Adolph Rupp

Adolph Friedrich Rupp (born September 2, 1901 in Halstead , Kansas , † December 10, 1977 in Lexington , Kentucky ) was an American basketball coach and under the surname Baron of Bluegrass an important figure in college sports, after which the Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.

As coach of the Kentucky Wildcats , he won 876 games in his 42-year coaching career with a win rate of 82.2% and a total of four NCAA championships , as well as a National Invitation Tournament in 1946. He was four times Coach of the Year . In 1969 Rupp was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame .

life and career

As a child of German and Austrian immigrants of the Mennonite faith, Rupp played basketball with his older brothers in rural Kansas. After the death of his father in 1910, the 1.88 meter tall Rupp developed into a formidable high school player and won the state championship twice. From 1919 to 1923 he played basketball for the University of Kansas under Phog Allen , the father of all basketball coaches and his assistant coach James Naismith , the inventor of the game. After graduating, he worked as a coach and teacher at various high schools, the longest at Freeport High in Illinois. At a time when racial segregation was still required by law in parts of Illinois, he placed the first African-American player on his team.

At the age of 29, he was recommended and accepted as the team coach at the University of Kentucky in 1930 . He relied on speed basketball, discipline and the development of local talent. More than 80% of its players were also born in the state of Kentucky. Rupp's teams won the championship in 1948, 1949, 1951 and 1958.

In the course of the investigation into the point shaving scandal of college basketball of the 1940s and 50s, it was found that not only New York universities were involved in criminal activities, but also foreign universities that had played in Madison Square Garden . This included the University of Kentucky, among others, despite Rupp's loud assertions. Several of his players had accepted bribes and two - with Alex Groza and Ralph Beard, two two-time members of the All-NBA team - had to be fired from their franchises because everyone involved in the scandal was banned for life by the National Basketball Association (NBA). The involvement in the corruption was so serious that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) considered the execution of what is now known as the “death penalty”, ie the ban on competition. Rupp himself was accused of having created the appropriate climate for the corruption of his players through unauthorized payment of his players and the use of unauthorized athletes. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) came before the NCAA by excluding Kentucky from gaming in the 1952/53 season. The NCAA was more powerful then than it is today, with no university willing to play against the Wildcats this season . In the first year after the ban, Rupp had a perfect season , but three of his players were not allowed to play by the NCAA, which is why Kentucky turned down an invitation to the championship tournament.

On the question of racial segregation , Rupp never avoided competing with integration teams and also expressed contempt for those who did so, although he benefited from it several times in the 1950s and 1960s in that he was the regional champion of the Mississippi State University was able to compete as representative of the Southeastern Conference at the NCAA championship tournament because their maroons were prevented from playing against integrated teams by the social pressure of the unwritten law of the Mississippi Closed Society . The University of Kentucky was harshly criticized in parts of the southern states , especially parts of Mississippi, for questioning SEC universities about the possibility of integration in April 1963 and Dr. Frank Dickey, the director of the athletics department, shortly thereafter confirmed the university's wish for athletic integration, albeit much to Rupp's chagrin, as an assistant coach later explained. And although Rupp was the SEC's first coach to recruit African-American players back in 1961, it wasn't until 1970, shortly before his retirement, that Rupp hired the first African-American college player for his team - three years after Perry Wallace von had integrated the SEC from Vanderbilt University and four years after the all-white Wildcats lost the NCAA final to the Texas Western College , which played all with African Americans . Even more so than the 1963 final with four black starters from the Loyola Ramblers against Mississippi State, that game was seen as a symbol of a radical change in college basketball in history. The final between Kentucky and El Paso and its preparation was filmed in 2006 by James Gartner as a game to win (Glory Road) for Disney. Rupp is played by Jon Voight in this film .

After the career

Adolph Rupp died in 1976 of cancer of the spinal cord. He had a son, Adolph Frederick.

The "Halstead Adolph Rupp Invitational Basketball Tournament", which has been held annually in his native town of Halstead since 1970, is dedicated to him. The organizer is Halstead High School. In 2010, the high school basketball team, the Halstead Dragons , won the tournament for the sixth time.

In his honor, the Adolph Rupp Trophy has been awarded annually to the best male college basketball player of the year since 1972.

With her founding class, Rupp was inducted into the 2006 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in the "Coaches" category.

Remarks

↑ The Southeastern Conference was already integrated into baseball two years earlier, in 1965 in Louisiana, by Steve Martin from Tulane University .

Web links

Adolph Rupp in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame On: Hoop Hall website; Springfield, MA, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2017 (in English).
Adolph Rupp in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame On: The College Basketball Experience — Website; Kansas City, MO, 2006-2017. Retrieved October 13, 2017 (in English).

Individual evidence

↑ Howard P. Chudacoff: Changing The Playbook. How Power, Profit, and Politics Transformed College Sports. Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield, 2015: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-08132-3 (pages 12f and 35f, in English).
↑ Bob Carter: Rupp: Baron of the Bluegrass. On: Entertainment and Sports Programming Network website; Burbank, CA, undated. Retrieved November 24, 2018 (in English).
↑ Harry Lancaster after Cawood Ledford: Adolph Rupp as I Knew Him. Lexington, KY, 1977: Lexington Productions (p. 88); quoted from: John Matthew Smith: The Sons of Westwood. John Wooden, UCLA, and the Dynasty that Changed College Basketball. Champaign, IL, 2013: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07973-3 (page 90, in English).
^ Jason A. Peterson: Full Court Press. Mississippi State University, the Press, and the Battle to Integrate College Basketball . Jackson, 2016: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-4968-0820-2 (pages 102f and 175f, in English).

personal data
SURNAME	Rupp, Adolph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Rupp, Adolph Friedrich (full name); Rupp, Adolph Frederick (anglicized name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American basketball coach
DATE OF BIRTH	September 2, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH	Halstead , Kansas
DATE OF DEATH	December 10, 1977
Place of death	Lexington , Kentucky

[5] The Southeastern Conference was already integrated into baseball two years earlier, in 1965 in Louisiana, by Steve Martin from Tulane University .

[1] Howard P. Chudacoff: Changing The Playbook. How Power, Profit, and Politics Transformed College Sports. Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield, 2015: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-08132-3 (pages 12f and 35f, in English).

[2] Bob Carter: Rupp: Baron of the Bluegrass. On: Entertainment and Sports Programming Network website; Burbank, CA, undated. Retrieved November 24, 2018 (in English).

[3] Harry Lancaster after Cawood Ledford: Adolph Rupp as I Knew Him. Lexington, KY, 1977: Lexington Productions (p. 88); quoted from: John Matthew Smith: The Sons of Westwood. John Wooden, UCLA, and the Dynasty that Changed College Basketball. Champaign, IL, 2013: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07973-3 (page 90, in English).

[4] Jason A. Peterson: Full Court Press. Mississippi State University, the Press, and the Battle to Integrate College Basketball . Jackson, 2016: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-4968-0820-2 (pages 102f and 175f, in English).