ApulB.19X5
VIEWPOINT
Letters To The Editor
Mail All Letters To: VIEWPOINT, The Cats' Pause, P.u. Box 7297, Lexington, KY 40522
Hall's Criticism Undeserved
Dear Sir:
I have been a Big Blue fan for many years. I live and die with the Wildcats on radio and T.V. and then read about them in The Cats' Pause. I have been receiving the TCP since 1977. I have every issue since I started your sports paper. I re-read the older TCP, re-living the great games the Wildcats have played both basketball and football.
Well, now is the time for all those people (I'll not call them coaches) who knew more than Coach Hall did about basketball, to ask for his job since he has stepped down. Knowing that most of them would surely have had 30-0 seasons year after year, from what they seemed to know about coaching while badmouthing Coach Hall. I saw the Wildcats in a Blue and White scrimmage game in the fall of 1984 in Bell County High School. I don't believe that I saw Sam Shepherd from Pineville there to tell Joe B. Hall and his assistants how to run the ball team. He is just one of the many who really think they know how to coach basketball.
I believe that Coach Hall's record tells us what kind of coach he was. He will be known as one of the better coaches of his time. His teams played as tough a schedule as any team in the country, year in and year out. Most all of the young men he coached turned out to be fine young men we can all be proud of. Most, if not all, were young christian men, which we are not so blessed with at th& present time in many places.
I hope to catch the Blue and White football game on April 27. I also really enjoy watching Coach Claiborne's football team play. Good luck to the Wildcats football team this Fall. I believe the Cats will play in a major bowl this year. I am looking forward to reading more about Coach Claiborne's team and new recruits. Keep us updated on the new basketball recruits and the signing of a new basketball coach. Also looking forward to each copy of the TCP.
Sincerely,
Ernest Walden Kingsport, Tennessee
Class "A"All The Way
Dear Sir:
I have been an avid Big Blue fan since 1947 and proud of our coaches (football, basketball and baseball) over the years. For the last 3 years our trio of Jerry, Joe, and Keith are tops. As for Joe's resignation, I for one was sad to hear about it and wish him and his family nothing but the best.
His 13 years were nothing but tops in the areas of coaching in a winning way along with being an example of gentlemanly conduct of himself and the U.K. program.
I'd like to take this time to thank Mr. James Porter of Franklin, Ohio for expressing my sentiments exactly. He told it like it is . . . class A all the way.
Now, thanks to all The Cats' Pause staff for providing me with such a classy publication to enjoy. (And I've" done just that).
Please find enclosed my renewal for 1985.
Sincerely,
Hagan Ritchie Covington, Ky.
Quite A Record
Dear Sir:
I hope all the Joe B. Hall haters are happy now, because they probably won't be all smiles this time next year. But maybe they are just complainers and not basketball lovers.
How bad did Joe B. do in his 13 years as head coach? How awful is being in the Final Four 3 times and winning the championship once, and second place once? How terrible is being one of the final 16 with a team that lost 4 starters the year before, and taking the #3 team to the final minutes? How bad is winning an NIT title also?
Compare this to the last 14 years under Rupp. After the fiddling five of 1958 Rupp only had 1 team that could fiddle in a barn yard.
Also, Mr. Hall has amassed his fine record in a conference that has just in the past 10 years, begun to play anything other than football.
I will miss Joe B. Hall because he is not only a good coach, but I feel he is a class act all the way.
But whoever the next man in the fire pit is I will love him, unless he is a "yes" man, because I bleed blue and always will.
Sincerely,
Jack L. Barker Portage, Indiana
Great Hope For Higgs
Dear Sir:
After watching the NCAA tourney, I have come to the conclusion that the UK basketball team next year will be awesome. With Kenny, Richard, Winston, Roger, Eddie, Cedric, James and the new recruits in Irving Thomas and possibly Danny Ferry, the Cats will dominate. Joe Hall has left the new coach with championship material.
It's time for football now and the Cat fans are ready. It's hard to believe what happened to Mark ' ,'the flash
Higgs. He's a great person and one of the best backs in the country. We're really going to miss him. Isn't it weird that the same kind of thing happened to another great UK runner in Sonny Collins and also a leg injury hampered our chances for a possibly NCAA championship when 'slammin' Sam Bowie went down.
Well, let's get going Cats. The fans are always behind the team. Good luck Joe and go Big Blue.
Since Mark 'The Flash' Higgs went down for the year the Cats will need someone to help Mark Logan out. The man for the job is of course Ivy Joe Hunter. He's fabulous. Coach Claiborne should now put him in back at tailback and give him the ball. He and Logan will give the Cats an awesome one-two punch and when Higgs gets back they will be unstoppable..
Sincerely,
Greg Turner Louisville, Ky.
Standing Up For UK
Dear Sir:
As an old alumnus of UK and an.old subscriber to The Cats' Pause, I thought I would try to straighten out something I had read in several recent publications about U of K athletics.
The latest in recently reading The Winning Tradition by Bert Nelli. On page 41 there is a quote from an old basketball player at UK which states "many games in alumni gym where there never was anybody ever sat down from the time they came in the building until they left." "sic"
This sounds interesting but what were they talking about; Were the crowds wildly enthusiastic or did they have no seats? I enrolled at UK in 1919 and graduated in 1934 so I was there and fully understand what was meant. I also never missed a home game.
Alumni Gym seated 3800 people. The east side was the student section and the West side was all other customers. There was no tuition at U of K then, but when you enrolled you paid a 30.00 activity fee. This gave you a book of tickets good for all athletic and social events such as plays and concerts.
I'm not sure of this figure but I believe enrollment at U.K. in 1929 was about 2500 students and probably about 2200 in 1934. When you attended a game a ticket was torn out of your book. There was room on the student side for 1900 bodies. I can assure you that even if a student did not attend a game, perhaps because he went home that weekend, his ticket did. He either sold or loaned it to someone else.
The students would arrive and fill stands first, then the aisles would fill, and finally the aisle between the first row of seats and the court. If you were
seated in the front rows you could not see, so you stood up. This then compelled all behind you to stand up. The end result was that all stood up. I assure you that you get more involved in the game standing than you would seated comfortably.
I attended the last year of John Mauer's regime and the 1st years of Adolph Rupp modern viewers of basketball may read such scores as 29 to 26 and wonder now they could have been interesting. Remember Ashland High School won the national high school tournament in Chicago in 1929 by a score of 16 to 14 over Canton, Illinois. Incidentally Carr Creek took 3rd place in the same tournament in 1929. They had an enrollment of eight boys in high school.
The scoring was so much lower then because after each basket you went back to a center jump. The action between was probably as fast as it is today.
You might wonder why the fire marshall allowed such crowding in a building. We did hear rumors that he was unhappy but he never acted to prevent the crowding.
Sincerely,
Murtel M. Meyer Chico, California
TCP Thanks You
Dear Sir:
The Cats' Pause just gets better and better. You and your folks have done an outstanding job this year in keeping the many Cats' fans informed about the many activities concerning the many UK athletic teams. To say the least, it has been an interesting year.
I want to thank you for publishing a first class new account of the Cats. I look forward to receiving it each week.
I know there are many of us who are going to miss Joe B. He has done an outstanding job of keeping UK basketball "THE CLASS PROGRAM" that all UK fans want. He may not have pleased everyone all the time but he always maintained a program that we could always be proud of.
Again, thank you for an excellent publication.
Sincerely,
John C. Pedley Princeton, Ky.
Need A True Blue Boy
Dear Sir:
It has been a disappointment to me that Cliff Hagan hasn't called for my expert advice on a replacement for Joe B. Hall. Nevertheless here it is.
[Continued On Page 26]