Kentucky went to the SEC Tournament in Louisville they had
to leave All-Americans Bob Brannum,
Jack Parkinson and Jim Jordan off the team since the SEC only allowed each team 10 players on the bench.
Disappointed with his lack of playing time
Brannum transferred to Michigan State and came close to beating his former teammates single-handedly in a
game the following season. So getting
playing time is not a recent complaint by players, it was a problem for coaches' 60 years ago too. "We've got 12
boys here who could play for any team in
the country," Rupp said, "and I've got to try to keep them happy. You can only play five at a time you know."
Kentucky breezed through the '46-'47 season losing only two games, one to Oklahoma A&M and the other to
DePaul. They easily won the SEC
Tournament and were seemingly on their way to another NIT title, but were upset by Utah in the finals. Ralph
Beard was held to just one point and
became despondent over his poor performance. Beard went to Rupp and ask what he could do to improve his
game and Rupp told him to develop an
outside shot. Beard was so quick and agile he had been depending on his ability to beat his man on drives to the
basket for lay-ups and short jumpers.
In the Utah game the Utah defenders were prepared for this and did not allow him to get past them. During the
summer before the 1947-48 season
Beard worked on his outside shooting every day, by the start of the year he had become one of the most accurate
shooters in the country.
The Fabulous Five starting line-up did not come together right away that season. Rupp experimented with the
starting line-up and Wah Wah Jones
played football and wasn't available for the some of the early games. Rupp must have resented this because he
made Jones earn his place back on
the team every year and every year 'Wah Wah' did. The season got under way November 29, 1947 against
Indiana Central. The game would be a
pretense of what the rest of the season would be like. In this contest the starting five was Ralph Beard, Alex
Groza, Kenny Rollins and two sophomores
playing their first varsity game, Dale Barnstable and Jim Line. As would be the case in most of the games this
season the opponent was no match for
the Wildcats. Kentucky made quick work of the Indiana squad winning 80-41. Beard led UK in scoring with 17,
Groza tallied 12 and Rollins had 10
points. Coach Rupp kept a steady stream of substitutions flowing into the contest according to the account of the
game. He used 19 players and all but
three of them scored. Most of the starters could have posted larger numbers had they been allowed to remain in
the game, but as had become the
trend for the last couple of seasons almost all of them were on the bench by halftime. After the starters were
removed, Cliff Barker came in and 'dazzled
the crowd with an outstanding exhibition of his ball-handling skills.' One of Barkers teammates once said, "Cliff can
do anything with a basketball but
shoot it." Apparently Barker had been an excellent shooter before entering the service, but while spending 16
months in a POW camp his shooting
touch became rusty. He could practice his ball-handling, but may have not had a goal to shot at..
Rupp's teams were known as slow starters and UK actually trailed 4-2 after five minutes of play. Beard hit two free
throws, then stole the ball and put
Kentucky ahead for good with an easy crip shot. It was 17-9 from that point until the 10 minute mark, after which
the Cats outscored Central 20-6 to take
a 43-19 half-time lead. The reserves took over in the second half and it was more of the same. At the mid-point of
the second half they had run the score
to 60-26. With five minutes left, it was 70-35. At this point, Rupp put an all-freshmen team on the floor and the
youngsters finished off their Hoosier state
rivals, 10-6 for a final score of 80-41. As we will see this would be typical of most of the games during this season,
but the Wildcats would have a tough
one here and there before it was all over.
UK's Ruppmen would take on the army next with a game against Fort Knox on December 1st. Coach Rupp
changed his starting line-up putting Joe
Holland and Cliff Barker at the forwards, while Beard, Rollins and Groza would start for the second time. It was
platoon night, Rupp pulled all five of the
starting quintet after just six minutes with the Cats holding a 20-2 lead. The new squad took over for the next nine
minutes furthering the score to 41-18.
This second five was led by Jack Parkinson who would finish the game tied with Groza for high scoring honors.
Parkinson bagged all of his 12 points
during this nine minute stretch, 'nailing five beautiful long shots'. The former All-American had been known as UK's
"Long Shot Artist" before leaving for
the army. A third and entirely different group finished the final five minutes outscoring their army counterparts 10-
4 giving Kentucky a 51-22 halftime lead.
The second half was reserved for the bench. It was another 19 man attack that included an 'outstanding
performance by freshman Walter Hirsch who
scored seven points'. Following Groza and Parkinson in the scoring was Dutch Campbell who 'chucked through
five fielders and a free throw for 11
points', while Beard 'rang the gong for nine points'. It is noted that the army marksmen managed to match the
Ruppmen in accuracy, their problem was
they just were not allowed enough opportunities to shoot; a trademark of Kentucky teams through the years. The
final score was 80-41 for the second
game in a row.
The double-header, a staple in baseball, is unheard of in basketball these days, but Kentucky and Tulsa did the
next best thing, playing back to back
games over two nights. Rupp employed the same starting line-up for the second time in a row. Kentucky ran out to
a 16-0 lead and had built up a 23-2
count at the 10-minute mark of the half, at this point Rupp sent in the second squad. With :50 seconds left and the
score 41-5 the Baron brought in the
third stringers to finish out the half, but there was no further scoring. This third string unit began the second half,
then with 15 minutes left Rupp
substituted Garland Townes and Will Smethers into the game, along with Roger Day, Bob Henne and Walter
Hirsch this gave Kentucky an all freshmen
team which finished out the contest. Groza led UK scorers with 11 points in 10 minutes, Jim Line had eight points
in nine minutes. Kentucky held Tulsa
to a paltry 4% field goal shooting in the first half, but the Hurricanes improved in the second, all the way up to
17%. The final score was 72-18 and the
two teams would meet again the following evening.
After watching the previous night's lopsided victory, most Cat fans decided they had better things to do than to
watch Rupp's charges destroy an
overmatched opponent again. It was described as the smallest crowd to see a Kentucky basketball game since
Rupp took over. The crowd of 1200
watched the Wildcats run out to another quick lead 15-0. Rupp used his third different starting line-up with Jim
Jordan and Jim Line at forwards, Ralph
Beard and Dale Barnstable at guard and Alex Groza at center. Rupp stayed with this line-up for the first 12
minutes then began substituting, but unlike
the previous contests he did not bring in entirely new line-ups, instead opting to sub players at various times and
combinations. He basically used the
more experienced members of the team most likely in anticipation of the upcoming game against DePaul, which
would present a much sterner test
than UK's opponents had to this point.
Kentucky held a comfortable 34-6 halftime lead. In the second half Rupp continued the same substitution pattern
as in the first and the Wildcats simply
pulled away easily. With about five minutes remaining Rupp sent in the freshmen to finish up a 71-22 win. Groza
led all Kentucky players with 15 points.
Beard and Line both added 12 each. It was their forth straight win and all had been one-sided affairs against
overmatched opposition. UK would get
their first test against a quality opponent in their next contest when they faced DePaul at the Jefferson County
Armory in Louisville.
The Wildcats were now faced with the first real test of the season, now everyone would see just how good this
team really was after all. DePaul had
beaten Kentucky the previous year and Rupp was particularly concerned with their center Ed Mikan and forward
Ed Kachan. Kachan had been
instrumental in the previous year's upset. It would be up to Groza and Kenny Rollins to keep these two in check
and when it was all over they had done
an excellent job. The Demons drew first blood on a charity toss by George Leddy, but the Cats then went on an
eight point run before another Leddy free
throw. By the time they reached the midway point of the first half UK had doubled the score on DePaul and led 16-
8, then came another run, which was
becoming the pattern for this team. During the next five minutes Kentucky outscored DePaul 10-2 to make it 26-
10. In the last minutes of the half a rare
thing occurred, Kentucky was outscored! The Demons finished the period seven to UK's six, but still trailed 32-17
at the intermission.
The Wildcats came out firing on all cylinders at the beginning of the second half, in the first five minutes UK went
on an 18-8 spurt. By the time they had
reached the 10 minute mark the score was 64-31 and Rupp began substituting. The Demons did manage to stage
a small rally in the final minutes of
the game. They were led by Tom Niemiera who had 10 points and Andy Federinko with 14 and most of these
points came during this late surge.
Unfortunately for the Demons it was far too little and too late as Kentucky posted another impressive victory 74-
50.'The bounding little Ralph Beard was
the star for the Ruppmen scoring 17 points'. Cliff Barker got his first start of the year and responded with his best
scoring effort with 14. Alex Groza held
the highly regarded Mikan to just four points and tallied 12 himself. Jim Line, who played his only minutes in the
second half, had 10 points. It appeared
another easy win for the Wildcats and many fans were still not sure how good this team really was. Were the Cats
as good as the score indicated or
was DePaul overrated? It was hard to say this early in the season, but even if the answer was somewhere in
between Kentucky sure looked pretty darn
tough.
Kentucky's next contest would be part of a double-header featuring Eastern Kentucky against Furman and the
Wildcats against Cincinnati. It proved to
be no contest for UK, just another easy win, but they did suffer a loss in the game. Ralph Beard would go down
with an injury that would hamper him
and the team for several games. Kentucky started the game with their shooting eye closed, as they missed
several easy shots and their passing was
not as crisp and accurate as in the previous games. In spite of this it would turn out to be the best defensive effort
of the year so far. The Bearcats would
end up making just 10 field goals the entire game, only four in the first half. Kentucky jumped on top 4-0 at the
start, then Cincinnati scored six straight to
take their only lead of the game and by the midway point of the half UK held a slim one point margin at 10-9. The
Wildcats got down to business at this
point and finished the first half on a 19-6 run allowing Cincinnati only one field goal along the way and taking a 29-
15 lead into the locker room.
The teams returned to the floor for the second half and Jim Line scored first. Joe Wolf matched Line's bucket,
then came Beard's injury. The little guard
drove in for a crip shot and was taken down on the play. Beard in obvious pain was removed to the locker room
and then rushed to a hospital for x-rays.
It was feared that Beard had suffered a broken bone, but it turned out to be a torn muscle. This didn't slow down
the Cats that night as they raced out to
a 39-18 lead after just five minutes of play in the second half. By the time the game clock had reached the 10
minute mark they had increased their lead
to 30 at 53-23. Rupp was irritated with his troops when they went through a lackadaisical period for a few minutes
allowing Cincinnati to get a couple of
easy baskets, but the Cats got their act together and pulled away in the final stages to win 67-31. While the
offense wasn't quite up to par, the defense
was hard to improve on. Kentucky held Cincinnati to 13% shooting and during a couple of 10-minute stretches in
both halves, UK allowed the Bearcats
only a single field goal. Rupp toyed with the line-up again giving Joe Holland a start. Holland saw action at both
center and forward and led Kentucky in
scoring with 12 points. It was another impressive victory, but it may have come at a price for it appeared Kentucky
would be without the services of one of
it's star players when they faced Xavier four days later.
For the Xavier game the Cats were 'Beardless', and no it wasn't because they had shaved extra close. Ralph
Beard's hip injury forced the all-star guard
to sit out the game. If there were any concerns that this might have an adverse affect on Rupp's team they were
quickly forgotten. Even without the
services of one of the nations top players, UK dismantled their seventh opponent in a row. While Beard sat in the
stands his replacement Dale
Barnstable and crew raced past a bewildered Musketeer squad. The Wildcats blistered the nets, hitting 20 of their
first 35 shots while allowing Xavier
just 6 of 31. Rupp kept the starters in for an usually long time on this night, waiting until 15 minutes had transpired
before bringing in Jim Line for
Holland and Wah Wah Jones for Groza. By this time the Cats had used their race horse style of play to take a 39-
9 lead. A couple of minutes later Jim
Jordan came in for Barnstable and Jack Parkinson replaced Holland leaving Barker the lone starter remaining in
the line-up. It turned out to be hardly
noticeable, this squad just continued the onslaught with a 12-6 run to give Kentucky a whopping 51-15 half time
lead.
Rupp stayed with the same line-up that finished the first half to start the second. While Kentucky came out a bit
sluggish after the big first half, Xavier
returned with a renewed spark in their step, even so the best the Musketeers could do was to more or less play
UK on even terms for the first 10-15
minutes. While Xavier never made a dent in Kentucky's huge lead, they did make a game of the second half. Art
Morthorst and Malcom McMullen, a
former Wildcat player, kept nipping at the Ruppmen's heels. Morthorst finished with 12 points and McMullen had
seven before fouling out (or as it was
described back then 'ejected from the game on fouls'). Sounds harsh! At this time, players were allowed only four
fouls; the end of the bench would get
pretty crowded if that were the case in today's games. Barker was the only starter that saw action in the second
half, just missing double figures with
nine. Groza led with 18, Rollins had 15, Holland seven and Barnstable had eight points. Kentucky was impressive
in the 79-37 win, it made one wonder
what they could do if Rupp really turned them loose.
Kentucky would spend the weekend on a road trip to the east; first stop Philly, then the Big Apple. The next game
would be against Temple on Saturday
December 20th, then Kentucky would take on Frank McGuire’s St. Johnssquad in Madison Square Garden. In the
'30's and '40's the Garden had
become the Mecca of basketball and the college game was one of it's most popular events. Coach Rupp began to
take his teams to the northeast in the
mid '30's. While Kentucky was becoming the dominate team in the south, they were still considered little more then
an average team from the
mountains, certainly not even close in comparison to the great city teams. At least that's what the eastern media of
the day thought. For a time early on
that description was not all that inaccurate because it would be December of 1944 before UK would win a game in
the Garden. But Rupp understood
that by playing there it would be beneficial for the program in the long run, even if his teams suffered a few losses.
It exposed his players to different
playing and coaching styles, plus some very different officiating philosophies. In those days the rules could be
subjected to vastly different
interpretations from one section of the country to another.
By scheduling those games many credit Kentucky and Rupp with helping to get intersectional play started sooner
than it might have occurred otherwise.
Over time Kentucky became one "Southern" team that could come to town and whip their city counterparts; I'm
sure that didn't sit well uptown. While
Rupp probably delighted in the atmosphere of New York and Madison Square Garden, especially after Kentucky
began to win there, one most wonder if
later he didn't regret ever seeing the place in light of trouble that UK and other schools would become caught up
in.
Adolph Rupp and his troops were on a sort of holiday trip in the city of Brotherly Love to take on Coach Josh
Cody's Temple Owls. UK and Temple had
become familiar foes during the last few years, their first encounter in 1944 was a 45-44 Kentucky win. The
following season the Owls turned the trick
on New Years Day winning 53-45. Kentucky won a second game that same year 54-43 and had beaten Temple
the following season 68-29. Josh Cody
was a familiar name to the Wildcats since he had been head coach at his alma mater Vanderbilt on two different
occasions. He coached the
Commodores from 1924-27, after serving as coach at Clemson from 1927-31, he returned to Vanderbilt for a
second stint that lasted from 1931-36.
Cody had been out of coaching for a time, then returned as head coach at Temple in 1944. The Owls always
fielded a strong team, but this time around
the Wildcats appeared to be the superior squad. No one told the Temple players though and the Owls proved to
the Convention Hall crowd that UK was
indeed human after all. Kentucky's win streak was brought to a halt 60-59 on a basket by Nelson Bobb that came
with 90 seconds left in the game,
ample time for UK to make up the two point deficit unfortunately it was not to be. While Bobb's goal provided the
go ahead points it was Eddie Lerner
who did the major damage scoring 22 points, 17 of them in the first half. Hampered by his injured hip Beard was
unable to hold Lerner in check and
accounted for only seven points himself.
The first half was a hard fought battle that had six ties and eight lead changes and ended with both teams dead-
locked at 32 a piece. Jim Line put
Kentucky on the board first at the start of the second half, but Temple regained the lead on two big plays by
Nelson Bobb and Ike Borsavage. The Owls
stretched a 39-35 advantage out to 43-37 with just under 10 minutes to play. At this point things begin to look
serious and the Cats went to work. Barker,
Beard, Line and Groza each scored to tie the game 45-45. Kentucky moved ahead 56-52 with three minutes to
go, but a basket by Dave Fox and one by
Borsavage tied the score again. Groza drove under for a hook shot to give Kentucky the lead once more, then
Lerner made a free throw to make it 58-57
Cats. Then Bobb came open and took 'a beautiful pass from Borsavage out of the pivot, to bring the cheering
throng to it's feet with the game winning
shot'. Plenty of time remained, but somehow the Wildcats could not get the ball through the goal, nor could they
steal it from the Owls in the frenzy of the
final seconds. Bobb was fouled and hit one charity toss to make it 60-58. The Cats had their chance when Kenny
Rollins went to the free throw line with
just seconds remaining. He hit the first shot, but the second rimmed out and Temple claimed the rebound. As they
froze the ball Bobb was fouled but
the Owls chose to take the ball instead of the free tosses and ran the clock out.
The scoreboard read 60-59 Temple, not Kentucky. Now this was not the plan. Groza had 16, Line 12 and Rollins
11 points. Beard did contribute seven
points, but he was noticeably bothered by the injury to his hip and it affected his performance. Temple's Coach
Cody reminded the media of the gravity
of this victory saying on paper it was no contest, Kentucky would win every time; so it was a good thing that these
games aren't played on paper. So even
in the early days of college basketball a win over Kentucky was a major achievement. It was two days before
Christmas and Rupp and the Wildcats had
already found a lump of coal in their stocking. They were hoping their next host in New York would be a bit more
hospitable.
UK got back on track at Madison Square Garden sending St Johns to their fifth consecutive loss, 52-40. Kentucky
didn't put up the big numbers
expected, but this game was never in doubt. Rupp's charges did not have a big night, mainly because three of the
first stringers were now nursing
injuries. Beard was still smarting from his muscle tear, but he did put in more minutes this time out then in the past
couple of games. Cliff Barker did
not play at all after suffering a back strain in practice and Jones was still bothered by a foot injury from football. On
the other side, about the only bright
spot for St Johns was Dick McGuire, an All-American in 1947 and '49. McGuire was all over the court snaring
rebounds, making steals and brilliant
passes, but it was not nearly enough.
After an early 5-5 tie, Kentucky went on the attack and took care of business. A 10-4 streak made it 15-9, then
another 9-2 run pushed the lead to 24-11
with just under a minute to go. With the final seconds of the half ticking away Rollins stole the ball and drove the
length of the court for an easy crip shot
to end the half at 29-15. The second half was more of the same, by the midway point it was 43-23 and Rupp
decided to call it a day for the regulars and
the subs took over and finished the game. St Johns took advantage of UK's generosity to cut into the big margin,
even so they were never a serious
threat to steal the victory, they simply made things look a bit more respectable. Rollins led the Ruppmen with 16,
Line scored 11 and Jones had 10
while logging the most minutes he had seen in a game so far this season. Kentucky would not see action again
until next year.
The Wildcats started the New Year off with a bang, celebrating with an easy romp against an over-matched
Creighton team in Louisville. Coach Rupp's
squad suffered another sub par shooting performance finishing with their lowest field goal percentage for the
season at 23.1%. While the Cats had
trouble hitting, they made shooting a complete nightmare for the Blue Jays of Creighton holding them to 15.5%
from the floor. For Wallace 'Wah Wah'
Jones it was his best effort of the year as he put in 15 points to lead UK and appeared to be close to full strength
now. The same couldn't be said of
Ralph Beard though, he was still suffering from a hip injury. Since his services were not really needed in this
contest he saw just a few minutes of
action and scored only one point. Cliff Barker followed Jones with 10 points, Alex Groza had eight and Parkinson
seven. Creighton saw almost all of
their point's come from one player, Pinky Knowles, who had 15 of the 23 that the Blue Jays tallied on the night.
Kentucky scored right off the opening tip and you could say it was all over at that point. Creighton did stay
reasonably close for a while trailing 18-11 at
the midway point of the first half, but from there the rout was on. UK finished the half with more than enough points
to win this one, leading 33-14. The
second half started a bit ragged, the Cats only hit one field goal in the first five minutes, but cashed in from the
free throw line to add 8 more points to
their lead. Jones took over the next few minutes scoring six straight to make the score 47-16. As usual the subs
finished the game off not missing a
beat. It was another defensive gem, Kentucky held Creighton to nine points in the second half winning their ninth
game 65-23.
It is widely known that this team's starting five became legendary over the years as The Fabulous Five. In reality it
could have just as easily been the
Magnificent Seven, The Outstanding Eight or even The Tenacious Ten; the team was that talented. The five
players could've been five of many different
combinations, but fate settled the issue. After Wallace Jones recovered from the foot injury he suffered playing
football, Rupp began giving him more
minutes. Rupp started Jones in the next game against Western Ontario and the combination clicked. The
chemistry that every coach looks for was
there. The Wildcats registered their highest point total for the entire season crushing the Canadians 98-41. Two
days later Rupp made the decision that
put the Fabulous Five into sports history by announcing that his starting line-up for the remainder of the year
would be Beard, Rollins, Jones, Barker and
Groza. This came in the locker room before the Cats took on Miami-Ohio and naturally it was not considered all
that monumental at the time, but in
reality it would mark the beginning of a Kentucky Basketball legend.
Though it was the beginning of the Fab Five's run into Kentucky Basketball lore, it started with a tough scrap
against a stubborn Miami-Ohio team that
challenged the Cats to the final gun. UK had to work hard for the victory this time out, the Redskins refused to roll
over and die like some of Kentucky's
previous victims. The leader for the enemy was center Bob Brown, who did his damage by racking up 16 points in
the second half to keep the Cats from
cruising home nice and easy as usual. Both teams featured a balanced attack and for once, the opponent used
more players than the Wildcats. The
Cats put four players in double figures led by Barker and Beard with 13 each, then came Jim Line with 12 and
Groza had 11.
Kentucky got on top first jumping out 8-1, but Miami battled back to draw to within five at 10-5. When the two
teams reached the midway point of the first
half UK had pulled away 17-6. The Redskins came back on a 6-2 run to make it 19-12. Line then subbed for
Jones and scored six of Kentucky's next
seven points and the lead was stretched out 26-15 with about three minutes to go in the half. It was UK 10 Miami 8
the rest of the way and the half
ended 36-23. During the second half Brown and Bob Dineen were a real thorn in the side of the Wildcats, as they
both found the range; Brown finished
with 19 and Dineen 12. Kentucky continued to keep the 'Skins at bay, but with just under eight minutes to go
Miami had chipped away at the score until it
was 53-45. The Cats had to knuckle down and outscored the Redskins 14-8 to put the Ohio team away 67-53. If
the Ruppmen thought they had been in
a tough battle on this night, they were in for a huge surprise a few days later.
On January 10, Kentucky traveled to East Lansing, Michigan to take on the Michigan State Spartans and it would
be a bit of an odd situation. The reason
being was that the Spartans were led by none other than former UK All-American Bob Brannum. Like many other
highly talented basketball players
during a period of time in the mid to late '40's, Brannum had found the UK bench becoming a little too crowded
and transferred at the end of the
previous year. Apparently there was no rule requiring players to sit out one year after transferring. This would turn
out to be an old-fashioned barn
burner, mainly due to the outstanding play of Brannum. He would score half of his team's total points and
outscore his Kentucky counterpart, Alex
Groza, 23-10; but the Wildcat team would prove to be too much for one man to handle, although Brannum and his
teammates almost pulled it off. It was
played in front of a record crowd of 14,967 at Jenison Fieldhouse. The fans showed up early, by the time the
teams arrived the seats were already filled
and people were jockeying for the best standing room spots. The game was tied nine times, four in the first half
and five in the second with the largest
lead being five by the Cats in the first half. Neither team would shoot for a high percentage as both squads played
tenacious defense, causing many
hurried or forced shots, there seemed to be a hand in the face of every shooter.
Michigan State moved out in front during the early stages of the contest leading 9-6 after seven minutes of play.
Kentucky evened the score at nine all
after a Jones free throw and a Barker field goal, and then it was tied at 11 and again at 13. Kenny Rollins broke
the tie with a one-hander and Kentucky
never trailed again, though the Spartans did pull even several times. UK had it's biggest lead at 24-19 with under
a minute to go in the half, but Brannum
tipped in a miss at the buzzer to make it 24-21 at halftime.
The second half was a battle royal, after five minutes of play the score was tied at 29-29. With 11 minutes to go it
was all even at 33 a piece. Alex Groza
broke the tie with a free throw, then a rebound put back. Brannum and Dale Barnstable traded gratis tosses and
Brannum came back with another tip in
to make it 37-36 with eight minutes remaining. For the next four minutes the game was taken over by the defense
and neither team scored, then Bob
Geahan's free throw knotted the score for Michigan State Barnstable then pulled the Wildcats back in front with
three free throws making it 40-37. After
another exchange of free throws Brannum cut the lead to two with a charity heave, then Barnstable fired in a long
one from the side to put what seemed
to be the icing on the cake with just over two minutes left. But Brannum would not allow his former teammates to
relax, as Kentucky attempted to freeze
the ball they mishandled it and Brannum hit two quick field goals to tie the game at 43 with 1:40 to go. Jim Line put
Kentucky ahead to stay with a free
throw, then UK got a huge break as Brannum broke open under the basket for a sure bucket, but couldn't handle
the ball and the Cats got it back.
Kentucky was able to run the time down to 0:45, then Rollins broke in for an open crip shot and a 46-43 lead. The
Spartans weren't dead yet, with 0:10
left Don Waldron threw up a long heave that connected and made it a one point game. The Cats ran the clock out
for the win adding an extra point to the
final total when Rollins was fouled at the gun. He stepped to the line all alone and hit the charity toss to make the
final score 47-45.
Even though Kentucky had lost a previous game, this contest was probably the toughest battle of the season to
date and Coach Adolph Rupp had
praise for the team that had him squirming on the bench. "Michigan State has a fine team," the Baron said, "and
they were keyed up for us tonight. We'll
have a lot more games like this before the season ends. This huge crowd tonight showed how badly they wanted
to beat us." Rollins not only provided
the late game heroics, but he also led UK in scoring with 12. Line had eight, Barnstable seven and Beard six.
Besides Brannum's 23 for the Spartans,
Geahan scored 10. They were the only players in double figures for Michigan State.
The Michigan State contest seemed to indicate that indeed UK's Wildcats were vulnerable after all, even though
Kentucky had lost one game a lot of
folks thought that loss was a fluke. After all, no one had really tested the Cats, But a former teammate had gotten
everyone's attention and may have
prevented the Kentucky players from becoming as over confident as the majority of their fans were. Kentucky's
next game came against Ohio University
who had an impressive 5-1 record. Most everyone expected a tight battle, but it never materialized. It was back to
business as usual, with this game
following the same pattern that most of the other early season blowouts had. The Ohio Bobcats made a contest of
it for about 10 minutes, then
gradually succumbed to the Wildcats superior numbers. Almost all of Ohio's scoring came from two players, Dick
Shrider who led everyone with 24
points and Mark Wylie with 16.
For the most part the first half was fairly competitive, the largest lead for UK was 10 points which would turnout to
be the margin at half time 35-25.
During the first five minutes of the second half the Bobcats really cut into the UK lead, cutting it all the way down
to---nine; 38-29. Kentucky methodically
built the margin and at the mid point of the half they were leading 61-40. UK enjoyed it's largest lead of the
evening at 71-43 with just under seven
minutes to play. Coach Rupp substituted liberally using all 16 players on the bench, the scrubs even outscored
Ohio 14-8 in the closing minutes of the
game. The final was 79-57 in points and the Wildcats won the battle in the personal foul department also, being
tagged with 41 while their opponents
were called on 27. Even with the frequency of whistles on this night only one player was 'banished' from the game
on fouls, Ohio's Harry Gordon. 'Rapid
Ralph Beard' had his best outing since his hip injury leading UK in scoring with 20. Jim Line followed him with 17,
Jones had 10 and Groza chipped in
14. Once again the Wildcats couldn't be stopped on the court, however they did meet their match later. The
chartered bus the team was to use on the
return trip to Lexington broke down and the team was forced to remain in Athens for an extra night. So in the
transportation department, it was
Greyhound 1, Wildcats 0.
It was January 17th and Kentucky was just now playing their first SEC game of the season, quite a bit different
than today. The Wildcats got their
conference slate started with one of their biggest rivals then and now, the Tennessee Volunteers. Not only was
the Kentucky-Tennessee contest a huge
rivalry on it's own, during this period it was a family feud of sorts. Wah Wah Jones brother, Hugh, was a starter for
Tennessee and the Kentucky Jones
brother very nearly became a Vol himself. When Jones graduated from high school in Harlan, he was considering
attending Tennessee, as a matter of
fact he and high school teammate Humzey Yessin were in Knoxville looking the campus over. While there they
pretty much decided to go to Tennessee,
but said they needed to go home and get their belongings. A Tennessee booster loaned them a car to use, (Bad
today; apparently okay then!) but on the
way home Wah decided to stop in Middlesboro to see a girl, the future Mrs. Jones by the way. While there she and
her family, all UK fans, talked him out
of going to Tennessee. Thank you Edna Ball Jones. Oh yes, Yessin ended up with the pleasant task of returning
the car.
Conference games always seem to be a little tougher and this one was no exception, it was a tight battle for the
duration. Tennessee never gained the
lead but they nipped at the Wildcats heels all night. The contest got off to a slow start with neither squad scoring
for over 2 ½ minutes. Finally Beard hit a
fielder from the corner to get the ball rolling, then he and Groza fired in two quick shots to get the Cats off to a 6-0
lead. After a couple of more scoreless
minutes Marshall Hawkins tallied a long shot and the Vols were on the board at last. During the opening five
minutes the two squads could only muster
eight points total between themselves, but in the next five they got down to business exploding for 24 points, with
UK out scoring Tennessee 13-11 to
take a 19-13 lead at the 10-minute mark. Beard and Groza made crip shots, then Tennessee came back with
seven straight to make it 23-20. After
Barker hit a one-hander the Vols really tightened things up as Hawkins hit from the top of the circle and Paul
Walther nailed a long set shot from the
side and the lead was down to one. Now it was Kentucky's turn, a couple of charity tosses, then a rebound shot by
Groza and a free throw by Rollins
gave Kentucky five quick points. Tennessee's Walther came back with two free throws and the two teams matched
each other with three points a piece
to end the half 33-29 Kentucky.
A back and forth first half gave way to a UK dominated second period, at least during the early stages. The
Wildcats quickly extended their lead to eight,
with a 17-7 streak that included a 9-0 run to put Kentucky ahead 50-36 with 10 minutes to go. Tennessee was
pesky, they slashed the lead down to
eight on three fielders, two by Ed Montgomery and one by Ted Kinzel. Kentucky got five back, three by Groza and
two by Barnstable and with five minutes
left it was 59-46. After a Holland gratis toss, Hugh Jones pushed through a long one for the Vols. His brother
Wallace then did him one better by
answering with two fielders, one far out on the court. When Beard tossed in a charity shot the Cats had their
largest lead of the night at 17. The Vols
finished the rest of the scoring to make the final 65-54.
Sounds like a typical SEC contest, you could change the dates and the names and it would fit into about any time
period. The battle of the Jones
brothers ended in a draw, both scored 11 points each. Groza led Kentucky with 16, Hawkins of Tennessee led
everyone with 19. From Knoxville it was
on to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech next and then to Athens for a game with Georgia.
Looking at the Georgia Tech game it would appear to be a real mismatch since for one thing Tech would be
starting two freshmen and for another the
Yellow Jackets bench had been non-existent for the most part this season. The game would start out as most
expected, but after jumping out to an early
lead the Wildcats would find the Engineers a most annoying bunch of youngsters. They didn't appear to realize
they were playing the University of
Kentucky; they seemed to think they could actually win the game! Imagine that. Lexington Herald sportswriter
Babe Kimbrough put it best saying, "From
all indications the Wildcats took tonight's game rather lightly and although they were never in any real danger,
seemed somewhat surprised when they
found they would have to play basketball instead of Annie-Over to hold the Jackets in check." (Annie-Over; I don't
seem to remember that game, how
about any of you folks?)
The Cats jumped out to a quick 13-3 lead and appeared to be able to do as they pleased, but for the next few
minutes the Yellow Jackets cut that lead
down to three, 15-12. With 10 minutes left in the half Kentucky had managed to pull back out by nine at 24-15, but
the young Techsters stood toe to toe
and slugged it out with the Kentuckians, battling to a 38-31 half time score. Georgia Tech used only five players
the entire game and in the second half
not only did the Wildcats superior talent began to take its toll, but the Jackets were noticeably tired. While Tech
continued to look fairly fresh for the
opening 10 minutes of the second period, the Ruppmen stretched the advantage to 11 points, 52-41. Tech
knocked one point off with a free throw, then
the Cats fired in six quick ones and at the 15-minute mark the score was 62-49. Another charity toss made it an
even 50 for Tech, then Kentucky ripped
off three more rapid fielders and UK had it's largest lead of the night at 18. Jack Parkinson would finish the
Kentucky scoring with three points and the
Jackets would toss in six more before the final gun. The 71-56 score would give one the impression that it was
another easy night for the top gunning
Wildcats, but that really was not the case. The Cats seemed unable to handle a couple of freshmen from Illinois,
Colin Anderson who scored 19 points
and Melvin Dold who had 14. Many times Kentucky was guilty of throwing lazy passes that were intercepted and
only on a few occasions did they take
advantage of their superior speed and quickness. Groza had an "off" night with only nine points while Beard led
UK with 16. Maybe this would serve as a
wake-up call. Next on the schedule was a team similar to Georgia Tech, University of Georgia. They had a strong
starting five, but their bench was
suspect. The Bulldogs opened their season with 10 wins in a row, but had lost their last two contests, both SEC
games.
If there was any fear that Kentucky might fall victim to another less than satisfying performance on this night, it was
quickly put to rest. Unlike their last
outing against Ga. Tech, the Cats ran like a well-oiled machine, operating with clockwork precision against the
fighting, but futile Georgia Bulldogs.
Rupp's charges did not shoot as accurately as they had against Tech, but they were much improved in all other
aspects. UK had shot 41% against the
Yellow Jackets, that dropped to 36.2% against Georgia's Dawgs, still not bad considering Rupp used 15 players in
the game.
The Ruppmen began the game cautiously, as if they were trying to get an appraisal of the opponent before
opening with the real attack. After moving out
to a 9-6 lead during the first five minutes, the Cats set off the fireworks. Kentucky could literally fire at will because
Groza, who had experienced a rather
disappointing effort in the previous contest, had more or less set up house keeping under the basket. If the shot
didn't go in, he was there most of the
time to get the rebound or put it back in. Alex made up for that off night with a game high 22 points. The Wildcats
dominated play and at the intermission
they were riding the wave of a 47-25 score. As brilliant as the first half was the second half opened even more
spectacular. UK used crip shots, long
fielders, rebound put backs, even a Groza dunk, to run off a 16-0 streak before the Bulldogs could even scratch
on a Bob Healey crip shot. Joe Jordon's
running one-hander for Georgia made it 63-29, but he was called for a charge and expelled with his forth foul.
The final five minutes was reserved for the subs and they were just as effective as their first string counterparts.
They took a 31 point lead of 72-41 and
extended it to the final score of 88-51. Besides Groza's game high 22, Jones posted a personal season high of
13, Beard had 12 and Barnstable 10.
The Cats had won three in a row to open SEC play, all on the road. Now it was back home and out of the
conference for a date with Cincinnati.
In researching the Kentucky teams of this period it appears they were not prone to the "January Slump" as many
of the UK squads were during the mid
'70's to late '80's. On the contrary they seemed to grow stronger as the season progressed. As a matter of fact
during the opening minutes of their
second meeting of the year with the Bearcats it appeared they were going to set some kind of scoring record.
Rupp's squad got off to a scorching start,
hitting virtually anything they threw at the basket. The Wildcats raced out to a 19-7 lead in the first five minutes,
but then just as quickly as the hot streak
came, a wintry blast of cold air must have whipped through Alumni Gym because for the next five minutes UK
could only muster four points. Even so,
they still out-scored the Bearcats by one to take a 23-10 lead.
Kentucky regained some of their accuracy for the last 10 minutes of the half and after pulling out to a 30-12 lead
the two teams finished the half on even
terms, 38-20. The second half consisted of a Kentucky run at the beginning, a Kentucky run at the end and the
two teams matching each other point for
point in the middle. It all added up to a 70-43 win for the Cats and five players in double figures with about the
most even point distribution possible.
Beard and Rollins led with 11 points each and Jones, Groza and Holland all had 10 a piece. It was a short stay at
home, now Rupp and company had to
pack up again and hit the road. This time the home fans wouldn't be seeing them again for three weeks. The next
two stops would be tough ones, first
to Chicago to play DePaul, then over to South Bend to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
The stars bring on the bright lights and the big crowds and at this point in the season Rupp's Wildcats were a
huge draw everywhere they went. It was
never more true than on this night at Chicago Stadium where a record 16,290 fans packed the house to see the
Cats completely dismantle the DePaul
Blue Demons. It was the second victory over Coach Ray Meyer's Demons this season for Kentucky, but it was the
first win ever for a Wildcat squad in
Chicago Stadium. DePaul had pulled the upset over UK at the Stadium the previous year. DePaul was coming off
a huge win beating highly ranked
Oklahoma A&M 32-31 just two days earlier and even though they were much improved since the last meeting with
Kentucky in December, the Demons
were out of their league on this night. Kentucky enjoyed another excellent shooting night hitting on 39.1% of their
field goals. In the second half when
most teams see their accuracy fall off, UK was improving making good on 45.7% as they ran away from the
Demons.
It was a homecoming of sorts for Dale Barnstable who hailed from Antioch, Illinois. "Barney" didn't enter the game
until the mid point of the first half, but
he gave the home folks watching in the stands a real show. He led the Cats with 17 points on eight field goals and
one free throw. Beard had 16 and
Jones who was lifted with over 10 minutes left in the game scored 15. Jones was the top performer in the first
period with spectacular floor play while
scoring 13 of his 15 points. Ed Mikan, the big Blue Demon pivotman, was the top scorer for the evening with 23,
the next closest for DePaul was Pete
Corlas with 10.
Kentucky was the superior team in this contest, even so DePaul kept things close in the first half. Alex Groza was
hampered with foul difficulties from the
start and spent almost as much time on the UK bench as he did on the floor. Groza was held to just four points,
but Joe Holland did an excellent job
filling in for the big man. The Cats jumped out quickly at the start and had an 18-8 advantage after just five
minutes. UK kept the Demons at bay until
DePaul made a late rally to cut the lead to three with a minute to go in the half. Reserve Johnny Stough threw in a
long fielder just before the buzzer to
give Kentucky a five point margin at the intermission, 32-27.
The second half saw the Wildcats gradually pull away, increasing their margin as the Demons tired down the
stretch. Kentucky had their largest lead of
the night when the final gun sounded, 68-51. Some of UK's starters didn't reach their average on this night,
particularly Groza and Barker who combined
for just five points, but it was more then offset by the capable play of the reserves. While Holland, Jim Jordan, Jim
Line and others didn't put up big
numbers they did the job they were sent in to do. I'm sure there were many times during the season when
opposing coaches and players must have
wondered, where do all these guys keep coming from? Looking at all the talent from one end of the bench to the
other, it's amazing that this team lost
any games at all. This trip to the Windy City had been a breeze for Rupp and the Cats, but there was an ill wind
blowing across the lakes from South
Bend, Indiana.
UK's record against Notre Dame was rather one-sided in 1948, the Cats were 4-9. As head coach of Kentucky
Adolph Rupp was 3-9 and his teams had
lost the first seven games after he was hired. But another way to look at it was that after those seven losses, the
Cats were 3-2 and were coming off of a
big 60-30 win the previous year in Louisville. Of course then again another way of looking at things was if past
history accounted for anything the odds
were against Kentucky; plus the game was in South Bend. Yes, cold, snowy, windy northern Indiana where UK had
never won a game, but who cared
about percentages, the game was still played on the floor. 4,200 fans watched the Fighting Irish use better
marksmanship to overcome a favored
Wildcat team's superior talents. Shooting 22.6%, compared to Notre Dame's 32.4%, prevented Kentucky from
achieving what most surely would have
been another victory. Alex Groza gave a superb performance, leading UK with 23 points and Ralph Beard tossed
in 17, but missed several easy lay-ups.
As a matter of fact none of the other Wildcats could follow Groza's lead on this night, as the team missed shot
after shot. Notre Dame was led by guard
Kevin O'Shea with 23 and Leo Barnhorst who pitched in 16. O'Shea would be named first team All-American at the
end of the season.
It was a tight torrid game from beginning to end, both teams were extremely aggressive on defense. Kentucky
scored first on a Beard crip shot, but just
moments later the Irish went to the front 4-3. Groza pulled UK back into the lead with a crip shot and a charity toss.
O'Shea tied it with a long one-hander
and John Hiller from East Bernstadt, Kentucky shot Notre Dame back in front with a jumper from the side. Two
charity tosses by the Cats tied it at 8-8,
then another field goal by Groza put Kentucky back in the lead 10-8. A few moments later, the Irish went on a 6-0
run and after 10 minutes of play in the
first period, the score was 20-17 Notre Dame. The contest continued on back and forth, the score was tied at 22,
then Notre Dame took the lead and
almost immediately the Cats forged back in front. But playing out the final minutes of the half, the Irish went on a 9-
6 run to take the advantage 34-32 at
the intermission.
O'Shea grabbed the opening tip for the second half and dribbled all the way to the basket for an easy lay-up, the
Wildcats must have been napping.
Jones and Rollins nailed shots to tie it at 36 all and during the next few minutes there would be four ties as both
teams sparred with one another trying
to get a break they could take advantage of. The last tie was 42-42, then Foley and Barnhorst gave Notre Dame
the lead for good with a field goal each.
After an O'Shea crip shot, Rollins threw in a charity toss and Beard connected on a long set shot to cut the Irish
lead to three. The teams exchanged
baskets and with just under 10 minutes to go the score stood at 50-48 Notre Dame. Up to this point, the Cats had
stayed with the Fighting Irish despite
their woeful shooting, but as it usually will, UK's poor marksmanship caught up with them. Notre Dame ran off eight
unanswered points to give them
their largest lead of the game 58-48. Even though Kentucky knocked four points off of this margin, the Irish
pushed back out to 10. Two offensive put
backs, one by Barnhorst and another by O'Halbran, his only points of the game, made it 62-52 and the game was
all but over. In the final minute the
scoring was rounded out by Groza and O'Shea to make the final 64-55.
As was stated before, it's a big win any time you beat Kentucky and 'this victory moved the Fighting Irish well up on
the list of the nation's basketball
teams'. It was also Notre Dame's 38th consecutive home victory and broke an 11 game winning streak for UK.
Coach Rupp never one to take a loss as
anything but downright disgusting, let everyone know how he felt about the entire situation, "They placed their
student band and a bunch of loud-
mouthed football players right behind our bench," Rupp said. "My boys couldn't hear what I was saying. Besides,
they were humming that Irish Fight
song."The Wildcats were 18-2 for the season now and it was back to the conference race which was really just
getting started. As good as this team
was it appeared there just could be a few more L's in the won-loss column before the year ended. Not to worry
though, no one knew it at the time, but
the Wildcats had suffered their final loss of the 1947-48 season.
A 'low scoring, furiously fought, tight nip and tuck battle until the final moments' was the description given
Kentucky's next game, a 41-31 victory over
Alabama. It was the lowest point total in a game since UK lost to Oklahoma A&M the previous year. The score
would indicate a slow, maybe even sloppy
contest, but it was actually a very competitive game in which the outcome was in doubt until the final five minutes.
The first half was tight all the way, Kentucky scored first and maintained a narrow lead for a time, then the Tide
pulled ahead by 11-10. Alabama held the
lead until the final two minutes, then with the score 15-12 Groza hit a free throw and Rollins and Beard each
scored on long set shots and the Cats took
a 17-15 lead to the locker room. Carl Crumpler's charity shot started the second period, but Beard scored five
quick points on two field goals and a free
throw to make it 22-16 Kentucky. Alabama's Carl Shaeffer hit a fielder and over the next couple of minutes Rebel
Steiner converted three free throws to
bring the Tide to 22-21 and the closest they would be for the rest of the evening. Joe Holland added a field goal
and Groza two free throws to push the
lead back out to five, then the teams exchanged field goals. First Crumpler for Alabama, then Beard, then Billy
Dean for the Tide and then Jones for UK.
With just under eight minutes to go the score was 30-25.
Alabama had one last charge left in them, Carl McKenzie hit a one-hander and Shaeffer added a foul shot to cut
the lead to 30-28 with five minutes
remaining. The Cats then pulled away, Groza drove under for an easy basket and Jones followed with a free
throw. Dean hit a foul shot for the Tide and
Jones nailed a jumper and added a free throw. Crumpler scored Alabama's final points with a shot from the side.
Kentucky began running the clock out
and with a few seconds left Beard drove under for an easy basket and was fouled. Beard made the first free toss,
then the Cats elected to take the ball
out of bounds instead of shooting the second one. Just as time ran out Beard dropped in another field goal from
right under the basket.
The Wildcats stepped out of the conference next to play a game in Memphis against Washington University of St.
Louis. It was a tight game for about
two minutes, which was about as long as Kentucky needed to get control of this one. Washington's leading scorer
a guard named Stan London was
somehow delayed getting to the game and didn't show up until the first half was 10 minutes old and the score was
21-6 Kentucky. It probably wouldn't
have made much difference, at half time the score was 40-16. The Cats used the second half as an exhibition,
Rollins and Beard delighted the crowd
with their fancy ball handling and long range shooting. Coach Rupp used just about everybody and the Wildcats
won number 20 of the season 69-39.
Beard and Rollins scored 12 a piece, Jones and Groza had nine. Now it was over to Nashville to visit Vanderbilt.
Kentucky had come back to the always rough and tough SEC, but it sure seemed like another of those early
season mismatches. As writer A.P. Bryan
wrote, "....Kentucky's Wildcats breezed through the game against the Vanderbilt Commodores. Scoring early and
often and at no time were they even
slightly threatened." The writer's eloquent words aside, it really was about that easy. Vandy was no match for the
Cats, the half time score was 37-23
Kentucky completely dominated the entire game and won 82-51.
Ralph Beard led everyone in scoring with 19, Alex Groza was next with 17 and Barker had 11. By this point in the
season, several of the UK player's
names were showing up at or near the top of many of the statistical categories. Coming into this game Groza was
tied with Bob Healey of Georgia for
the lead in scoring in the SEC with 269 points each. Alex had increased his total to 286 now and Billy Joe Adcock
of Vanderbilt who was in third place,
added 16 points to his total to bring it up to 277. Ralph Beard's 19 points pushed his forth place total to 268. It
had been a long series of games on the
road, but now the Cats were headed home for their next contest. The last two opponents had not given UK much
of a contest, but the next one was a
team that always put fire in their eyes and the eyes of the Kentucky fans; Tennessee.
The Kentucky-Tennessee rivalry goes back a long way. It's a natural border rivalry and there have been many
factors over the years that have heightened
interest in the series. Tennessee had become more successful on the hardcourt and were not only inflicting a few
losses on UK from time to time, but
were also competing for the conference championship. There was another factor, at least from a Kentucky fan's
perspective, that could have brought the
rivalry to the heated heights all by itself. Former UK coach John Mauer was hired as the Tennessee head coach in
1939. During a period from 1939 to
1953, Kentucky won every conference title except in 1941 and 1943. Both of these championships were won by
Mauer's Tennessee teams and each
time they defeated UK to win the title. Mauer was not only head basketball coach, but also served as scout for
football coach Robert Neyland. Mauer's
involvement in both programs made him somewhat of a thorn in the side of all UK fan's.
The game itself turned into a cakewalk for the Cats, in the first 10 minutes Kentucky had raced away to a 21-3
lead. It was a rematch for the Jones
brothers and when Wallace was replaced by Jim Line with 7:30 left in the first half the score was 24-5 and 12 of
UK's points belonged to Wah Wah. The
starters didn't see much action on this night, with five minutes left in the period Rupp replaced Barker and Groza
leaving Beard and Rollins the only
starters in the game. The Wildcats defense was extremely stingy, Tennessee didn't have a field goal until 13:45
had elapsed and were only able to tally
five in the entire half.
As great as Kentucky was playing, the highlight of the evening came at the end of the first half. As the last
seconds of the period were ticking off Beard
launched a long bomb from the back court that sailed through the net as the horn sounded to put the score at 37-
19. It was the longest shot made in
Alumni Gym up to that time, it measured 52 ½ feet. It would be that kind of night with a few other oddities along
the way. At one point the clock stopped
and play had to be halted momentarily, then later someone opened the north end door and banked a snowball off
the backboard. The Cats proved too
much for the Vols, winning the contest 69-42. Had Rupp left his first stringers in a bit longer it would've been a
much larger margin, but as in earlier
games most of them saw little or no action in the second half. Jones led UK with 12, his brother Hugh shared high
man honors for Tennessee with Ed
Montgomery with 10 points each. Kentucky's scoring was very balanced; Beard, Barnstable and Holland each had
nine while Line scored eight and
Groza chipped in seven. UK had kept it's SEC slate perfect at 6-0 and would entertain Alabama next.
Recent games were beginning to resemble those early season mismatches that saw Rupp sending the first and
second string players to the bench
early and using almost every able body on the UK bench. Against the Crimson Tide Rupp would not make a
substitution in the entire first half, even so
17 Kentucky players would see action in this contest. Alabama had been a low scoring, very defensive minded
club, but on this night the Cats would be
the team with a 'fly-paper defense and a fast-breaking offense'. UK would nearly double the score on the Tide
winning 63-33, it was the most points
given up by Alabama on the season.
The Cats forged ahead early and took a 29-12 advantage into the locker room at half time. Kentucky allowed
'Bama only three field goals in the period
which was a rough and tumble affair. Alabama drew 16 fouls as they attempted to slow the Wildcats constant
drives to the basket. Billy Dean, the Tide's
starting center, was 'banished from the game 17 seconds before the end of the first half' and J.F. Sharp, a guard
was out just a minute and a half into
the second. Though the starters for Kentucky played the entire first period, by the time five minutes had been
played in the second Rupp had a new
team on the floor. Jack Parkinson whose shooting eye had not fully returned since his stint in the service 'drew
loud applause when he poked three
lengthy heaves through the hoop during his brief stay in the game.' The Wildcats were looking more like a
precision piece of machinery in each game.
The starters had become adept at operating in an efficient manner as possible and the reserves were following
suit when they entered the line-up. As
was mentioned before, the chemistry was there and it appeared Coach Rupp had the formula to make it work.
Vanderbilt came to town and it was back to the platoon system that had been seen in some of the early season
contests. No matter what line-up Rupp
threw at the Commodores, Vandy just couldn't cope with the Kentucky onslaught. UK got on the board first with
two Alex Groza free throws and in just five
minutes the Cats were out to a 20-2 lead. The starters left the game for good with just under nine minutes
remaining in the half and the score 35-10.
Vandy had a difficult time getting started, it was over six minutes before Billy Joe Adcock was able to drop through
a field goal. The 'Dores only had six
for the entire half while Kentucky had 24.
The second five picked up where the first five had left off and at halftime it was 56-18. Coach Rupp inserted his
third quintet of Cats with 15 minutes left
in the game and the UK advantage 65-23. Kentucky once again utilized 17 players and if the Commodores were
looking for some consolation they
could at least say they outscored the end of the Wildcats' bench 20-14 in the final 15 minutes. Even so, they still
lost by 36 points, 79-43. 'Speedy Ralph
Beard was just too hot for the Commodores to handle as he bounded about the floor like a kangaroo at a clam
bake'. (That's what it said!) Beard led
everyone in scoring with 15 points, Barnstable had nine, Barker and Parkinson both added eight a piece. It was a
good sign for the former All-American
Parkinson, he had now had two games in a row in which he had hit at least three long shots, something he had
excelled at in his previous years. As the
saying goes, no team can have too many good shooters.
It was hard to believe, but this was the first time this season that Rupp had sent three entirely different units into
the game one after the other. As a
matter of fact he had sent the starters to the locker room with 15 minutes left in the game to shower and dress. It's
no wonder why Rupp rankled more
then a few feathers over the years.
The year was fast coming to an end. Just as today it seemed as if it was only a couple of weeks ago the Wildcats
were opening the season against
Indiana Central and now they were playing the final home game of the year against Georgia Tech. There is no
mention of any senior day activities, but
the Wildcats provided enough fireworks to light up Alumni Gymnasium, blazing to a 78-54 win on a cold and snowy
evening. The Tech cagers battled
throughout, but were completely outclassed from the start. Kentucky raced out to a quick 12-4 advantage in the
first five minutes, then the Engineers
made a slight comeback pulling to within six at 23-17 with just under five minutes to go before the intermission.
The die had already been cast though,
and by halftime, the Ruppmen had pushed the margin back out to 35-24.
The second half began exactly as the first had; Groza tipping the ball to Rollins, Rollins passing it to Jones and
Jones firing in a long hoop. The
Wildcats blew the game wide open in the first five minutes, outscoring Tech 18-7 for a 59-36 lead. Another run of
12-6 for the Cats was followed by a 12-
7 streak for Georgia Tech to make the final 78-54. Wah Wah Jones was top Cat for UK with 22 points, Barker fired
in 17, 'Bouncing Ralph Beard the ball-
bearing kid of the cage court' had 16 and Jim Line 10. Jim Nolan led everybody with 32 and made Alex Groza's
night miserable. The big Kentucky center
was held to two points and fouled out with nine minutes to go attempting to check his Techster counterpart. The
two freshmen, Colin Anderson and
Melvin Dold, who had shown no respect for their elders in the first meeting between these teams, didn't fair so well
this time around. Anderson saw his
earlier 19 point total cut to five this time and Dold who had 14 before was forced to settle with one point. At half
time UK Captain Kenny Rollins had the
honor of driving a nail into the spot on the floor where Ralph Beard had launched his record setting 52 ½ foot shot
against Tennessee a week earlier.
Next time out Kentucky's Wildcats would have a rematch against the Temple Owls.
Kentucky suffered their first loss of the season in Philadelphia on a late field goal by Temple's Nelson Bobb. The
Cats now got the chance to avenge
that set back against the Owls, this time in more friendly territory, Louisville. The desire by Kentucky to come out
on top of this second encounter with
Temple was evident early on, the intensity level was quite high, as a matter of fact it just may have been a little too
high. The Cats defense was tight as a
drum, but they were way off the mark in their shooting and their ball handling as well. UK led all the way except for
one tie in the early going, but had a lot
of trouble getting on track in the opening period. A 5-5 tie was the best the teams could do after five minutes of
play. Kentucky did pull out of the offensive
quagmire a little, outscoring the Owls 6-0 during the next few minutes, then the two teams finished the half pretty
much on even terms and Kentucky led
23-16 at the intermission.
After shooting a paltry 13.7% in the first half UK settled down to play a more normal brand of round ball. The
Wildcats shooting accuracy improved and
their defense remained stingy, which allowed the Ruppmen to settle the issue of this contest in the first 10 minutes
of the second period. They used
that 10 minutes to draw away from their opponent 45-26 much to the satisfaction of a partisan UK crowd that had
gone from being 'as quiet as a church
mouse' before half time to one that 'used leather lunged yells to urge the Ruppmen to Pour it on!' While Kentucky
improved their field goal percentage
considerably to 30.9%, the Owls remained unchanged at 13.1. Temple wasn't able to cope with the Cats second
half sharp shooting or the suffocating
UK defense, dropping this second encounter with UK 58-38.
Considering the emotional pressure he played under, Ralph Beard turned in an exceptional performance. His
grandfather, Glenn Moorman of
Hardinsburg, passed away just two hours before tip-off. It probably effected Beard's play, but he pulled himself
together and had a great game, scoring
10 of his 12 points in the second half. Jones shared high scoring honors also with 12, Groza chipped in 11 and
Rollins scored eight. There was no late
game heroics for Nelson Bobb this time, the Temple guard mustered only five points, Ed Lerner and Costic
Borsavage led the Owls with nine each.
Avenging losses seemed to be important to Adolph Rupp during his coaching career, so I would think he was
doubly pleased on this night since he got
another win and in one way of looking at this series, he had the last laugh; at least for the time being. The end of
the regular season was in sight,
Kentucky would play the final game before the SEC Tournament against Xavier in Cincinnati.
The UK cagers closed the regular season with a win on the road against Xavier, a team they had pummeled by 42
points earlier in the year. The Cats
played a slower pace on this night, but they proved to be more accurate, it's hard to say if there was any
connection between the two. While Kentucky
was hitting 36.9% of their field goals, they were holding the Xavier contingent to 18.1%. Alex Groza was
outperformed 13-4 by his Musketeer counterpart,
a former UK team member Malcolm McMullen. Not to worry though, Barker, Jones, Beard, Rollins etc., would more
than make up the shortage.
A slow 10 minutes found the score 10-5 Kentucky to begin the contest, then during the next five minutes Xavier
made a run at the Cats to pull to within
15-13. The Wildcats then had a quick 8-2 spurt for a 23-15 score with just under five minutes remaining in the
half. Kentucky finished the half by
outscoring the Muskies 8-3 to take a 31-18 advantage at the break. The second period started with two quick UK
field goals and a McMullen one-
hander, then Kentucky ran off nine unanswered points for their largest lead of the night at 44-20. Xavier won the
battle the rest of the way 15-13, but they
lost the war 50-37. It ended a 15 game home court-winning streak for the Musketeers, while it was win number 27
on the season for the Wildcats.
Barker led the scoring with 15 points and Jones had 12. Two former Kentucky squad members headed Xavier,
McMullen had 13 and Dix Boxwell scored
five points.
The future of Kentucky basketball was glimpsed before the night's main event as the UK junior varisty faced off
against the Xavier Jrs. The Kittens
handed the young Musketeers their first defeat of the season, 49-35. Roger Day led the scoring for Kentucky with
15 points, Walter Hirsch, Garland
Townes, Ab Cummins, and Dutch Campbell each had seven, while Johnny Stough played a fine game and added
two points. Some were names UK
fans were already familiar with, since Rupp had so many good players he often used them in junior varisty games.
The rest would eventually become
quite well known to UK fans.
The Kentucky Wildcats stood atop the SEC standings undefeated in conference play, but due to the rules of this
time period some teams were given
first round byes for the tournament. This was done by a blind draw, there was no seeding involved, so the worst
team could end up being passed on to
the second round, while the season champion could be forced to play the opening round. That is kind of what
happened, as Kentucky would play an
opening round game against Florida, while LSU would sit and wait for the winner. The cynical part of my brain
wants to think this was employed as a
stop Kentucky measure, by having everyone draw, the law of averages would mean that the Cats would
occasionally have to play that extra game and
who knows what could happen. Of course the logical part of my brain tells me it's strictly mathematical. Anyway I
for one am certainly glad they seed the
teams these days.
The tournament got underway Thursday, March 4th with as mentioned before Kentucky taking on Florida,
Alabama against Georgia, Auburn vs Tulane
and Tennessee and Mississippi State; Vanderbilt, Mississippi, and LSU were all given the day off. The tournament
was played in Louisville and in that
opening round, Georgia Tech beat Alabama 46-34; Tulane beat Auburn 47-40 and Tennessee bested Mississippi
State 73-52. The Wildcats faced the
Florida Gators and just as if written in a script the Kentucky squad turned in a dazzling performance. The Cats
played just about as well as they possibly
could, destroying Florida 87-31. UK's starters struck like lightning, jumping all over the Gators immediately. The
Cats were deadly marksmen from the
field, especially in the first half when they made good on 40.7% of their shots, while holding Florida to 9.6. The
accurate shooting aside, Kentucky was
impressive running their offense, time after time the Cats ran the court with hardly a dribble, firing precision
passes for easy buckets. UK held the
Gators scoreless for over four minutes before William Welch hit a free throw. It would be another two minutes
before Florida would connect from the
field and by then the Cats were on top 17-3. Kentucky stretched it out to 32-7 with a little over seven minutes left
in the half, then Coach Rupp made the
first substitution replacing Jones with Holland. From that point on it was a revolving door for the UK bench as the
reserves took over. One could hardly
notice a difference though, as the second and third stringers continued to pour it on. With the halftime score 48-
12 Rupp started the second period with
a line-up of reserves. With the exception of Beard, none of the starters saw any more action. The half was
composed of a couple of one-sided UK runs,
18-9 to start and push the score out to 66-21. After a quick 6-5 spurt for Florida, the Cats charged to the finish on
a 16-4 streak for the final 87-31.
The starters did well considering they received such small amounts of playing time. As a matter of fact, four
reserves had longer stays on court than any
of the starting five. Jim Line took advantage of his 25 minutes, after replacing Barker he filled the bucket for 22
points. UK put three more in double
figures, Groza, Beard and Parkinson who came off the bench to score 10. The first game was out of the way, next
for Kentucky would be LSU, which the
Cats had not faced during the season.
What's the old saying about the hazards of resting on one's laurels? At this late stage in the season with Kentucky
playing better in each game you
would think that coming out ready to play would be the least of their worries. But one night after thoroughly
dismantling Florida, Kentucky's Wildcats
suffered something of a lapse in concentration against LSU. UK got off to what appeared to be the start of another
runaway victory, but after 10 minutes
of play, the Cats 'lapsed into a coma' as one writer put it and he described it about right. An early 4-4 tie was
parlayed into a 10-4 Kentucky lead in as
quick as a wink. In the next several minutes the Cats engineered a 15-6 run to push the margin to 15 points and
make the score 25-10 with a little less
then 10 minutes remaining in the opening period. Rupp stayed with the starting five for the first 17 minutes, then
with the score 36-15 he made the first
substitutions of the night sending in Barnstable for Barker, Holland for Groza and Line for Jones. This line-up
played out the remaining three minutes of
the half, which ended 40-21 Wildcats.
Granted the first half wasn't all that bad, actually it was pretty good, but the second half was another story.
Everything Kentucky did right in the first half,
they did wrong in the second. The first 10 minutes showed that something wasn't quite right, mainly the Wildcats
seemed to basically be mailing this
one in. UK did outscore the Tigers 14-12 during this stretch, but the Cats missed enough easy shots to have
doubled that 14 points. Then came a five
minute drought in which Kentucky scored exactly zero points, while LSU was chopping a 21 point lead down to
eight, 55-47, with two minutes to go.
Coach Rupp must have decided enough was enough and returned the starting line-up to the floor, which shutout
the Tigers 8-0 to make the final a little
more respectable looking at 63-47. Folks not in attendance probably saw the score and thought, "Oh well, another
ho-hum blow-out for Kentucky."
Except for an eight minute span in the second half, the Cats had at least played a decent defensive game and it
was a good thing, a loss now sent you
home for good; or at least until the invitation came from the NIT or the NCAA. Kentucky had a game of streaks,
both good and bad. At one time the Cats
were on their way to setting a tournament record for consecutive free throws made. They hit their first 12 before
Groza missed unlucky #13, from that
point on UK was 7-16. Then there was that five minute scoreless stretch in the second half, it was difficult to recall
if that had happened to Kentucky all
season long. They went from sharp field goal shooting against Florida to 26.5% against LSU, but UK was moving
on to the semi-finals to face
Tennessee who defeated Ole Miss 81-62.
Things certainly have changed, back here in the good ol' days of 1948 the semi-finals AND the final of the SEC
Tournament were played on the same
day! Imagine that today. In the early game, Georgia Tech was a surprise winner over favored Tulane. The Cats
and Vols took the court shortly before
noon. If there was a message to be gained from Kentucky's stumbling effort on the previous evening, the Cats
must have received it loud and clear for
on this day there would be no up and down, back and forth swings in momentum. Tight stingy defense was the
order of the day, coupled with much
improved field goal shooting and it meant just one thing for Tennessee, the end of the season. Kentucky took
command surging out to an 8-3 lead just
minutes into the game, using two Alex Groza dunks. The Vols tried to fight back with a couple of baskets, but at
the 10 minute mark UK had moved out to
a 20-9 lead. The battle of the Jones boys took full swing with 'Wah Wah' nailing two big 'loopers' and a couple of
charity tosses to put the Cats out by six
more, 26-9. With six minutes left, Tennessee had their only rally of the game when they finished the half out-
gunning Kentucky 9-6 to make the score 32-
18 at the break.
Tennessee hung around at the beginning of the second period and with 10 minutes to go was only trailing by
eight, 46-38. At this point Jim Line
replaced Jones who was having a big game, Line came off the bench firing and didn't stop. Line threw in 10 points
in rapid order, but even during this
run for Line the Vols continued to stay within striking distance. With three minutes remaining the Wildcats
unleashed a quick barrage of field goals that
ended the battle 70-47. Wah Wah Jones was the money player for Kentucky with 18 points, Groza tacked on 12
and Line had a whale of a game scoring
10 points in just a few minutes during the second half. The Wildcats improved their field goal shooting to 33.7%
while holding Tennessee to 20.3. The
Ruppmen would take it easy the rest of the afternoon as they geared up for their appointment with Georgia Tech
in the title game later that evening.
The title game for the SEC Championship had come down to the Wildcats, no surprise, against the Yellow Jackets
of Georgia Tech, which was a big
surprise. Tech knocked off Tulane in the semi-finals, 50-40. Tulane had been favored to make it to the final game,
but somehow the Jackets got on a
roll at just the right time. Tech finished the regular season with a less then impressive 9-16 record. The fact that
they got by the first round was
somewhat of a surprise and now here they were playing for the championship. Most everyone agreed that the
bubble was about to burst for the
upstarts, but the Yellow Jackets weren't listening to any of that kind of talk. To the experienced observer it was
clear that Tech's starting five were quite
capable of competing with just about anyone, but the bench was their undoing in most games. So if Georgia Tech
could keep the pace slow and stay
out of foul trouble they felt they had a chance and up to this point it was proving to be correct; at least in this
tournament.
The game was a 'tough and vicious battle' right from the beginning and would force the Cats to fight all the way,
there would be no fancy ball-handling
demonstrations for the fans on this night. Kentucky jumped on top 6-0 to start the show only to see Tech come
right back with six of their own to tie it up.
The teams battled neck & neck and at the 10-minute mark the Wildcats held a slim 15-14 advantage. This nip and
tuck, back and forth contest
continued, like a chess match in some respects, but similar to the early rounds of a boxing match also. Both
squads pounded away, but neither could
ever gain the upper hand. Tech took a 22-20 lead with five minutes to go in the half, but the Cats moved ahead
26-25 at the break.
The second half was just as tight as the first, with UK being unable to shake the Yellow Jackets. Mel Dold put the
Techsters in front on a long field goal
to start the second period, then Beard answered with a long toss of his own. Georgia Tech moved right back to
the lead immediately on two quick field
goals, one from Dold and another by Joe Keener and the Cats found themselves trailing 31-28. Cliff Barker added
a free throw and Alex Groza threw in a
one-hander to even the score 31-31. It was short-lived after Jim Nolan tipped in a Georgia Tech miss, but the Cats
then had a run. It was a small one,
but in a tight game like this one any run is important. Trailing by two Groza hit two fielders and a charity toss, then
after a Ralph Beard free throw
Kentucky had it's largest lead in quite a while 37-33. UK's prosperity didn't last long however, because Barker
fouled Colin Anderson who sank both
gratis shots and then Dold nailed a jumper at the top of the circle and the Jackets had tied it at 37 all.
After an exchange of baskets Georgia Tech found the range again and Kentucky found themselves trailing 41-39
with less then nine minutes to play. By
this time in most games this season it was showtime for UK, time for the reserves to take over and the Wildcats to
coast in the rest of the way, but the
Jackets were being stubborn and refused to play along. As the nervous tension grew in the predominantly UK
crowd, Rupp decided the situation was
beginning to look rather serious and he went to his starting line-up; it was time for the Fabulous Five to earn some
of their legendary reputation.
Ralph Beard threw in a running one-hander, but came up lame and had to retire to the sideline not to return. Dale
Barnstable replaced him and Beard's
injury would turn out to be a cramp. Next Rollins scored with a short hook shot to put Kentucky back on top.
Anderson converted a free throw, but Jim
Line countered that with a long one from the corner and the Wildcats were on their way to another title. With the
Yellow Jackets tiring noticeably, Groza
pushed the Kentucky lead out to five with a spinning hook shot. A few seconds later Barnstable nailed a long
jumper, then Jones hit and was fouled.
'Wah Wah' converted the three point play and Groza knocked down another field goal. Georgia Tech added a
free throw and the game was over,
Kentucky 54 Georgia Tech 43.
Kentucky had added another SEC Championship to their collection. Even back during these early years of UK
Basketball the Wildcats were already
piling up some impressive numbers. It was Kentucky's 11th SEC title in 18 years and their fifth in a row; it was their
46th consecutive conference victory
and their 16th SEC Tournament victory in a row. For Kenny Rollins, who scored 14 points, it was the game of the
year and what a time to do it; it seems
the great ones always come to the front in the most important situations. On this night, nearly every UK player had
a significant contribution. Groza
added 13, Beard 11, and Jones and Barker both chipped in six each. Though it was only 12 points between the
two of them, they all came at the most
critical junctures of the game. Both had never scored six more important points, at least until now. Now there was
nothing to do but sit, wait and practice
until the teams were set for the chance to go for the prize everyone wanted; a national championship.
Hundreds of fans and students jammed Union Station to see the SEC Champion Kentucky Wildcats and Coach
Adolph Rupp off to New York where
they would open play in the Eastern Division of the NCAA Tournament. Eight teams split into two four team
divisions made up the entire NCAA
Tournament in 1948; what a difference from today's 64 team assemblage. To win the title a team had to be
victorious three times, Kentucky had to beat
four teams to win the SEC title. The Wildcats arrived in New York to the greeting of a parade of loud brass bands.
Well actually it was coincidental, UK's
arrival just happened to be on St. Patrick's Day; never the less, the party atmosphere was quite appropriate I think.
Kentucky checked into their hotel and then immediately they were off to the Rockefeller Center Gymnasium for a
light workout, consisting mainly of
shooting practice. In the last days leading up to UK's departure, the Cats had been improving steadily. Their
shooting was becoming keenly accurate
and it appeared not to have suffered at all due to the long train ride. The other three teams that would compete
along with Kentucky at Madison Square
Garden were Holy Cross the defending NCAA Champion, who would face Michigan in the following night's opening
game. The Wildcats would take on
Columbia, an Ivy League squad that had dropped only one contest on the season, that against Princeton who
they later defeated in a return match. In
spite of Columbia's impressive record, UK was a unanimous favorite, most tabbing the Ruppmen to win by at least
10 points. This would be the sixth
consecutive year that Kentucky had competed for a national championship. In the four previous years the Cats
had participated in the NIT, winning the
title in 1946 and finishing as runner-up to Utah in 1947. In the two years prior to that Kentucky had taken part in
the NCAA. Though the NIT had been the
more prestigious of the two tournaments in their earlier years, the NCAA was beginning to be considered as equal
in stature. For various reasons, the
NCAA Tournament would gradually overtake the NIT and become college basketball's national championship.
The first game for the Wildcats in their quest for a national title was a mismatch. The Lions of Columbia were game
and put up a hard fight, but it was
obvious from the start that they were over-matched in just about every way possible. The game was tied 6-6 after
3:30 of play and for awhile Columbia
stayed reasonably close, actually trailing only 17-16 at the mid point of the half; but it was just a matter of time.
The Cats ran out on a 9-1 streak to make
the score 26-17 with the top scorers for the game, Groza, Jones and Beard doing all the damage. The Ivy
Leaguers tried as best they could to battle with
the bigger and faster Wildcats, getting heroic efforts from center Walter Budko and guard Al Kaplan. Budko would
score 17 points before fouling out and
Kaplan threw in 12, but even so the game had turned into a walk-over by half time when the score was 38-25.
If there was any doubt about the outcome 'Wah Wah' Jones took care of it as soon as the second half opened.
Jones took over and nailed three field
goals in a row and whatever fight was left in the Lions completely dissolved as UK took a 44-25 lead; from that
point it was just a matter of the final
score. All 12 Kentucky players got into the game, although Rupp had been more conservative in his substitution
patterns, leaving the starters in longer
then he had in similar games during the season.
The final score was 76-53; Jones led the scoring with 21 points, Groza had 17 and Beard added 15. The Cats
shot 34.4% and held Columbia to 25.2.
UK would move on to the next round and face one of the eastern powers of college basketball during this period,
Holy Cross. The Crusaders were led
by a future Hall of Fame legend, Bob Cousy. Holy Cross took care of Michigan in the other division semi-final by
the score of 63-45 behind Cousy's 23
points. It had been anyone's game until half time with the score 34-27 Holy Cross. In the first nine minutes of the
second half Michigan suffered what
amounted to a total break-down scoring only two points, before they could get going again it was all over, Holy
Cross was leading 52-38.
Even though the consensus appeared to be that the Wildcats were slight favorites going into the game, quite a
few folks were talking about an upset.
Holy Cross matched up with the Cats fairly close and even had a supposed advantage at one guard position, that
of 'Little Ralph Beard' measuring in at
5'10". Much was made of Beard's size by the media during his career, but everyone knew he was the driving force
behind the Wildcats success.
The key to victory for Kentucky was simple, shut down Bob Cousy; not a simple task. The job fell to Kenny Rollins
and Dale Barnstable who would be
Rollins backup. Rollins and Barnstable discussed how they would go about defending Cousy, who had been
ordained by the local fans as "The
Greatest Player in the World". The proclamation was painted in huge letters on a bed sheet that hung from the
rafters of Madison Square Garden.
Rollins and Barnstable spent time studying Cousy's moves. "We never knew which way he would go." Rollins said.
"Some players prefer to go one
way....you can overplay them that way. But with Cousy it didn't matter. So we made a concentrated effort to keep
him in the center of the floor because he
did most of his scoring from the sides." The game was billed as a contest between strength and quickness; could
Kentucky use it's size to force their
will on the fast breaking Crusaders? To some folks surprise it would turn out that the Cats not only had the size,
they were the team sprinting up and
down the floor. Before the game was over, UK would have the Crusaders tails dragging from exhaustion.
The Holy Cross strategy was clear from the start of the game, run, run, run. Apparently they were unaware that
the Wildcats would and could get out and
fast break with anyone. Instead of gaining an advantage, Holy Cross played right into UK's hand. 'The first minutes
of the game was a spirited contest
played at top speed by both teams'. Three minutes into the half it was even at 7-7, then Ralph Beard cashed in a
charity toss to put Kentucky on top for
good. The Cats made it five straight points to move ahead 12-7. Beard opened with the hot hand hitting his first
four attempts, all long set shots; as a
matter of fact, the trio of Beard, Groza and Jones were an unstoppable force. The first half was a hard fought
battle, but it was quickly apparent that
Kentucky had the formula for victory. The Crusaders were giving an outstanding effort, but they were unable to
win the many individual duels that were
occurring during the course of the game. The most important of them was the battle between Cousy and Rollins,
the Holy Cross star found he had a
shadow because Rollins stuck to him like a piece of adhesive tape. If the Crusaders were going to move on
someone else would have to lead the way.
Kentucky continued to dominate the first period and in the last few minutes had amassed a 14 point lead at 35-21,
however Holy Cross cut into the
margin to trail 36-28 at the intermission. UK had certainly had their way in the first half, but that in no way meant
the New England squad was a push
over. The Crusaders proved they were not just going to give up and came out for the second half in a determined
state of mind firing in two quick
baskets to narrow the score to 36-32; Rupp immediately called time-out. The Wildcats returned to the floor and
answered the challenge as they rang up
four field goals in a row to pull back out by 12, 44-32. Wah Wah Jones dropped in three of the goals on 'beautiful
pivots and Groza dunked the other from
in close'.
Holy Cross would fight back like champions cutting the lead to six on a couple of occasions, but the eight point run
had finished the Crusaders. Holy
Cross made one last charge with five minutes left cutting the lead to 54-48, but with the Crusaders franticly
pressing all over the court, Beard drove in for
a one-handed lay-up and Groza added a free throw. At that point Holy Cross seemed to fall apart and after hitting
a field goal to make it 57-50 they
began a desperate press, but was only successful in committing a '#2 wash tub' full of fouls. Exhausted both
physically and mentally the nor'easterners
played out the final two minutes chasing the Cats who remained sharper and fresher looking in the last minutes of
the game.
When the horn sounded Kentucky was the Eastern Division Champion, winning the game 60-52. Looking at the
box score one would make the
assumption that Alex Groza with 23 points or Wallace 'Wah Wah' Jones who had 12 or even Beard with 13 were
the stars for UK, but in my opinion
Kenny Rollins was the outstanding performer of the night. Rollins had a decent scoring night with eight points, but
if he hadn't scored a point the job he
did defending Bob Cousy was worth the MVP award in this contest. Cousy the leading scorer for Holy Cross on the
year was held to six points, four of
them free throws. Cousy's only field goal came after 12:20 of play in the second half. It was an all around great
defensive effort, probably the best of the
season. A few of the Kentucky players, such as Cliff Barker, Dale Barnstable and to an extent Rollins sacrificed
scoring to concentrate on stopping their
Holy Cross counterparts. The Crusaders were led in scoring by George Kaftan with 15 and Frank Oftring who had
12. Coach Rupp and his Wildcats
were now one game away from that first NCAA title, to get it they would have to knock off Baylor, a surprise winner
of the Western Division.
Afterwards in the Kentucky locker room there was an atmosphere of utter celebration. It wasn't a cocky, over-
confident feeling such as a team that thinks
they have the title won even with a game yet remaining. No it was just the sheer joy of having made it and getting
the opportunity to play for the
championship. There was the stern, ever serious Coach Adolph Rupp falling into a big bear hug with volunteer
statistician George Hukle, the Baron
letting out a loud whoop and saying, "Boys we made it!" As one after another came by to shake his hand and give
a pat on the back Rupp could be
heard to say, "Don't congratulate me, congratulate the boys they did it." Indeed the Wildcats seemed to be drunk
with happiness from the victory. An
observer of it all might have thought all this celebrating a bit premature, but for Kentucky the Holy Cross game had
almost been a title game for them.
They had beaten the defending champion and though no one knew it at the time, this game probably did decide
the championship. Oh, remember that
sheet that had been hanging from the upper reaches of the Garden proclaiming Cousy the World's Greatest
Player? It was somehow obtained and
presented to Rollins as a souvenir MVP award.
As far as the rest of the sports worlds was concerned, the upcoming title match between Baylor and UK was just a
formality, the engraver was already
practicing his skill at etching University of Kentucky on the trophy. Despite everyone else's opinion the Wildcats
were not taking the Bears from the
southwest so lightly. Baylor had already played the underdog role in the Western division playoffs and had done
so quite successfully. They had
sneaked past Washington 64-62, then upset the favorite of the division tournament Kansas State 60-52. So it
stood to reason the Texans would not be
intimidated by the predictions of the so called "experts" or by the Wildcats themselves. As is always the case in
single elimination tournaments, past
history is just that; any team that can get to the championship game can win it.
Baylor came into the contest having won 21 and lost 5 in the regular season. They averaged scoring 49 points
per game, far below Kentucky's 69, so it
was clear right away the Bears were a ball control type of team. The game would be another clash of styles, UK
trying to run, Baylor wanting to slow
things down. Baylor had proven that they could do that quite capably in the Western Division playoffs, their ability
to freeze the ball after gaining the lead
had been a key to both of their upset wins. Kentucky had run into this tactic several times already during the
season. Holy Cross was most likely the
best ball handling team the Cats had faced all year and even though the Crusader strategy was not to slow things
down, their slick floor work could
have easily been used in that manner. In their game against Holy Cross the Wildcats had proven they were not
only strong, fast and deadly marksmen,
but they were also equal to the task when it came to throwing the ball around.
The Kentucky-Baylor matchup for the NCAA Championship drew '16,174 uninspired fans' to the Garden, the
smallest crowd of the tournament. With no
eastern team making the title game the crowd was probably pretty decent all things considered. Kentucky had the
height advantage, with Baylor having
no player taller then 6'2" they were no match for Alex Groza in the middle. The Bears strategy of holding the ball
until they had a clear, close in shot
succeeded only in holding down the score. In the first four minutes, Baylor had taken only one shot and seven and
a half minutes into the game, they
had attempted six, none of which had found their mark.
The Cats jumped ahead 7-0 right out of the box and before the Bears could register a field goal they had pushed
the lead to 12 at 13-1 just 5:25 into the
contest. As many writers would say later, the game was over at that point. A couple of minutes later Don
Heathington drove in for a lay-up to give Baylor
their first field goal of the game. Despite the large margin the Wildcats had established, the Texans refused to
come out of their deliberate game plan
and at the 10 minute mark of the half the Cats were on top 18-5. With just over seven minutes remaining in the
half UK had stretched their margin to it's
largest mark for the game at 17 points, 24-7. Baylor didn't get to this position by sheer luck alone and they
showed they had some fight left in them by
out scoring Kentucky 9-5 going to the intermission making the half time score 29-16.
Even though Baylor had made a run to end the first half and they would have a couple of more charges at UK, the
Cats just had too many weapons for
the Bears to deal with. Baylor began the second half fighting hard, but seven minutes in they had only managed to
cut one point off the lead 36-24. At
this point Rupp made his first change in the line-up sending Jim Line in for Wah Wah Jones. What may have
appeared to be a break to the Bears, was
just another star off the bench coming in fresh and firing. Beard threw in a couple of quick goals and after three
Baylor points Line 'nailed two long
spectacular left-handers' and the Wildcats were back out to a big lead 44-28.
The Bears had one rally left in them, scoring seven straight to get back to 44-35 with seven minutes remaining.
But Kentucky would not be denied the
title, the Cats went on the fast-break attack and simply ran away from the exhausted Texans. Running off an 11-5
streak the Cats pushed the score out
to 55-39 with two minutes to go and coasted in the rest of the way, winning their first NCAA Championship 58-42.
Alex Groza was named tournament MVP and led everyone in scoring with 14 points. He was followed by Ralph
Beard with 12, Wallace Jones and Ken
Rollins both had nine, Jim Line added seven, Cliff Barker five and Joe Holland scored two points, Dale Barnstable
played briefly but did not score.
Baylor was led by Bill Johnson with 10, then came Don Heathington, Jackie Robinson and Bill DeWitt with eight
each and Jim Owen had five. Coach
Adolph Rupp was very emotional afterward in the Kentucky locker room. Of Groza he said, "You undoubtedly
played the greatest game at center that has
ever been seen in the Garden." Calling the squad "the greatest team ever assembled in college sports", tears
rimmed his eyes as he said "You've done
everything you've been asked to do. You won your own SEC Tournament, you won the NCAA Championship.
You've kept training and made sacrifices to
do these things and for all of it I thank you from the bottom of my heart." And so do UK Basketball fans then and
now.
the fab five