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LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) – Joe B. Hall, who followed Adolph Rupp and directed for the Kentucky National Championship in 1978, is dead. He was 93.
The program announced Hall’s death in a social media post On Saturday morning, the coach’s family informed Wildcats current coach John Calipar. Hall and Calipari were close, and Hall was often present at Kentucky rehearsals and games. A retired coach sometimes gave a “Y” when cheerleaders typed the name of the state during timeouts.
Calipari, who led Kentucky’s eighth national title in 2012, called Hall “my friend, mentor, and icon in our state and profession.” in a series of tweets. He said he visited the Hall this week and added that the coach shook his hand tightly as Calipar prayed for him.
Hall went 297-100 in 13 years with Kentucky. Born 20 miles north of the Lexington campus in Cynthiana, Ky. A former British player and Rupp’s longtime assistant, he took on the huge task of succeeding his boss in 1972 after Rupp had to retire as he turned 70 years old.
The Wildcats were 20-8 in Hall’s first season, but followed it with a 13-13 campaign, their worst record in 50 years. He eventually directed them back to national status and to the top of college basketball six years later.
Led by Kevin Grevey, Jimmy Dan Conner and Rick Robbey, Kentucky reached the Final Four in 1975, for the first time since 1966. The Wildcats lost the championship 92-85 to UCLA in coach John Wooden’s final match with the Bruins.
Three years later, Hall and Kentucky earned another banner to hang from the roof beams of Rupp Arena, named after a longtime coach and opened in 1976.
The Wildcats won 30-2 and won their first NCAA championship in 20 years. He defeated Duke 94-88 in St. Louis after 41 points for Jack “Goose” Givens. It was Kentucky’s Fifth Championship and first in 20 years. More than 10,000 fans greeted the returning team at Blue Grass Airport.
The program also made it to the Final Four in 1984, losing to Georgetown in the national semi-finals. Hall retired a year later at the age of 57.
Although Rupp’s success was difficult – winning 876 games in 41 years as a Kentucky coach – Hall said it made it possible by following the example of the “Baron of Bluegrass”.
“I fell in love with the Kentucky program before I came here as a student and played under Coach Rupp, I came back and helped him for seven years,” Hall said. Associated Press in 2017. ”I had a spirit that made some players work harder. And I think it made me work harder. “
Hall coached 24 players selected for the NBA, including five first-round selections. He was elected Coach of the Year in 1978 and SEC Coach of the Year four times. Seven of his players earned the All-American honor 11 times.
A spectacle coach dressed in a bright plaid sports jacket on the side is immortalized in a statue outside the players ’dormitory depicting him sitting in a folded chair with a tight grip on the game program.
Hall’s native way and southern appeal were featured for several years on a daily morning radio he hosted with rival and former Louisville coach Denny Crum. Men often discussed their love of fishing, hunting and, of course, basketball. While they advised each other about the intense Bluegrass competition, there was also mutual respect and admiration for each other’s successes and especially the struggles to build their programs.
Hall played for a while at Rupp and the Wildcats in the 1940s before moving to the University of the South. He toured Europe with the Harlem Globetrotters in 1951, returned to the UK and graduated in 1955.
His coaching career began at Shepherdsville High School in 1956. He continued as a coach at Regis College in Denver, reaching 57-50 in five seasons and at Central Missouri State, where he went 19-6 in 1965. Rupp was hired as a coach by Hall. assistant in July of the same year.
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