CLIFFORD O. HAGAN Athletics Director
The story of Cliff Hagan's reign as chief of the UK Athletics Department has been one of fine attendance at the two big revenue-producing sports, increased attendance in Lady Kat basketball and men's baseball, and a steady upgrading of facilities.
The most recent physical improvements include a new baseball grandstand behind home plate, new lockers in the football dressing rooms and construction of a new equipment shed for track, all at Shively Sports Center.
On the institutional side of the ledger, the University will be host to the SEC Basketball Tournament in March of next year and the NCAA Championship Finals in 1985, along with renewal of the UK Relays during the past spring.
Hagan, who has seen and overseen vast improvements in all phases of the UK athletics program since returning to his alma mater as assistant athletics director in 1972, has under his command a total of 20 sports ranging from football and men's basketball in Level I, to women's basketball in Level II, and a baker's dozen sports in Level III.
A few of the recent improvements that signify the continuing progress of UK athletics under Hagan include;
 Expansion of the football training room and addition of a beautiful players' lounge at Shively Sports Center.
 New carpeting in the stadium football offices.
 New food service equipment in the press box at Commonwealth Stadium.
 New basketball offices in Memorial Coliseum for both the men and women.
 Re-arrangement of the baseball fences and a complete revamping of the track facilities at Shively Sports Center.
The indoctrination of Hagan into the UK athletics administrative structure came in 1972, when he was named assistant to Harry C. Lancaster and given the task of implementing the Blue & White Fund for 57,600-seat Commonwealth Stadium and later for Rupp Arena. The fruits of his labors in this area have provided the additional financial support that has elevated the UK athletics program into a first class operation.
Hagan replaced Lancaster as athletics director in July, 1975; during the enusing school year, Wildcat teams compiled one of the best records in the school's history, with the basketball Wildcats winning the National Invitational Tournament, the wrestling and rifle teams winning SEC titles and the baseball team winning the SEC Eastern Division.
The wrestling team repeated as conference
champion the following year, the basketball team finished with a 26-4 record and the football team won seven of 11 regular season games and defeated North Carolina in the Peach Bowl. It was the best UK football record in 23 years and the Wildcats' first post-season appearance since the 1952 Cotton Bowl. During the past year, the football team finished 10-1 (6-0 in the Southeastern Conference) and the basketball team won the NCAA championship.
With both the football and basketball teams playing to sellout crowds and drawing a big on-the-road following, Hagan has not been content, but has made Wildcat games even more enjoyable by personally designing and selecting the Wildcat Mascot, which has captured the fancy of UK fans everywhere, and by granting permission for publication of "The Cats' Pause," a unique weekly tabloid devoted strictly to UK sports.
Physical improvements during Hagan's regime as athletics director include a 110-yard Astro-Turf football practice field, modern equipment in both the Shively Sports Center and Memorial Coliseum weight rooms, open-type lockers, a new pressbox and new dugouts at the baseball field, and a revamped tennis complex with additional seating and modernized offices. He has also added a strength coach to work with all sports and funds for the popular Parcourse Fitness Trail.
Office in Memorial Coliseum have been modernized and Hagan is looking forward to the day when he can put on the drawing board an Olympic swimming pool, and plans for the expansion of Commonwealth Stadium.
Hagan also has been an advocate of a strong scholar-athlete program, feeling "a genuine commitment to provide all the academic support and encouragement we can to help our athletes leave our campus with a college education and a degree."
On the personal side, Hagan received one of his highest individual honors three years ago when he became the first University of Kentucky basketball player to be installed in the Naismith Memorial National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
The road to that honor began at Owensboro, Kentucky, where he established a then state high school tournament record of 41 points, which was recently voted the greatest individual performance by anyone in the history of that tournament, in leading the Red Devils to victory over Lafayette in the 1949 championship game.
At UK, he played on teams that won 86 of 91 games and an NCAA championship (1951). The 1954 team, undefeated in 25 games, elected not to participate in the national tournament.
Hagan set a dozen Southeastern Conference records and an NCAA record of 528 rebounds as a junior. He averaged 24 points a game, led the nation in rebounding, and scored a UK record of 51 points against Temple in 1954.
He was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity, Student Government, Baptist Student Union, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and twice was selected among the top ten students in the College of Education.
After graduating from UK in 1954, Hagan served two years at Andrews Air Force Base, Washington, D.C., as a commissioned officer. He led the base to two World Wide Air Force championships and won All-Service honors both years.
During ten years with the St. Louis Hawks, he ranked high among 11 players on the league scoring charts with 12,433 points in 672 games for an 18.5 mark and was selected to play in five East-West All-Star games and was named to the NBA second All-League team twice. He hit over .790 from the free throw line seven years in a row and held the NBA record for most field goals scored in a single quarter (12).
The Hawks won the Western Division six times during Hagan's playing career there and defeated the Boston Celtics in 1958 for the world championship. Hagan was All-Pro in the NBA in 1957-62, inclusive.
He received his M.S. in education from Washington University in 1958.
In 1965, a Herbert Hoover Boys Club of America was organized in Owensboro and named the Cliff Hagan Boys Club of America.
He then joined the Dallas Chapparals as player-coach and was selected as the 1958 Texas Professional Coach of the Year. When he left Dallas, he was only 92 points shy of a regular-season career total of 15,000 points.
In 1974, he was named to the Hall of Fame Magazine's All-America second-team for the 1951-1973 period, to the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel Star's All-Time Southeastern Conference first team, and the All-Time top collegiate player in the State of Kentucky by Inside Kentucky Sports Magazine. In 1975, he was named to the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame, was inducted into the UK Alumni Association Hall of Distinguished Alumni and was a recipient of the University of Kentucky Centennial "K" Medallion tendered by the UKAA for past athletic accomplishments, during UK's Centennial Year observance.
He is married to the former Martha Milton of Owensboro. They have four children: Mrs. Barry "Lisa" Thaxton of Lexington, Mrs. Jim "Laurie" Hill of West Liberty, and Amy and Kip, both of Lexington.
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