Doug Brunk - Wildcat Memories: Inside Stories from Kentucky Basketball Greats

Praise for

Wildcat Memories:

Inside Stories from Kentucky Basketball Greats

The Wildcats are the greatest common denominator in our statethe one thing about which one can strike up a conversation almost anywhere or anytime. And Doug Brunks Wildcat Memories provides even more great stories to discuss. He covers a wide spectrum of eras for Big Blue fans both young and old, commemorating a program whose tradition is passed down from generation to generation.

Tom Leach, Voice of the Wildcats

The key to books about Kentucky basketball is picking the right folks and getting good interviews, and Doug Brunk has done that. Wildcat Memories does a great job of finding people who may not have gotten the recognition they deservepeople who were behind the scenes, but still had a hand in developing one of the greatest athletic programs in all of sports.

Ryan Clark, author of Game of My Life: Kentucky Wildcats and coauthor of 100 Things Wildcats Fans Should Know & Do before They Die

I went to my first Kentucky game in 1966 at Memorial Coliseum, and instantly became a Big Blue fan. I have been coaching high school basketball in Virginia for the last thirty years, and have been blessed to have six of my players wear the blue-and-white uniform of the Wildcats. These personal stories chronicle all the memories of the great players who have played at the University of Kentucky through the years.

Steve Smith, head basketball coach, Oak Hill Academy

Wildcat Memories

INSIDE STORIES FROM KENTUCKY BASKETBALL GREATS

DOUG BRUNK

FOREWORD BY DAN ISSEL

Due to variations in the technical specifications of different electronic reading devices, some elements of this ebook may not appear as they do in the print edition. Readers are encouraged to experiment with user settings for optimum results.

Copyright 2014 by The University Press of Kentucky

Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,

serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University.

All rights reserved.

Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky

663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008

www.kentuckypress.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brunk, Doug.

Wildcat memories : inside stories from Kentucky basketball greats / Doug Brunk ; foreword by Dan Issel.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8131-4700-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8131-4702-4 (pdf) ISBN 978-0-8131-4701-7 (epub)

1. Kentucky Wildcats (Basketball team)History. 2. University of KentuckyBasketballHistory. 3. Basketball playersKentuckyAnecdotes. I. Title.

GV885.43.U53B78 20144

This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

To my parents,
Bill and Genevieve Brunk,
for their influence and for providing me
with the privilege of living in Kentucky.

Some are born great,
some achieve greatness,
and some have greatness thrust upon em.

Malvolio,

in William Shakespeares

Twelfth Night

I was blessed to have played fifteen years of professional basketball, first with the Kentucky Colonels in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and then with the Denver Nuggets in the National Basketball Association (NBA). But when people see my height and ask if I played basketball, I say, Yes, at the University of Kentucky! That really gets their attention! Because of its popularity there have been many books written about Kentucky basketball. So when I agreed to a sit-down interview in Los Angeles in 2012 with Doug Brunk for Wildcat Memories, I expected it to be just another one of those books. Once Doug emphasized that he was after stories about the people who impacted me during my time playing at UK, that got my interest. I know of no other book that has taken this approach and presented it in a format of firsthand reflections. We are all shaped and influenced by others in some way. So I was happy to participate.

UK fans are going to love this book because it provides a glimpse into the personal lives of some of the programs greatest former players and coaches. Doug got us all to open up. The voices in Wildcat Memories are distinctive and unique, just like the people who make up the great UK fan base known as the Big Blue Nation. I was surprised to learn that winning the Kentucky State High School Basketball Tournament meant more to Cliff Hagan than winning the NCAA Tournament or the NBA Championship. And I was moved by the fact that Roger Harden said that Chuck Melcher, the Campus Crusade for Christ director, had the most influence on his personal growth while he was at UK.

I have not lived in Kentucky full time since 1988 and unfortunately only get to visit a few times each year. However, when I walk down the streets in Lexington or Louisville, UK fans greet me like they saw me the day before. In April 2013 I was honored to have my likeness on a Makers Mark commemorative bottle. During the signing at Keeneland hundreds of people lined up for me to sign their bottles. Bill Thomason, president of Keeneland, remarked, Only in Kentucky would parents allow their children to skip school to come to a racetrack and get a bottle of bourbon signed! I was even more amazed that UK fans would be in line for twenty-four hours in the cold and the rain to get the autograph of a player who hadnt worn the blue and white since 1970.

Wildcat Memories is about much more than basketball. It contains reflections on life lessons, character, working through adversity, thoughts about what makes Kentucky unique from a cultural standpoint, and memories about people who helped the former players and coaches interviewed for this book find their way in life. UK basketball is truly unique in how it brings people together. This book celebrates that sense of connection and supports the first few words of Kentuckys state motto, United We Stand.

Dan Issel

Windsor, Colorado

Perhaps the best description of what makes mens basketball at the University of Kentucky so special to citizens of the Bluegrass State came from the late William Bill Keightley, a former postal worker from Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, who served forty-eight years as the equipment manager for the storied program.

In a June 2006 interview Keightley, who was affectionately known as Mr. Wildcat, observed that UK basketball in the Commonwealth is so big and everybody wants to feel like theyre part of something thats successful, and Kentucky basketball has given em this, this feeling of satisfaction. About the only other thing we have maybe is the Kentucky Derby.