PAGE 28    THE CATS'  PAUSE, DECEMBER 18, 1976
Recalls The 1966 Rupp's Runts
Dr. V. A. Jackson Begins 12th Year As UK Hoop Team Doctor
For Dr. V.A. Jackson, serving as team physician for the University of Kentucky basketball is, in his words, "the most gratifying thing I've ever experienced because I enjoy working with young people and I'm a basketball fanatic."
Dr. Jackson has been the Wildcats' team doctor for the past 11 years, and has viewed many of UK's greatest basketballers from a unique vantage point.
Last week Dr. Jackson took the time at a Wildcat practice session to share some of his recollections.
"I became the team physician in 1965," said the distinguished-looking doctor. "Coach (Adolph) Rupp and I had been friends for a long time, but I had been living in Clinton, Ky., my home town. When my daughter went away to UK, my wife and I decided to move to Lexington, really because of basketball."
"There wasn't much said about it when I became team physician," Dr. Jackson continued. "On December 5, 1965, (former UK Athletic Director Bernie) Shively called me into his office and said, 'You are now officially the team physician for the University of Kentucky basketball team,' and I've been here ever since."
That year, the Wildcat team known almost universally as "Rupp's Runts" went all the way to NCAA finals before losing to Texas Western.
"The thing I remember most about the '65-66 team was their attitude and their physicial condition. Those guys were in great shape," Dr. Jackson recalled.
The Cats were rated Number One that year, before being upset in the finals at College Park, Maryland. Afterwards, many Kentucky fans blamed the loss on the fact that many of UK's stars were ill.
The man who would know about the health of the players, Dr. Jackson, remembered it this way: "Three of our players were sick against Texas Western. After we beat Duke in the semifinals, Larry Conley's temperature was 101 degrees, and Thad Jaracz had a fever of 100 degrees. They either had the flu or some type of bronchial infection.
"Also after the Duke game, Pat Riley had a foot infection that he'd had since February flare up on him. He couldn't even lace up his street shoe, and he couldn't jump at all during the game."
Summing it up, Dr. Jackson said, "I think, if we would have played Texas Western first, we'd have beaten them but lost to Duke. We just couldn't play two games in a row."
It took nine years, and the famous 92-90 upset win over Indiana in the finals of the Mideast Regional for Kentucky to make a return trip to the NCAA's Final Four. Dr. Jackson recalled that memorable contest, calling it "the most intensely played game I've ever seen. Nobody gave any quarter or asked any quarter and both UK and IU were perfectly coached.
"You know, after Indiana beat us by 24 points early in the year," the doctor went on, "the kids kept telling me they'd beat Indiana if they played them again. I've never seen anybody as ready to play as Mike Flynn was before that one [Flynn was a UK guard from Jeffersonville, Indiana]."
Dr. Jackson viewed that game, as he does all Kentucky road games, from the Wildcats' bench. At home games, he sits directly behind the Kentucky
The first of Kentucky's new football recruits were expected to be announced late Tuesday of this week, but were too late for our publication since we go to press early Tuesday morning.
The Cats' Pause will bring you full details and background on the new recruits in next week's edition.
Head recruiter Dan Leal said Kentucky is very optimistic at this time about Kentucky's harvest in the recruiting field.
Last Saturday was the first day schools in the Southeastern Conference could sign high school seniors to a conference   letter   of   intent. The
bench. "You know the bench is not the best seat in the house," he said, "because if you've got a big player sitting beside you, you can't see around him."
During his tenure as a member of the Cats' official family, Dr. Jackson has had the opportunity to watch two of the most successful college coaches in the nation at work--Adolph Rupp and Joe B. Hall. "I think that Kentucky basketball has been the same pretty much under both Rupp and Hall. Both emphasized the running game and tough defense. However, no two men will coach alike, just as no two men wilL put on their pants alike," Dr. Jackson said.
One of the best things Hall has done, Dr. Jackson asserted, is to institute the rigorous running and conditioning program now used by the
national letter of intent does not go into effect until February.
The SEC letter protects a school from any other school in the SEC signing the player. The SEC also has an agreement* with the Atlantic Coast Conference and some other schools which recognizes the conference letters at this early date.
Kentucky, in its fourth year under coach Fran Curci, rallied to a 7-4 record and a berth in this year's Peach Bowl. It is the best season since the Wildcats went 8-4 in 1951 and won the Cotton Bowl over Texas Christian 20-7.
Cats. The doctor said, "I've always said the best knee brace or ankle brace is to have strong ligaments, and our players have strong ligaments."
Of Rupp, Dr. Jackson maintained, "To begin with, he was a phenomen-onal practical psychiatrist. He knew what to say and when to say it. He also had a knack forjudging good players. Of course, in those days all the good players wanted to come to UK. I remember when they used to have spring tryout camps up here, there would be several other college coaches waiting to take the players Rupp didn't want.
Treating athletes is different from his normal practice, Dr. Jackson alleged. "Athletes are a different breed of dogs," he said. "They're under such physical stress all the time."
The Wildcat's doctor told this story to illustrate his point: "When Kent Hollenbeck was playing here, he sustained a slight break in his foot. Another doctor told him he could go ahead and play on it. I X-rayed it and told him that he could walk on it all right, but he couldn't play basketball on it. I advised him to sit out the season and be redshirted.
"He played on it and broke it all the way the next game, and out for the year."
Considering the roughhouse type of ball played by the Wildcats, one might expect UK to sustain a lot of serious injuries. Not so, said Dr. Jackson. "Most of our injuries are sprained ankles. We've only had two knee injuries in the 11 years I've been here--G.J. Smith's and Rick Robey last year. Maybe it's because we have such rough practices and the games seem easier than practice to the players."
The 65-year-old Dr. Jackson declined to pick an all-time favorite UK player, but he did call the current group of Wildcats, along with the 1966 national runners-up, "Outstanding in a lot of ways, because they both did so much more than was expected."
On the present Wildcat roster, Dr. Jackson said, "It would be hard to pick a favorite. They're all favorites. I wouldn't follow a team around if I didn't like the kids on it.
"There haven't been any tramps on a Kentucky team since I've been here," the physician stated. "They've all been good kids. You know, you get so darn close to these kids, you can't help feeling like they're yours."
Dr. Jackson also offered his bottom-line appraisal of the basketball program at UK. "It's the greatest there is," he said.
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