Manager of the 1904 State College (now UK) basketball team was Leander Andrus, who refereed State's opening game, a 26-1 1 loss to Georgetown.
The most unusual occurrence of the 1909 basketball season at State College was a game which ended in a 23-23 tie with Central, but was turned into a 24-23 victory for State when one of the officials asked if State had been credited with a point awarded on a foul during the second half. The scorekeeper had not heard him make such an award. Central won the return match, 26-20, for the state championship.
The Faculty Committee on Athletics at State University (now UK) passed a resolution in November 1909 abolishing basketball at the University. The committee felt that things were better done not at all than half done. The gym was so overcrowded with the required physical education work that there was absolutely no time to practice basketball and it seemed best to do away with the sport entirely. The Armory was floored in early December 1909 and the resolution was rescinded.
E. R. Sweetland was appointed the first bonafide University of Kentucky basketball coach in 1909. However, he was hospitalized by an illness before the season started and Prof. R. E. Spahr was in charge of the team during victories over Kentucky Wesleyan and Georgetown and losses to DePauw and Central. Sweetland took over the team Jan. 31, 1910, but fared no better, winning only two of the eight remaining games. After a year's absence from coaching, he returned to post a perfect 9-0 season.
The biggest surprise of the 1925-26 basketball season at the University of Kentucky came just before noon, February 5, when the Washington & Lee team walked into the office of athletic director S. A. (Daddy) Boles and announced it was ready to play. Both Boles and basketball coach Ray Eklund were stunned. Neither knew of such a game. After the Washington & Lee manager produced a contract which Boles had signed a year earlier, a game between University High and Kentucky Institute for the Deaf was moved from the UK gym to another site and the Wildcats defeated the unexpected visitors, 44-34.
University of Kentucky basketball was first introduced to the dribble Feb. 9, 1911 in a 37-19 loss to Ohio Wesleyan at Delaware.
J. J. Tigert, who coached the UK basketball team in 1912-13, was a doctor of philosophy who later was president of the University of Florida and U.S. Commissioner of Education.
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