COACH HALL
returned to UK July 1, 1965, as an assistant to his former coach, Adolph Rupp.
During Hall's two years at Shepherdsville, the Rams won a Mid-Kentucky conference titel and he was named "Coach of the Year" in 1958. He then served one year as freshman coach and five years as head basketball coach at Regis College in Denver, Colo., where he was also athletic director and earned special recognition as coach of the champion independent team in the area.
His next move was to Central Missouri, where he coached the Mules (19-6) to their first MIAA Conference championship since 1951 and their first Christmas Tournament title in history. He was named MIAA "Coach of the Year" (1964-65).
A three-letter winner and team captain in both sports in high school at Cynthiana, Ky., he played freshman basketball and one year of varsity basketball in the "Fabulous Five" era at the University before transferring to the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn., where he set a school single game scoring record and was team captain. Coach Lon Varnell, upon retirement, rated Hall as No. 1 of the three best players he ever coached.
After touring Europe with the Globetrotters in 1951, Hall returned to UK in 1955 to complete requirements for his B.A. and later (1964) received his M.A. at Colorado State University.
Returning to UK again in 1965 as an assistant coach and head recruiter, he was instrumental in adopting a running
conditioning program which obviously paid huge dividends as the Wildcats capitalized on speed and endurance to offset a lack of size and advance to the championship game of the NCAA Finals. Hall then successfully recruited six prep Ail-Americans, including all-time UK scoring leader Dan Issel, to form the nucleus of a varsity team that won three straight conference championships and was followed by a team that won three more consecutive SEC titles.
Hall became No. 1 varsity assistant and head freshman coach to Rupp after Harry C. Lancaster was named permanent athletic director Feb. 1, 1969. His record with the freshmen was 60-15, including an undefeated (22-0) season (1971-72) which resulted in the Kittens being crowned National Freshman Champions by the Basketball News.
International Flavor
Hall's basketball renown has attracted world-wide attention in international circles and has catapulted him into a much sought-after clinician and guest speaker. In 1983 he conducted clinics in Spain at the FIBA Junior World Championships. In 1982, during the Wildcats' tour of the Orient, he conducted clinics in Japan, the Republic of China and in Hong Kong.
In the summer of 1981, Hall conducted clinics in Ireland. In 1980, Hall conducted a clinic in Santiago, Chile, as a guest of the Chilean Basketball Federation. More than 400 coaches from throughout South America attended the clinic.
Hall considers one of his major coaching honors came when he was named guest lecturer for the World Basketball Coaches Congress in the Canary Islands, July 1977, before some 400 coaches from the international set.
In 1978, Hall coached the United States All-Stars, a group of collegians that included five of his own players, to the first World Invitational Tournament championship with wins over Cuba, Yugoslavia and Russia. Later that summer, he conducted a series of clinics in England, Belgium, Holland, Yugoslavia, Greece and Israel.
Hall was a busy man in off-season 1979 as well, coaching the victorious East team in the East-West College All-Star game at Salt Lake City, and the Southeastern All-Stars in the Shoney Classic at Charlotte, N.C, and conducting clinics in Warsaw, Copenhagen and London.
He was a member of the 1975 Olympic Basketball Committee, and in 1972 served under Hank Iba in the Olympic Trials at the Air Force Academy. He is currently on the ABAUSA player selection committee for all international competition.
He is married to the former Katharine Dennis of Harrison County, Ky. They have three children  Mrs. Mike (Kathy) Summers of College Station, Texas; Mrs. Rick (Judy) Derrickson and Steve of Lexington.
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