ADOLPH FREDERICK RUPP
"World's Winningest Collegiate Basketball Coach" 41 Years  Won 858, Lost 183  82.4%
In the storied land of Kentucky Colonels, there dwells but one Baron, a man of consummate pride and a molder of powerful teams which for more than four decades have made the name of the University of Kentucky synonymous with the game of basketball.
He is Adolph Frederick Rupp, who was born Sept. 2, 1901, at Halstead, Kansas, where at a tender age he picked up a homemade basketball and shot it through a barrel hoop nailed to a barn door.
From that moment to the present, Adolph Rupp has been associated with basketball, progressing through a starring role as Halstead High School's top scorer and unofficial coach for two years, and playing on two national collegiate championship teams at the University of Kansas.
As a Jayhawk, Rupp was tutored by the famous Dr. Forrest C. (Phog) Allen, "father" of basketball coaching, and was a student under Dr. James A. Naismith, who invented the game at Springfield, Mass., and later served as coach and physical education instructor at Kansas.
During long conversations with Naismith and personal contact with the coaching techniques of Allen, Rupp picked up much of the basketball philosophy that was to carry him to great heights. However, the young farm lad from Halstead had no idea of entering the field of sport in any capacity when he received his degree in business and started beating the streets of Wichita and Topeka. He discovered quickly during that period immediately before the depression that jobs were scarce, especially in the banking business.
Returning to K.U., Rupp got back his job at the Jayhawk Cafe, where he had worked throughout his undergraduate years. He worked on an advance degree, and served as an assistant instructor.
When he heard of an opening at Burr Oak, Kansas, he applied and got the job of history teacher and coach of all sports. One of his first discoveries was that there was no place to play basketball; the only facility available was a renovated old barn that had been made into a skating rink. Basketball was played only when there was no skating scheduled. Rupp got his fill of that situation quickly and eagerly accepted a position as instructor and head coach at Marshalltown High School in Iowa. Once again, disappointment greeted the eager young coach; he had been hired to coach wrestling, not basketball, as he had been led to believe.
Totally unfamiliar with the sport, he purchased a book on wrestling and coached his team to the state championship.
Rupp moved the following year to Freeport, III., where he compiled a 67-16 won-lost record, and won two district championships, one sectional title and a third-place finish among 756 teams in the state.
He also developed nine all-conference players as members of the "Big 7" loop; produced the high scorer in the league three times and a second-place scorer once.
During the four summers of his tenure at Freeport, he attended Columbia University in New York City, receiving his degree of Master of Arts and the Teacher's College diploma Jan. 17, 1930. Rupp, teaching five classes in U.S. and world history at the time, was ready to embark on an administrative career in education.
When John Mauer decided to leave Kentucky and accept the head coaching job at Miami of Ohio, Rupp indicated an interest and was recommended by Craig Ruby, head coach at Missouri.
Rupp, appointed coach in May 1930, was chosen over approximately 70 other applicants for the job. One of his first moves after arriving on the campus for the fall semester was to call Carey Spicer, team captain, and tell him of the wide-open, controlled fast-break offense and man-to-man defense the Wildcats would use. Spicer and the other returning Wildcats, accustomed to the slowdown, deliberate style of
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