Why you're a UK fan
- Thread starter UKWildcats3
- Start date
I'm 53 and my family is from Eastern Kentucky. Kyle Macy was the first player I remembered and idolized. When I grew up I had to wipe my hands on my socks then shoot my free throws like Macy did.
Born and raised a Cats fan. Dad had season tickets to football since the 70’s. Started going to games with him during the Bill Curry era. I remember going to exhibition basketball games against those pesky Ruskies in the mid 80’s.
Favorite Cats to this day are Tayshaun, Chuck, Magloire, and Boogie in basketball.
In football, they gotta be Cobb, JLo, Yeast, Josh Allen, and Benny.
GIVE IT TO BENNY!!!
Favorite Cats to this day are Tayshaun, Chuck, Magloire, and Boogie in basketball.
In football, they gotta be Cobb, JLo, Yeast, Josh Allen, and Benny.
GIVE IT TO BENNY!!!
My ex stepfather did the PA announcing for 20+ years. He married my mom in 1969 and I was nine so we had great seats. My first year was Dan Issel's sr year. Saw him face off with Pistol Pete. Really liked Larry Steele on that team
!st fav was Wah Wah (nick named my younger brother Wah Wah) it stuck with him for years
Frank Ramsey
Johnny Cox still my all time favorite, vernon Hatton
Cotton Nash (watched him play as a soph in Jeffersonville In
Little Louie & Pat Riley
Macy, Goose
Hell, they're all my favorites, all the way up to Shep & Dilly
GBB
Frank Ramsey
Johnny Cox still my all time favorite, vernon Hatton
Cotton Nash (watched him play as a soph in Jeffersonville In
Little Louie & Pat Riley
Macy, Goose
Hell, they're all my favorites, all the way up to Shep & Dilly
GBB
Johnny Cox was my favorite, but I recall the Cliff Hagan teams as a small child. I recall sitting around a coal stove with the adults listening to the games on the radio. We had to be quiet or we were ushered out. A little bit like a church service.
I love the fact you can say on this board ‘ 00 ‘ and there is no name needed! This is the stuff that makes Kentucky special!
I'm 64 and we would get an occasional game on TV that wasn't tape delayed. My first real experience was when I watched the 75 Kentucky team knock off the undefeated Hoosiers in the NCAA tournament. I remember reading about Joe B. Hall getting smacked in the back of the head by Bobby Knight with a rolled up program and it made me mad.
Joe B. got the last laugh that year though and should've won it all, but for the cheaters at UCLA.
Joe B. got the last laugh that year though and should've won it all, but for the cheaters at UCLA.
Yeah for a couple of games. I think I remember from way back then that when he heard that the University of Kentucky first reached out to recruit Art Still and Derrick Ramsey I think Derrick Ramsey's first thought was that Kentucky might be reaching out to recruit him for basketball rather than football.
Born into it lol. Great-grandma, grandma, and dad were all fans. My grandfather on my dad's side didn't care for any sports. He considered them a waste of time. When my dad and grandma would hoot and holler during games He'd say ''theres' no damn sense in getting that tore up about a damn game''. Lol, he just wasn't born into it.
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Had my grandfather not moved up here to work in a mill. I would have been a vol fan. Scary thought.
32 and born into loving Kentucky.
Wayne Turner was the 1st player I ever latched onto as a 8 year old (98-99) season. Remember also going to see him play with the Cincinnati Stuff.
Gerald Fitch and Patrick Sparks were two of my other favorites. Also took a liking to Rondo, Cliff Hawkings, Jodie Meeks, Joe Crawford... and for the Cal era to keep it short John Wall and Cousins.
Wayne Turner was the 1st player I ever latched onto as a 8 year old (98-99) season. Remember also going to see him play with the Cincinnati Stuff.
Gerald Fitch and Patrick Sparks were two of my other favorites. Also took a liking to Rondo, Cliff Hawkings, Jodie Meeks, Joe Crawford... and for the Cal era to keep it short John Wall and Cousins.
Because my dad is.
Some of best memories I have are Kentucky games with him and sometimes my uncle.
He grew up in Danville.
Some of best memories I have are Kentucky games with him and sometimes my uncle.
He grew up in Danville.
I forgot to mention, my first player I really took notice of and liked was Kenny Walker.
That's too cool.
That's when the word tradition meant "Ky. Proud"!
I'm 63 and was born into it- for those who never saw Kenny Walker play at UK, he was as good as anyone was IMO
I'm 56. Started watching in 82. My uncle was an Indiana alum so I started rooting for uk to argue with him.
Favorite players: Winston Bennett and Kenny Walker
Favorite players: Winston Bennett and Kenny Walker
My dad raised me to be one. My older sister cheered for Kentucky and I was able to get tickets to numerous UK basketball games and football games through that. The rest is history.
Funny story
When my older son was in middle school he was coming home from school..it had been snowing and roads were a little dicey. B’s bus slid off the road a little and got stuck. Older guy comes out of his house and helps the driver get back on the road. When B got home he told me what happened, then said the bus driver told him the guy was a basketball player for UK. Of course I got all excited and asked if he got the name..B said Louie something. Well the only Louie I knew was Louie Dampier, so I asked if that was the name. Sure enough that’s who it was and that’s how I found out he lived right down the road
55 and the easy answer would be Kyle Macy but I'd say it's a toss up between him and Dirk Minniefield
Asking why I am a UK fan is like asking, why do you breathe, why do you go to church, why do you get up every day. Some things just do not need explanation.
Kevin Grevey was one of my first favorite players, I was 10 in 75. I fell in love with UK way before that but not really one guy from 69 to 75 (remember Issel, Casey, Pratt and Steel) but was just too young to remember a favorite. Best guess would have been Big Dan or Mike P. Was friends with Mel Turpin and Leroy Byrd III.
Non UK favorite players (Yes am college basketball fan as well as UK fan). Barkley (but loved when we made him cry), Hi C Carter, Rob Evans, Pistol Pete, Rudy Macklin, Bernie King, Robert Horry. Just to name a few (of course did not cheer for them when they played UK).
Kevin Grevey was one of my first favorite players, I was 10 in 75. I fell in love with UK way before that but not really one guy from 69 to 75 (remember Issel, Casey, Pratt and Steel) but was just too young to remember a favorite. Best guess would have been Big Dan or Mike P. Was friends with Mel Turpin and Leroy Byrd III.
Non UK favorite players (Yes am college basketball fan as well as UK fan). Barkley (but loved when we made him cry), Hi C Carter, Rob Evans, Pistol Pete, Rudy Macklin, Bernie King, Robert Horry. Just to name a few (of course did not cheer for them when they played UK).
55 year old veteran & former Hopkins Co. native...too many favorites to list, but if I had to choose one, it would be the Monster Mash. Until then, I had never seen a player his size that versatile suit up for Kentucky
The '75 team that defeated IU in the Mideast regional final was probably when I fell in love with the Cats.
The '75 team that defeated IU in the Mideast regional final was probably when I fell in love with the Cats.
For you to ask that question means you know the answer.
It's so hard for me to pick a favorite player. I just turned 60 in March, so I've been a die hard for a long time. I was born into being a Kentucky fan, even though I was born in Louisville and we lived there until I was 6. There was never any thought of being anything other than a Kentucky fan. We used to listen to Cawood on the radio and it was a bonus if we could watch the games on television, but I have always bled blue and that won't ever change. I remember shooting around on our goal and pretending to be Jay Shidler (the blonde bomber), Kyle Macy and many others. I love my Cats and it really feels like we're on the way back to being Kentucky again! GO BIG BLUE!!
I’m 49. God saw to it to make me a Cat at birth. My dad and me, living Kentucky basketball. Used to write Turpin and Davender on my white t-shirts. I hit a lot of game winners on the milk crate nailed to the tree in the trailer park. Poor but happy.
54, grew up in KY (south of Bowling Green) so almost all of our tv/radio came from Nashville TN. My older brother watched/listened to the Cats in the late 70's & early 80's. But I only cared about baseball (& was starting to follow the Steelers in football). Then in early 80's I too started following the Cats, starting Kenny Walker's FR year. By the next year I either listened to or watched EVERY UK game, AND kept Stats for every game for about the next 8 years until I went to Grad school at UK (& could start going to games). I went to 2 UK games while in undergrad at WKU, my first was WKU vs UK at Freedom Hall; and my 2nd was LSU at UK my SR year where 6'7 Hanson & company beat the 7'1 Shaq (& Chris Jackson) team.
Once I was at the regional FBLA meeting in a Math competition, and as they were announcing the winners UK was playing Florida so I had my walkman listening to the game in auditorium of a few hundred, when they announced I had gotten 2nd place at the competition, so someone tapped me on the shoulder to tell me I had placed and to go up and pickup my trophy or whatever. All I knew/cared was that I wasn't missing the game. I then went to the state FBLA convention and got 3rd place which was pretty cool just being a Soph (no UK game conflict for that one).
Favorite players (can't just name one). Early in my fandom it was Kenny Walker. Then my 2 years at UK were Mashburn's last 2 years there. So those 2 are special to me. The other 2 that come close are Chuck Hayes, and Tyler Ulis.
Once I was at the regional FBLA meeting in a Math competition, and as they were announcing the winners UK was playing Florida so I had my walkman listening to the game in auditorium of a few hundred, when they announced I had gotten 2nd place at the competition, so someone tapped me on the shoulder to tell me I had placed and to go up and pickup my trophy or whatever. All I knew/cared was that I wasn't missing the game. I then went to the state FBLA convention and got 3rd place which was pretty cool just being a Soph (no UK game conflict for that one).
Favorite players (can't just name one). Early in my fandom it was Kenny Walker. Then my 2 years at UK were Mashburn's last 2 years there. So those 2 are special to me. The other 2 that come close are Chuck Hayes, and Tyler Ulis.