Louie Dampier - I had an English lit class with him in 1963.
Who's the 1st Wildcat player that you met, spoke to in person?
- Thread starter TopCatCal
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Does Cawood count? If not Wah Wah Jones. Every member of the 1978 title team. They were my classmates. Joe B a number of times. He was a very approachable man. Still is I think. Larry Conley broadcasting a game from the Events Center here. I met Tubby in the bowels of what was then McNichols when he coached Georgia. Jamal Murray. And most recently Jared Vanderbilt.
Sam Bowie and Melvin Turpin in 1983. I was 12...somewhere there is a picture of me standing on a chair between them at Godfathers Pizza
Had the opportunity to sit with Walter McCarty and Tony Delk at the 1995 State Track meet held at UK. They found an open seat next to me and I had the chance to explain all the track events to them both as they hadn't been to a meet before. It was quite the experience for 17-year-old me!
My dad owned a store in a couple of malls. One was the Green Tree Mall in Clarksville, IN and the other was in the St. Matthews Mall. The store was called "Big 3 Sports." Anybody remember it by chance? The way I understand it; my dad's store is the reason Kentucky Korner exists (too much of a story to tell). Anyway, mom and dad got tired of going all over the place to buy me UK items for birthdays and Christmas and dad said, "Sure would be nice to go to one store and get all of this stuff." <LIGHT BULB WENT OFF AT THAT MOMENT>
So, in the St. Matthews Mall, he brought in Jim Master and Dicky Beal for a signing for two straight days. A name was drawn for those who shoewd up to win a limo ride with them to a restaurant where they would have dinner.
I was at the store all weekend hanging out with them, also rode in the limo with them, then sat next to Jim Master at dinner. I think I was 15.
I also went to an NIT game at Vanderbilt when I lived in Nashville. When the game was over, I walked right on the court and met Larry Conley.
I also met Travis Ford when he was coach at Campbellsville University. I sat in his office and we had a good conversation. He had a huge picture behind his desk of Rupp Arena. I said, "I bet you were pretty happy about Sutton's misdeeds, huh?" I didn't mean because UK got in trouble, but it brought in Pitino who brought in Travis from Missouri. It took him a second to "get" what I was saying and then he grinned and said, "Yeah."
Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones also came to my office one day and we sat and chat for a while. Oddly enough, hardly anything about basketball as I was pretty confident he gets that type of thing all the time. My dad walked in and they started chatting since they were both from Harlan.
So, in the St. Matthews Mall, he brought in Jim Master and Dicky Beal for a signing for two straight days. A name was drawn for those who shoewd up to win a limo ride with them to a restaurant where they would have dinner.
I was at the store all weekend hanging out with them, also rode in the limo with them, then sat next to Jim Master at dinner. I think I was 15.
I also went to an NIT game at Vanderbilt when I lived in Nashville. When the game was over, I walked right on the court and met Larry Conley.
I also met Travis Ford when he was coach at Campbellsville University. I sat in his office and we had a good conversation. He had a huge picture behind his desk of Rupp Arena. I said, "I bet you were pretty happy about Sutton's misdeeds, huh?" I didn't mean because UK got in trouble, but it brought in Pitino who brought in Travis from Missouri. It took him a second to "get" what I was saying and then he grinned and said, "Yeah."
Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones also came to my office one day and we sat and chat for a while. Oddly enough, hardly anything about basketball as I was pretty confident he gets that type of thing all the time. My dad walked in and they started chatting since they were both from Harlan.
Goose givens just after uk won the title in '78. He was at my bank signing pictures. I got to talk to him for a few minutes because noone was behind me in line. Was really nice and he asked me "how do you want me to sign my name? Jack or goose? I told him it was such an honor just to meet him that he could sign it which ever way he wanted to. He signed it Jack Givens.
Mike Pratt 1969. I was 14 years old. I was going to the UK-Vanderbilt game. I was going up the stairs at the Student Center to eat and he was coming down the stairs. He spoke to me before I could muster a hi out of my mouth.
My favorite team all time the 96 team that would've been a dream come true to meet the whole team! Especially my all time favorite player 00!
Roger Harden when he was a converse rep and then he started a company called pre-game. I worked for a sporting goods company that provided high schools with uniforms and shoes. Roger was a very nice guy who would get me lower level tickets about 2 times a year. He loved to tell Kentucky basketball stories and I loved to listen.
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Mine would be Dan Issel and Mike Pratt at the rupp issel pratt basketball camp my summer before my 7th grade year
Frank Ramsey ran a bank here in my home town until his death in 2018. Heard some stories playing in SEC schools that had no showers and he was a really down to earth guy.
I met Reggie Hanson signing autographs at the Mayfield,Ky Piggly Wiggly. To quote David Allen Coe “if that ain’t country, I’ll kiss your a**,” lol
Cotton Nash for me. 1963 in the pool room of the student union. I played pool against him. He had a pretty good shot
Never met one yet. Did see big dan and Gilmore up close once in Freedom Hall when they played for the Colonels. I was 11 , and don’t remember much, except how big they were. Been to a handful of games in Rupp but never talked to any players.
Bill Spivey, Basil Hayden, Wah Wah Jones, Jim Dinwiddie, not players but coaches Joe Hall, Tubby Smith, equipment manger, Wildcat Bill, Dan Issel, Ronnie Lyons, was friend of Tom Payne at UK his freshman year (good guy then), Larry Johnson, Kyle Macy, Kenny Walker, Steve Lockmuler, Melvin Turpin, Tim Stephens, GJ Smith, Chris Harrison. Alan Feldhouse, John Pelphrey, Sean Woods, Richie Farmer (played softball with him and against Jeff Sheppard ,)Jared Prickett, Travis Ford, Scott Padgett and a few others. All good guys when I met them. Met lots of these players and coaches tailgating in the Green Lot at Kroger Field for many years and attending basketball games in Memorial and Rupp for years and was quite an experience that I'll always cherish and never forget !! !!!
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Mine actually happened this year. I was traveling for work and flew in to the Minneapolis Airport. Was at the Rental Car desk when I turned around I noticed this very tall fellow walking up to the counter. As he got closer I was stunned to see it was Karl Anthony Towns. I was so excited I just said Karl Towns and he looked over and said hey and kept going lol.
Cliff Hagan. He used the field goal, attached to a tree trunk in our back yard, while he was still in OHS.
Later he beat me in a ping pong tournament finals at a parks and recreation's site. Can't beat long arms no matter what when you're in the sixth grade. He was merciless and I'm still ashamed.
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I have met quite a few throughout the years and everyone of them have been nice and down to Earth. Rashad Caruth was probably the only one that wasn’t a very nice guy.
Lukasz Obrzut was actually one of my groomsmen in my wedding. Him and his wife Nikki are good friends of ours.
Lukasz Obrzut was actually one of my groomsmen in my wedding. Him and his wife Nikki are good friends of ours.
Well when I was at UK in the early 2000s I got to see Tubby a few times for starters (unfortunately stupid me never thought to have anything for him to sign 
)! I got to see and had him sign my ticket stub Wayne Turner who by that point became a Globetrotter! As if just missing being on a three-peat in 1996-98 wasn't impressive enough! Let's see, when I took a Spanish final a few there claimed that Tayshan Prince was there too...and I guess it kinda maybe looked like him...but I thought maybe they were just fooling with me.
But above all else, when I was working at the Commons Market at the time I got to see on Saturdays the cute Kentucky Girls (cheerleaders) go through the checkout line! I was way too shy to approach them though, because after all I felt like a mere peasant compared to them! I don't think I ever saw any of the players (as far as I know) in classes or anything though...maybe they were privately tutored at the Joe B Hall Wildcat Lodge at the time so the fans wouldn't constantly bug them during their studies or something?
)! I got to see and had him sign my ticket stub Wayne Turner who by that point became a Globetrotter! As if just missing being on a three-peat in 1996-98 wasn't impressive enough! Let's see, when I took a Spanish final a few there claimed that Tayshan Prince was there too...and I guess it kinda maybe looked like him...but I thought maybe they were just fooling with me.But above all else, when I was working at the Commons Market at the time I got to see on Saturdays the cute Kentucky Girls (cheerleaders) go through the checkout line! I was way too shy to approach them though, because after all I felt like a mere peasant compared to them! I don't think I ever saw any of the players (as far as I know) in classes or anything though...maybe they were privately tutored at the Joe B Hall Wildcat Lodge at the time so the fans wouldn't constantly bug them during their studies or something?
