PAGE 9    THE CATS'  PAUSE,  DECEMBER 22, 1979
Turpin Will Return HomeToCare For Family And Play For Cats
By OSCAR L. COMBS Publisher
There they were, standing at almost military attention with the young 18-year-old boy gently embracing his parents as he announced he would soon return home to attend the University of Kentucky and to take care of the two people closest to him.
The story has all the ingredients of a Hollywood television scrip. A handsome young man leaves the ghetto to mature and grow up, then he returns to care for his family which for so long had depended upon him.
Last weekend, Melvin Turpin returned home to the small frame house at 714 Chiles Street in north Lexington to make a decision that,
most likely, would be the toughest one in his life.
Melvin Turpin isn't just the ordinary run-of-the-mill youth of today. After all, he stands seven feet tall for one thing.
To his mother, Mrs. Louise Turpin, Melvin has been everything from a nurse to a cook for the family. And his absence has been difficult on the family in recent months.
Nevertheless, Melvin is best known around the country for being the new "Ralph Sampson" of 1980. He plays basketball. He plays the game very well. In fact, he plays so well that literally hundreds of colleges have
Melvin Turpin
been trying to persuade Turpin to accept a grant-in-aid for the past two years.
He wasn't always so popular with the big-time scouts. But that was before that was before his basketball talents soared to new heights.
Turpin graduated from Lexington Bryan Station last spring, but opted for a year at Fork Union Military Academy near Charlottesville, Virginia. Now, midway through the school year, Turpin has decided to call off the race by announcing his intentions to sign with Kentucky next spring and become a member ofthe famous Wildcats.
According to Turpin, the decision wasn't as difficult as many Tiad anticipated. At least in the end, it wasn't. The very polite and always smiling Turpin admits he once was eager to attend Morehead State and that his boyhood dreams surrounded Kareem Jabbar and UCLA, not Kentucky. And he once thought about playing for the University of Louisville. But that was months ago.
When the media appeared for a 9 a.m. press conference last Saturday at the Turpin home, Melvin leaned forward to begin his brief speech as his mother and father anxiously listened.
Just before his opening remarks, Melvin sneaked a brief glance toward his parents. Mrs. Turpin responded with a warm intimate smile, one only a mother can offer.
Assured everything was in order, the smiling Turpin began:
"I'd like to make an announcement. Last night, my mother, my father and I decided that I should go to the University of Kentucky. It's a good school to go to. I decided because my father and mother are very sick. I was born in Lexington and I will be close to both of them."
Nothing more needs to be said about the character of one Melvin Turpin.
By any standard, life has not been all roses for the Andrew Turpin family. But that's not to say the Turpins have been an unhappy family. Far be it.
Their small frame home is located in a section of Lexington which should not be confused with those of movie stars in Southern California.
Yet, the Turpin home is a happy one. The small house is spotless, very moderate and comfortable to a family which treasures its faith in God and the traditional family spirit so prevelant of the American way.
Resting on the fireplace mantel is a framed picture of Melvin's older brother, George, who is in the Air Force. A beautiful religious banner hangs proudly above the living room sofa. An attractive glass-enclosed cabinet displays the trophies earned by Melvin on the basketball court over the past couple of years.
Saturday was Melvin Turpin's big day at home.
Yet, in spite of all the rave revues which pinpoint Turpin as a bona-fide All-American of the future and perhaps the potential to become a wealthy professional someday, he is still the humble youngster who has always worshipped his parents. His loyalty to them is beyond reproach.
Melvin's absence from the Turpin home this fall has been felt often by his family.
"I really have missed him the past few months," admitted his mother, "you just don't know how much he helped us when he was here. I'm partially paralyzed and he's practically taken care of me, helped me with the housework, always drove me to the grocery store and laundry and even cooked sometimes."
His parents' poor health certainly made Melvin's decision on UK much easier.
Perhaps that is also why his athletic talents did not surface until only recently. He wasn't good enough to make his high school basketball team just three years ago and was cut from the squad.
He returned the following year, determined to be a success and won a uniform. Then midway through that season, he began to develop rapid improvement. By January of his senior year, big-time schools were crashing the stop signs leading to Chiles Avenue.
Even Melvin is quick to point out he was inadequately prepared for the future, especially on the academic level.
"Of course I didn't play basketball that much until my junior year and then I thought all you had to do was to play basketball. Grades didn't mean anything to me.''
That's when Turpin confided to some close friends and agreed to enter Fork Union Military Academy for one year.
Local friends figured the year of military school would pay huge dividends in the long run for the youngster. He would have the opportunity to learn how to study and communicate with others.
Turpin agreed with his advisers that a striaght leap into the college level might have been fatal, especially since he realized how unprepared he was.
Today, the seven-foot youngster insists he understands the importance of an academic education as well as an athletic one.
"After all, I can't play basketball forever, even if I play in the pros," explained Turpin. "Someday, I would like to come back and be a recreation director or maybe coach. I would really enjoy working with young people."
After Melvin returned home last week and made his announcement, he
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