You get with a piss hammer, son? Rupp refused to recruit black athletes. bear Bryant as well. They learned teh error of their ways when the brothers started beating the brakes off 'em. And that's the facts, Jack.

In his defense, Rupp recruited Wes Unseld, a Louisville native. Unseld didn't want to be the first at UK, however.

Rupp probably had plenty of questionable feelings regarding black athletes, and he doesn't always get a fair shake either.

The bigger issue is when you take five supposedly inferior, less intelligent black ball players and beat the crown jewel of SEC basketball, you break down a barrier or two.

Wes Unseld, Butch Beard, and Clem Haskins were all recruited by Rupp. None wanted to be the first person of color to play at Kentucky, despite the fact that they were all from the state. Hell, UNC is all but canonized by the media, and they were as slow to intergrate as anyone. This was a time period when many schools in the south (Mississsippi State, in a famous example, had to sneak out of the state to play in the NCAA tourney because the school forbid them to play against a team with black players) either didn't recruit black players or had none who were willing to break the barrier. Rupp was one of the most polarizing figures in basketball history but he was far from the caricature racist that he was made out to be.


Loogar, piss hammer is my nickname, last name - Psimer. Completely out of curiosity, who was GA basketball's first player of color?