[C.Clair]

Good interesting read about Coach Wooden, Sam Gilbert and UCLA.

http://silkroadsandsiamesesmiles.com/200...-articles/

[dangerousdaneerfan]

Wooden had more class in his pinkie finger than Adoph Rupp had in his entire racist body.

[Poseidon]

Wooden had more class in his pinkie finger than Adoph Rupp had in his entire racist body.

http://www.basketballforum.com/southeast...acist.html
http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/rupp.html
http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/ruppmyt...frame.html
http://www.interbasket.net/news/4546/200...ps-racism/
http://www.hoopszone.net/Kentucky/Dark%20Side.htm
http://hoopedia.nba.com/index.php?title=Adolph_Rupp

[Wildcatk23]

Darn Adolph Rupp was racist. , SO sad, lol, times have changed guys.

[Stardust]

I'd say that Wooden was the "Greatest Recruiter" of all time. If you look at the type of athletes and where they came from, Rupp undoubtedly got more out of his players than did Wooden. Wooden certainly was more open to recruiting a diverse background of athletes, and was truly the first "National" recruiter of the college game. When you look at what Rupp did, he recruited from a much smaller region. I'd say that hurt him as much as anything, but if you look at what he accomplished with such a smaller base of where players came from, you have to give him the thumbs up for what he accomplished.

Wooden is the father of the current style of Basketball. When his college teams were dominating, they played the uptempo fast break basketball. They truly were the "Showtime" of basketball, long before Showtime became vogue. It's easy to see how his style changed basketball to what it is today. During the 60's, when he was running the shoes off of other teams, the Boston Celtics were dominating the Pro game. The Celtics played a methodical, defensive game that still centered around a halfcourt game and set-shots. Once Wooden's players got to the NBA, the NBA began to change. I'd give more credit to Wooden for being able to see where the game would eventually progress to, but if you look at his recruiting of the best players from around the nation, it was obviously easier for him to create "Better" teams than Rupp and his limited player base.

They were both great for their own reasons, and probably not fare to compare them.

I won't get into the Race debate. I'll leave that to the rest of you!

[Benchwarmer]

[quote=dangerousdaneerfan]Wooden had more class in his pinkie finger than Adoph Rupp had in his entire racist body.[/QUOTE]

Bunch of bull crap.

[Poseidon]

Darn Adolph Rupp was racist. , SO sad, lol, times have changed guys.

I agree. You see as much if not more counter racism these days.

[Poseidon]

I agree. You see as much if not more counter racism these days.

There are people of all colors that act ignorant. They have different names, but no one race is immune from stupidity.

[ballcrazy]

There are people of all colors that act ignorant. They have different names, but no one race is immune from stupidity.

Great post.:1:

[Stardust]

I agree. You see as much if not more counter racism these days.

I guess only where you live

[Benchwarmer]

Why couldn't it have been Duke instead of Kentucky in 1966

[dangerousdaneerfan]

I never, EVER, seen a Sports Illustrated front cover titled "UCLA's Shame."

[Benchwarmer]

I never, EVER, seen a Sports Illustrated front cover titled "UCLA's Shame."

Should have with Wooden.

[Stardust]

I never, EVER, seen a Sports Illustrated front cover titled "UCLA's Shame."

Very true. :Thumbs:

[Wildcatk23]

I never, EVER, seen a Sports Illustrated front cover titled "UCLA's Shame."

Everyone with a brain knows that woodens players was payed to play.

[Stardust]

Everyone with a brain knows that woodens players was payed to play.

Really? That's the first I have ever heard that!

[Benchwarmer]

Everyone with a brain knows that woodens players was payed to play.

Here you go.http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/...gacy040206
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...544AA3Y1D4

[Stardust]

Everyone with a brain knows that woodens players was payed to play.

Just like Calipari, Wooden knew nothing of it.... Wooden would be no more culpable than Calipari:popcorn:

[Benchwarmer]

Everyone with a brain knows that woodens players was payed to play.

Even Wooden himself new.

Quote
"Moreover, in a striking 2004 interview with Basketball Times, Wooden described confronting players Sidney Wicks and Curtis Rowe in 1969 about expensive new clothes he suspected Gilbert had purchased. "Did you get this from Sam Gilbert," he asked. "I don't like this."

[letthebighogroot]

I never, EVER, seen a Sports Illustrated front cover titled "UCLA's Shame."

Two reasons you've never seen that.... Number one, nobody cares about UCLA basketball....... Didn't before Sam Gilbert, and really haven't since.. Number 2, Wooden was the coach K of the day..... the NCAA's "good guy". Elite programs, once obtaining elite status generally stay there. UK, Kansas, UNC, Duke, and Indiana (although still recovering). Regardless of your opinion of Wooden, and he very well may have known nothing about it. But his titles were tainted. Notice that however once he retired UCLA was placed on probation shortly thereafter.

[Truth]

Those who would call The Baron a racist demonstrate a complete ignorance of the facts. Kentucky played in the SEC. During nearly all of his tenure as coach at Kentucky, it would have been foolhardy and dangerous to take a black player on the road to play in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, etc. Like it or not, that is just the absolute truth.

Rupp was an arrogant egotist, to be sure. He said what he thought whether it was liked or not. Unlike too many today, he did not suffer from political correctness. He was disliked by most sportswriters around the basketball world. He didn't play "kissy butt" with the "powers that be". He was enormously successful. Thus, he was a convenient target for those who either were less successful (and that includes everyone in college basketball at that time) or jealous of Kentucky's success.

Rupp was no more a racist than was the "adored" Dean Smith or most all of the others coaching south of Pennsylvania at that time in our history.

Rupp lived in a different time. You cannot use the ridiculous politically correct rules of 2010 to judge those who lived and coached in the world of the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s.

Coach Rupp was and is a legend. Was he the greatest coach of all time? That is open to argument. After all, Wooden was much more congenial. Still, Rupp was clearly one of the two or three most influential coaches of all time. No Kentuckian, particularly those who follow Kentucky basketball, should ever believe otherwise. After all, there are reasons why it is called Rupp Arena.

One other fact is for sure. Coach Rupp wouldn't put up with the crap from some of the prima donna players that coaches put up with today. Coaching needs a few more Coach Rupps. America needs a lot more Coach Rupps.

Only an uninformed fool would cast a shadow on the monumentally positive results for Kentucky basketball and the sport of basketball which resulted from the life of The Baron.