By LARRY VAUGHT
Vaughtsviews.com reader Steve Moody has asked me a question that I can’t honestly answer, so I need your help. Here goes what Moody sent me:
“Are you familiar with a second album that Coach Rupp did with Cawood Ledford in the late 60′s or perhaps just after he retired? I have the one titled ‘Great Moments in Kentucky Basketball’ that was put out by the Committee of 101 in 1969, but I recall listening to another one when I was about 14 or 15 years old that had some game clips as well as some clips from his postgame shows. Some of the stuff was really entertaining. One I remember in particular was after a road win at Auburn or some other football outpost where Coach Rupp was reminiscing about all the different gyms they had been in over the years.
“‘Cawood, we’ve been in all kinds of gyms down here. From an armory to a quonset hut to an L-shaped gym.’ When Cawood responded, ‘What do you mean ‘L-shaped?’ Rupp replied, ‘L-shaped. I would always worry about the boys when they were down on the other end. I didn’t feel good again until I saw ‘em coming around the corner!’”
So if you know of a second album and any way that Moody might be able to obtain one, let us know.
16 Responses to Reader needs help locating a second album Adolph Rupp did with Cawood Ledford
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I recall hearing Coach Rupp tell the story about the L shaped gym, but I can’t recall where or when I heard that.
Here are some links to great UK audio:
http://bigbluefans4uk.com/BBF4UKPages/UKBBTOP_TEN_GAMES_AUDIO.htm
another link:
http://bigbluefans4uk.com/BBF4UKPages/UKBBTOP_GREATEST_MEMORIES_AUDIO.htm
Another link
http://bigbluefans4uk.com/BBF4UKPages/UKBBRUPPARCHIVEDAUDIO.htm
One last link. It is not audio, but it is the text of Adolph Rupp’s last public speech.
http://bigbluefans4uk.com/BBF4UKPages/UKBBHISTORYRUPPSFINALSPEECH.htm
It also includes audio of Cawood’s radio farewell.
http://bigbluefans4uk.com/BBF4UKPages/UKBBTOP_GREATEST_MEMORIES_AUDIO.htm
Near the end of program 4 is the stories about the SEC gyms, and the L Shaped gym.
Thanks professor for all the links – Always enjoy your stats. & info.
What a joy it must have been to listen and watch those guys back then.
IMO there has never been anybody who could replace Cawood. He was and still is a legend. He could call a game on the hardwood or gridiron, and make you feel like you were right there. I miss hearing him to this day.
I had one of these on cassette many years ago (understatement alert: it’s been at least 10 years since I last owned a cassette player). The one story coach Rupp told on there which I’ll never forget goes back to his playing days at Kansas, when his coach Phog Allen instructed him thusly: “Don’t worry too much about shooting, Adolph. Let those shoot that can.”
Professor – Thank you so much! I had some of these great interviews on my computer before it crashed, and it was so glad to hear them again. I had the opportunity to talk with Coach Rupp a number of times, and knew all the players on the 58 championship team. Listening to Uncle Adolph be interviewed by people like Cawood brought back some wonderful memories. Between Cawood and Claude Sullivan, UK fans were brought courtside via the radio. Both these gentlemen could paint a game with words better than most of the TV announcers can with TV. Those of us who had the opportunity to “see” the games via radio learned exactlyl what it meant when Cawood said “The Cats are running!” Thanks again.
Hugh, the bigbluefans4uk.com site is a fan’s site that I started to preserve as many of these treasures as possible for future generations of big blue fans to discover, enjoy, and pass on to the next, and ;the next. I have had fans from all over send me their personal treasures to place them on this site. Every item I have received has been returned to the owner in the condition I received it, and now it is preserved at this cyber museum.
No disrespect to Tom Leach who is a great announcer, but Cawood Ledford was to College basketball and football what Vin Scully was to baseball. The absolute best. You could close your eyes, listen to Cawood, and the game came alive in your mind. Cawood could broadcast a checkers match and make it exciting.
I have a casette tape of one of those I believe
There’s a lot of great information on this page:
http://ukthunder.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=history&action=display&thread=14567
There are some links to video there and some audio I think but mostly it’s memories of people associated with the program. I found it really informative.
I just wanted to point out a couple of things from this page. First the main article they discuss suggests the Texas Western game forever tagged Rupp with the racist label. In fact he had been called a racist since the late 1940′s. His name was the same as that little twit with the weird mustache who ran Germany for a while. He was also of German heritage. So naturally he must be a racist. It was an all too easy target for the NY press to pin on Rupp. They hated Rupp, as Rupp himself describes on the web page, because he brought the Cats to NY and kicked the rears of the big NY teams of the day. They didn’t like that one bit. They have been trying to get even since then. Rupp talked about how they tried to destroy him. And he also had this to say. I think it bears being repeated here because it’s important to the legacy of the BBN. Rupp had this to say:
“Don’t call me a racist. You didn’t know me, and neither did those who offer one-liners about my life as basketball coach at the University of Kentucky from the Great Depression to the first Nixon administration,” he said. “I knew (African Americans) could help my program and wanted them to, and anyone who says I didn’t is wrong. How badly did I want? Not enough, I concede, to become a civil rights leader and take on the whole south and lots of other areas too. We played in the Southeastern Conference. Look around. Who else in our conference had (African American) players at the time? No one! In fact, SEC schools generally refused to schedule home games against opponents with even one (African American). I was ready to take care of that. Twice I petitioned the league to integrate. That brought fire from college presidents, athletic directors, regents, boosters and fans.”