Oscar L. Combs
[Continued From Page 3]
visitors' locker room to celebrate like never before.
Jerry, you're right. There's nothing like ole-fashioned hard work, high morals and complete honesty. Good guys don't always lose.
One cannot help but remember that December afternoon almost three years ago when Jerry Claiborne was introduced to the media high atop the administration building on the UK campus.
The smurks were frequent and many. Kentucky had just disposed of another football coach who had been unable to provide a sustained success. The title of "graveyard of football coaches" could not be labeled unfounded.
The University had turned to a man who had tried often to get the job of coaching his alma mater. Twice before Jerry had been denied the opportunity. Perhaps his aggressiveness to get the job stood in his path.
The latest coach to be turned out to pasture had enjoyed the most success of any Wildcat mentor since the Bear Bryant days in early 1950s. But his players went astray off the field and losing seasons followed.
During the 1981 search period, those close to the program hinted that the character of the new coach might be more important than the quality of his  coaching  abilities.   When word
leaked out that Claiborne was finally going to be given his life-long dream -of coaching UK - hisses flowed across the state.
Many insisted UK was finally admitting that it was relegating football to second class status. After all, why would UK hire a man who was over fifty, considered out-of-step with the younger generation, employs a dull offense and really hadn't been a big-time success?
Those same people failed to admit Claiborne went to bowl games seven of his last nine years.
Still, the non-believers outnumbered the believers probably 5-1. One veteran writer remarked just moments before Claiborne was introduced to the athletics board, "this is unbelievable. Can you believe this, Kentucky hiring a man who can't even beat Vanderbilt? They don't want football around here. This is ridiculous."
The reference was to Maryland's loss to Vanderbilt earlier that season.
Few changed their mind over the next twelve months. An 0-10-1 year served to swell the egos of those who insisted Claiborne would last no more than three years at Kentucky.
But there were changes, some moie noticable than others. Like the opening game of the season in Manhattan, Kansas, where UK tangled with Kansas State.
Bob Watkins
[Continued From Page 10]
Comment: Western has signed two guards for next season  6-1, 175-pound Keith Lickliter from Indianapolis and 6-3V2, 180-pound Brett McNeal of Minneapolis, Minn. Prep roundball
Fort Knox High School boys varsity basketball coach Lee Bishop is one of the characters in a touching article in the Nov. 19 issue of Sports Illustrated. Written by Frank Deford, the story is a poignant account of a pretty special family in Pineville, Ky. The Bishops, Fred and Inez and their children. The story's central character is Lee's younger brother Eddie who was a star high school athlete who went on to graduate from Morehead State University and then returned home to become head football coach at his alma mater Pineville High. After two losing seasons Eddie came under fire from school administrators and community officials and committed suicide.
Deford, as he always does, handles the delicate account of heroes and winning and losing and family with care. In the Bishop story he also tells us what severe damage community criticism can do to a person (coach) and a family as well.
Like his brothers Lee and Freddie (lettered at UK in 1973 and '74) and the rest of the Bishop family, Eddie was a special person and we can learn something from their story. Deford's story ought to be required reading for every sports fan, particular athletic booster club members.
Parting shots
 From his "Lists" in Basketball Times, publisher Larry Donald on "Arenas where the marquee doesn't light up anymore and that's a shame  Manley Fieldhouse (Syracuse), Convention Center (UNLV) and Memorial Coliseum (Lexington).
Comment: Amen to the last of these. There can be no more hallowed place in college basketball than the House That Rupp Built.
 Former Louisville and Indiana football coach Lee Corso was asked recently why he is giving up his job at Northern Illinois to take over the USFL Orlando Renegades. "I promised my wife 27 years ago that I would take her to Florida," he replied.
 Cheers for Dale Brown.
From LSU's Tiger Rag, that university's basketball coach has "demoted" starters 6-1 Derrick Taylor, 6-6 Jerry Reynolds and 6-10 Damon Vance to the bottom of the roster.
Reynolds, Taylor and Vance are now our 12th, 13th and 14th men," Brown said. "They won't be starters until they make the commitment academically that we deem are necessary for their success. Their playing time will be commensurate with the minutes of the last three players on the team."
Brown said the three "have proven themselves as intelligent, but the y are apathetic toward their school work."
And so it goes.B
One of Claiborne's first directives called for players to wear coat and ties on road trips. True to the master's orders, players showed up with coat and ties. Some weren't so neatly dressed, but they had to be forgiven.
Worley Kicks
After all, dress code had not been a part of their vocabulary in the past.
Claiborne often preached you cannot expect respect if you don't respect yourself. His power of positive thinking began to rub off on the players off the field, if not on the grid-iron.
And he built for the future. There was probably a game or two he might have won had he decided not to red-shirt players his first year. It was clear at the very beginning that Jerry Claiborne was returning home to build UK into a respectable power over the long haul. There would be no hit-and-run approach with his alma mater. His second record astonished everyone with a 6-4-1 mark and a berth in the Hall of Fame Bowl where the Wildcats came within one play of upsetting West Virginia. The Cats lost, 20-16.
Then this season. The Cats picked up right where they left off. During the preseason, Wildcat assistant coaches confided that 1985 would be the real test for UK, but hinted the Cats could possibly win seven games in 1984 if everything went well and there were no injuries.
Injuries mounted. People like Larry and Jeff Smith went out. Dermonti Dawson and Joe Prince went out. Tony Czack missed most of the season, but he Cats fought and scratched right to he end. They gave Florida the scare of heir life and did what most everyone
else failed to do in the last half of the season and that was to make the Gators work for their victory.
Then the season-ending upset win over arch-rival Tennessee. The Vols had been blowing everyone out of the stadium in recent weeks after bouncing back to upend Alabama.
Not a bad job for a fellow over the hill.
And what does UK president Otis Singletary have to say to those people who thought UK was hiring a man who was over-the-hill, and out-of-touch with today's game?
"For a fellow who's not very exciting, I'd say he (Claiborne) has put them on their ear, wouldn't you?" answered Dr. Singletary in the jubilant locker room Saturday.
"They've played against tremendous odds, against teams with far more talent than they have," said the UK president with a grin, "they're a scrappy bunch and they've got it all together.
Added Singletary, "the Wild Blue will be in Birmingham."
Perhaps the finest footnote to this Cinderella season came in the form of a sports release from the Southeastern Conference in Birmingham.
It's the time of the year when schools and conferences around the nation boast of the academic achievements as well as the on-the-field honors for student-athletes.
For years, Vanderbilt (with its high academic requirements) has ranked at the top in academic honors so it was no surprise that Vanderbilt had the second largest number of academic All-SEC football players when the announcement was made. The Commodores placed seven on the squad.
First was Kentucky, yes K-E-N-T-U-C-K-Y, with eight players chosen. After all, isn't that what the game's all about. And a fella by the name of Jerry Claiborne proved you can go 8-3 with a group of TRUE student-athletes.
One last question, or perhaps suggestion for President Otis Singletary. Prez, isn't it about time for contract negotiations to make sure Jerry Claiborne stays around longer than his initial five-year contract?
And you know, prez, there has been some inflation around here.
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