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Who's the best player from each of Kentucky's 16 high school regions that went on to play for UK?

Tom Thacker.
Tom Thacker I believe played for Covington Holmes. I saw him play at Memorial Coliseum in the 1959 KY east vs west All star game. He and Bob Rice, 6'6" forward from Sandy Hook, were the most valuable players in that game. Thacker went to Univ of Cinn where he started for three years and won a NCAA championship In 1961? He was 6'2" but had great hops. I think he later played in the NBA with the Royals.
 
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Tom Thacker I believe played for Covington Holmes. I saw him play at Memorial Coliseum in the 1959 KY east vs west All star game. He and Bob Rice, 6'6" forward from Sandy Hook, were the most valuable players in that game. Thacker went to Univ of Cinn where he started for three years and won a NCAA championship In 1961? He was 6'2" but had great hops. I think he later played in the NBA with the Royals.
Thacker attended the old segregated Covington HS, William Grant. My cousin played against Thacker in HS and for Xavier against UC. College coach McCafferty asked him how he did against Thacker in HS. Told him he held him to 30.

William Grant produced another topnotch player, George Stone, who played for Marshall. Stone led Grant to a near upset of 1964 state champ Seneca with Wes Unseld. I believe Grant lost in 2OT when they had has 2 FT's to win & missed both. School was disbanded with integration into Holmes after the 64-65 school year. I saw William Grant play in their last three seasons in existence. A good friend saw his only ever varsity action against Grant in that last season.

BTW, Thacker is the answer to the trivia question of who is the only playER to win an NCAA, ABA, & NBA title.
 
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Thacker attended the old segregated Covington HS, William Grant. My cousin played against Thacker in HS and for Xavier against UC. College coach McCafferty asked him how he did against Thacker in HS. Told him he held him to 30.

William Grant produced another topnotch player, George Stone, who played for Marshall. Stone led Grant to a near upset of 1964 state champ Seneca with Wes Unseld. I believe Grant lost in 2OT when they had has 2 FT's to win & missed both. School was disbanded with integration into Holmes after the 64-65 school year. I saw William Grant play in their last three seasons in existence. A good friend saw his only ever varsity action against Grant in that last season.

BTW, Thacker is the answer to the trivia question of who is the only play to win an NCAA, ABA, & NBA title.
That game sounds similar to the one lee county played in 1966 with Larry stamper unbelievable nobody from that area did not mention Larry 😃 they lost in the semi because there best free throw shooter missed free throws with game on the line huge heartbreak
 
Team 1, the 16 guys who were the best UK Wildcat from their respective KY region,

Team 2, the 16 guys who were the best player anywhere other than UK from their respective region.

Which team wins? I assume team 2 would have Houston, Cowen, McDaniels, Lofton. I’m not sure who else.
 
Team 1, the 16 guys who were the best UK Wildcat from their respective KY region,

Team 2, the 16 guys who were the best player anywhere other than UK from their respective region.

Which team wins? I assume team 2 would have Houston, Cowen, McDaniels, Lofton. I’m not sure who else.
Team 2 would have to have Ballard's Jeff Lamp who was All-ACC at Virginia all four seasons 1st team All-American his senior season, 15th pick in the 1981 draft, 8-year NBA career. I'd put him over Lofton. LSU's Rudy Macklin would be on there, too.
 
Team 1, the 16 guys who were the best UK Wildcat from their respective KY region,

Team 2, the 16 guys who were the best player anywhere other than UK from their respective region.

Which team wins? I assume team 2 would have Houston, Cowen, McDaniels, Lofton. I’m not sure who else.
Wes Unseld was pretty good. I saw him as a high school junior when they won the state tournie.
 
Rebounding machine man what a player unseld was for his size might be the best Kentucky ever produced he is definitely up there
No doubt. Wasn’t asking if Unseld > Houston, was asking if they from same region.
 
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Anybody remember the 1972 florida st Seminole the head coach from louisville Hugh Durham
Ron King louisville central
Otto petty louisville central
Larry gay 6th man winchester ky george rogers Clark also long time assistant to Hugh Durham
Larry has a grandson that is a sophomore at George rogers Clark and ranked #2 in the state for class 2027
Ron King was recruited by rupp but wanted to go play where Dave Cowan played another kentuckian FSU
 
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Rebounding machine man what a player unseld was for his size might be the best Kentucky ever produced he is definitely up there
There used to be a fellow named Daryl Dawkins who called himself Chocolate Thunder among other things. One night in Washington, his NBA team lost to Unseld and the Bullets. Dawkins raged in the dressing room and ripped urinals and sinks off the wall. Reporters asked Unseld what he thought about it. Unseld said, "Daryl is a nice boy. He calls me Mister Unseld."
 
There used to be a fellow named Daryl Dawkins who called himself Chocolate Thunder among other things. One night in Washington, his NBA team lost to Unseld and the Bullets. Dawkins raged in the dressing room and ripped urinals and sinks off the wall. Reporters asked Unseld what he thought about it. Unseld said, "Daryl is a nice boy. He calls me Mister Unseld."
Season 9 Lol GIF by The Office
 
Anybody remember the 1972 florida st Seminole the head coach from louisville Hugh Durham
Ron King louisville central
Otto petty louisville central
Larry gay 6th man winchester ky george rogers Clark also long time assistant to Hugh Durham
Larry has a grandson that is a sophomore at George rogers Clark and ranked #2 in the state for class 2027
Ron King was recruited by rupp but wanted to go play where Dave Cowan played another kentuckian FSU
FSU also had a 6'10" forward by the name of Reggie Royals who was a great player. Hugh Durham later on coached the Univ of Ga. I saw an interview a Ga sports writer had with Durham and he talked about the FSU beat down of UK during the 1972 NCAA tournament. Durham said he grew up an avid UK fan and as a kid if UK lost he was so upset he couldn't go to school the next day. He said he always felt bad about being the coach that ended coach Rupp's 40 year coaching career with a loss because he loved the cats so much as a kid and had such great respect for Rupp.
 
15 region John Pelphrey with Billy Ray Cassady from Inez a close second.
Todd May from Virgie was pretty good. He won Mr. Basketball and was named MVP of the 1982 state tournament on a team that finished 4th. After short stints at UK and Wake Forrest he was drafted in the 4th round of the 1987 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs coming out of tiny Pikeville College (now UPike).
 
The 4th region trio of Blevins, Stockton, and Carrier all had similar careers at Kentucky. Which one was the best in y'all's opinion? I'm slightly biased since one of them went to my high school.
If that is the best the region has had to offer, let’s just skip it.
 
Nope, Kenny Rawlings (sp) member of Fabulous Five, some say he's the best defensive gusrd to ever play st UK.
Larry Johnson out of union county was not too shabby either the best or top 3 man he would flat out get after you
 
Todd May from Virgie was pretty good. He won Mr. Basketball and was named MVP of the 1982 state tournament on a team that finished 4th. After short stints at UK and Wake Forrest he was drafted in the 4th round of the 1987 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs coming out of tiny Pikeville College (now UPike).
Man I remember him I thought he was going to be a great player for Kentucky but just never did happen
 
Some great louisville region athletes prior 1980
Wes unseld (close to playing for UK mom advised otherwise due to the climate in the south at the time )
Are you sure about that? From the quotes I’ve seen at the time Unseld’s mother was supportive of UK recruiting him. It was Wes himself who wasn’t enthusiastic about playing for UK or in the South.
 
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Are you sure about that? From the quotes I’ve seen at the time Unseld’s mother was supportive of UK recruiting him. It was Wes himself who wasn’t enthusiastic about playing for UK or in the South.
I have heard two different sides I read where his mother was concerned about his safety in the south at that time and I also heard that Kentucky booed him really bad at memorial when introduced causing Wes to look elsewhere
 
If that is the best the region has had to offer, let’s just skip it.
Valid statement, but actually the best the 4th region had to offer was probably Jim McDaniels who became an AA at WKU and took them to the F4.
 
Valid statement, but actually the best the 4th region had to offer was probably Jim McDaniels who became an AA at WKU and took them to the F4.
Your post got me to thinking. Who are the 5 best players from each of Kentucky's 16 high school regions regardless of what college that they attended.

I'll take the 11th region

Jack Givens
James Lee
Melvin Turpin
Jeff Mullins
Dirk Minniefield
 
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Todd May from Virgie was pretty good. He won Mr. Basketball and was named MVP of the 1982 state tournament on a team that finished 4th. After short stints at UK and Wake Forrest he was drafted in the 4th round of the 1987 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs coming out of tiny Pikeville College (now UPike).
Man I remember him I thought he was going to be a great player for Kentucky but just never did happen
Todd May had he stayed at UK could have developed into a heck of a player for us. Heard several years back where May said that if he had it to do over again. That he would have stayed at UK.
 
Your post got me to thinking. Who are the 5 best players from each of Kentucky's 16 high school regions regardless of what college that they attended.

I'll take the 11th region

Jack Givens
James Lee
Melvin Turpin
Jeff Mullins
Dirk Minniefield
Vince Taylor from tates creek was really good all american at Duke
 
Todd May had he stayed at UK could have developed into a heck of a player for us. Heard several years back where May said that if he had it to do over again. That he would have stayed at UK.
At the time I heard he got home sick don't know if it was a rumor or true
 
I have heard two different sides I read where his mother was concerned about his safety in the south at that time and I also heard that Kentucky booed him really bad at memorial when introduced causing Wes to look elsewhere

I wrote a lot of about Wes Unseld's recruitment by UK on my Rupp page. Included in that is a number of mentions of his mother and father including in some newspaper articles from the time. Although it was known that travel in the deep South was a concern, I've never seen it stated directly his mother advised him against signing with UK, as you claimed.

Link to Wes Unseld Recruitment by UK

So I'd appreciate seeing a reference to that if that's indeed true (which I frankly doubt).

Unfortunately, there's been a ton of inaccuracies and strange claims made about Unseld's recruitment over the years, by a number of people so it's a struggle to know and document what's factual and what's not.
 
I wrote a lot of about Wes Unseld's recruitment by UK on my Rupp page. Included in that is a number of mentions of his mother and father including in some newspaper articles from the time. Although it was known that travel in the deep South was a concern, I've never seen it stated directly his mother advised him against signing with UK, as you claimed.

Link to Wes Unseld Recruitment by UK

So I'd appreciate seeing a reference to that if that's indeed true (which I frankly doubt).

Unfortunately, there's been a ton of inaccuracies and strange claims made about Unseld's recruitment over the years, by a number of people so it's a struggle to know and document what's factual and what's not.
There you go covers both sides in print
 
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There you go covers both sides in print

Well looks like you insist on keeping this narrative so I will play along.

In the above article you quote the most relevant section states the following:

Unseld’s own decision was complicated by cultural change and segregationist sympathies. As the first African American athlete to be recruited by the University of Kentucky, Unseld was targeted for abuse. According to retired Judge Janice Martin, Unseld’s sister-in-law, a spectator attempted to stab the player at an all-star game.

“The UK fans had heard that he was the chosen one and he would be the first,” Martin said. “He was showered with boos to deter him from coming.

“Wes never talked about that publicly, but there were chickens (left) in his mailbox. He had to have security part of his senior year because of the death threats.”

Martin said Unseld’s mother asked UK coach Adolph Rupp if he could ensure her son’s safety.

“And he told her, ‘No,’” Martin recalled. “Now what kind of recruiting pitch is that?”

It is stated that Unseld's mother asked Rupp about whether he could ensure Wes' safety traveling in the South. This is expected and something that my page mentions as well in an excerpt from Clarence Matthews of the Lousiville Defender on 28-MAY-1964 after Unseld signed with Louisville where Matthews noted: "The athletes parents reportedly weren't easy about the prospects of their son playing before 'hostile' audiences in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia as a member of the U of K team."

So while I don't dispute that it was an issue, I still have yet to see any evidence backing your claim that Unseld's mother advised him not to attend UK. If anything, there's multipe quotes by Unseld's parent's that they left the decision to Wes.

As I mentioned previously, the entire recruitment of Unseld by UK and in particular Rupp's visit to Unseld's home is one of the most discussed and frankly bizarrely reported recruiting visit I've ever seen.

For starters, there's a lot of professional sportwriters who over the years have stated as fact that Rupp never recruited Unseld, which is crazy since Rupp's visit and scholarship offer to Unseld was one of the most publicized and discussed recruiting visit in history. [This includes the then President of UK John Oswald who claimed he visited Unseld as well (a claim I haven't been able to substantiate) but seems to not know of Rupp's visit.]

Then you've got the claim by Louisville's Head Coach John Dromo that he was hanging out in the kitchen during the visit. (along with claims that Unseld's high school coach Bob Mulcahy tried to sabotage the visit by setting up a conflict causing Unseld to have to leave the visit early.)

And the claim by then-Kentucky State coach John McLendon that after Rupp left the visit he talked to Rupp in the Unseld's front yard before making his own recruiting pitch to Unseld (who as mentioned had already left) (particularly strange because in other interview's McLendon claimed he never met Rupp during those times even though the two were participants in coaching roundtables held at HBCU Tennessee A&I in the early 1960s).

Of course you've also got the claims made later by Unseld that Rupp dissed Unseld publicly in the newspaper for not staying for the visit (something which I have never been able to substantiate from checking the newspapers at that time, including all the Louisville newspapers include the black newspaper the Louisville Defender). FWIW, what I did find which hasn't been mentioned by today's sportswriters is that a few weeks after the visit Rupp travelled to Unseld's high school banquet where he personally presented Unseld an award for being named the top high school basketball player in the country (an award that Rupp himself was key in securing for Unseld).

So there's been a lot of information (and quite a bit of misinformation) about Unseld's recruitment and this visit in particular, which was publicized in the newspapers. Of course one important fact that has been glossed over is that prior to formally offering Unseld, he and the school had already made arrangements to avoid playing in Mississippi by moving those games to Memphis, something his parents were well aware of.

Unfortunately this type of misinformation continues. I'll note that the article you linked provides a particularly explosive claim that a specatator tried to stab Unseld during an All-star game. That's the first I've heard of something like that. I would have expected something that outrageous to be well publicized (both at the time and later) if true. I'll reserve judgement on that pending additional information. I'll just say that this article was written by Tim Sullivan who frankly doesn't have a great track record of verifying claims made in his articles over the years.
 
Well looks like you insist on keeping this narrative so I will play along.

In the above article you quote the most relevant section states the following:



It is stated that Unseld's mother asked Rupp about whether he could ensure Wes' safety traveling in the South. This is expected and something that my page mentions as well in an excerpt from Clarence Matthews of the Lousiville Defender on 28-MAY-1964 after Unseld signed with Louisville where Matthews noted: "The athletes parents reportedly weren't easy about the prospects of their son playing before 'hostile' audiences in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia as a member of the U of K team."

So while I don't dispute that it was an issue, I still have yet to see any evidence backing your claim that Unseld's mother advised him not to attend UK. If anything, there's multipe quotes by Unseld's parent's that they left the decision to Wes.

As I mentioned previously, the entire recruitment of Unseld by UK and in particular Rupp's visit to Unseld's home is one of the most discussed and frankly bizarrely reported recruiting visit I've ever seen.

For starters, there's a lot of professional sportwriters who over the years have stated as fact that Rupp never recruited Unseld, which is crazy since Rupp's visit and scholarship offer to Unseld was one of the most publicized and discussed recruiting visit in history. [This includes the then President of UK John Oswald who claimed he visited Unseld as well (a claim I haven't been able to substantiate) but seems to not know of Rupp's visit.]

Then you've got the claim by Louisville's Head Coach John Dromo that he was hanging out in the kitchen during the visit. (along with claims that Unseld's high school coach Bob Mulcahy tried to sabotage the visit by setting up a conflict causing Unseld to have to leave the visit early.)

And the claim by then-Kentucky State coach John McLendon that after Rupp left the visit he talked to Rupp in the Unseld's front yard before making his own recruiting pitch to Unseld (who as mentioned had already left) (particularly strange because in other interview's McLendon claimed he never met Rupp during those times even though the two were participants in coaching roundtables held at HBCU Tennessee A&I in the early 1960s).

Of course you've also got the claims made later by Unseld that Rupp dissed Unseld publicly in the newspaper for not staying for the visit (something which I have never been able to substantiate from checking the newspapers at that time, including all the Louisville newspapers include the black newspaper the Louisville Defender). FWIW, what I did find which hasn't been mentioned by today's sportswriters is that a few weeks after the visit Rupp travelled to Unseld's high school banquet where he personally presented Unseld an award for being named the top high school basketball player in the country (an award that Rupp himself was key in securing for Unseld).

So there's been a lot of information (and quite a bit of misinformation) about Unseld's recruitment and this visit in particular, which was publicized in the newspapers. Of course one important fact that has been glossed over is that prior to formally offering Unseld, he and the school had already made arrangements to avoid playing in Mississippi by moving those games to Memphis, something his parents were well aware of.

Unfortunately this type of misinformation continues. I'll note that the article you linked provides a particularly explosive claim that a specatator tried to stab Unseld during an All-star game. That's the first I've heard of something like that. I would have expected something that outrageous to be well publicized (both at the time and later) if true. I'll reserve judgement on that pending additional information. I'll just say that this article was written by Tim Sullivan who frankly doesn't have a great track record of verifying claims made in his articles over the years.
No narrative at all personally i don't care just giving two sides of the argument however you were the one being persistent and to refrain from talking jibberish I knew nothing about and stated that to stop it cause you were the expert on this matter and I did not have proof well I delivered it to you end of story let's move on
 
Just for posterity's sake, the following article published in the Lexington Herald on March 29, 1964 actually claims the exact opposite, i.e. that Unseld's mother was in favor of Wes attending UK. The article is discussing the 1964 East-West Collegiate All-Star game held in Lexington which included UK's Cotton Nash among many other college stars:

East Squad - Ron Bonham (Cincinnati), Fred Hetzel (Davidson), Howard Komives (Bowling Green), Cotton Nash (Kentucky), John Thompson (Providence), Bill Bradley (Princeton), Barry Kramer (New York University), Cazzie Russell (Michigan), Jeff Mullins (Duke), Wally Jones (Villanova). Coach Jack Gardner (Utah)​
West Squad - Jim Barnes (Texas Western), Joe Caldwell (Arizona State), Ray Carey (Missouri), Mel Counts (Oregon State), Wayne Estes (Utah State), Bud Koper (Oklahoma City), Bennie Lenox (Texas A&M), Dave Stallworth (Wichita), Willie Murrell (Kansas State), Doug Moon (Utah). Coach Slats Gill (Oregon State).​

19640329LexingtonHeraldUnseldMissesEast-WestGameinLexington.jpg
 
The 4th region trio of Blevins, Stockton, and Carrier all had similar careers at Kentucky. Which one was the best in y'all's opinion? I'm slightly biased since one of them went to my high school.
Blevins actually could’ve had a much more decent career had he not played with Saul and Sauls daddy was the coach. Blevins had to look over his shoulder his whole career but he did have a couple of decent games. I remember he played some solid mind to help seal the deal against Michigan St I think his So. Yr. Then he had 14 against UGA in a win where he got the start because Bogans and Allison wasn’t going to class. He was a Pitino guy who ended up with Tubby and I really do think that hurt his career somewhat but he was never gonna be an AA but he could’ve been a more solid player had he not had to share mins with Saul.

Hell. It had to be even frustrating for Wayne to share mins with Saul. I remember Tubs over doing it when he’d leave Saul in the game when the other starters would sub back in the game sometime. Tubby couldn’t get enough of good ol Saul. I always felt like Carrier and Stockton would be nice players for Happy Osborne at Georgetown 😂. Idk if Happy could chest bump like Tubby though.
 
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Just for posterity's sake, the following article published in the Lexington Herald on March 29, 1964 actually claims the exact opposite, i.e. that Unseld's mother was in favor of Wes attending UK. The article is discussing the 1964 East-West Collegiate All-Star game held in Lexington which included UK's Cotton Nash among many other college stars:

East Squad - Ron Bonham (Cincinnati), Fred Hetzel (Davidson), Howard Komives (Bowling Green), Cotton Nash (Kentucky), John Thompson (Providence), Bill Bradley (Princeton), Barry Kramer (New York University), Cazzie Russell (Michigan), Jeff Mullins (Duke), Wally Jones (Villanova). Coach Jack Gardner (Utah)​
West Squad - Jim Barnes (Texas Western), Joe Caldwell (Arizona State), Ray Carey (Missouri), Mel Counts (Oregon State), Wayne Estes (Utah State), Bud Koper (Oklahoma City), Bennie Lenox (Texas A&M), Dave Stallworth (Wichita), Willie Murrell (Kansas State), Doug Moon (Utah). Coach Slats Gill (Oregon State).​

19640329LexingtonHeraldUnseldMissesEast-WestGameinLexington.jpg
Imagine Unseld as the starting center on our 1966 team along side All-Americans Pat Riley & Louie Dampier. Is there any doubt that team goes a perfect 28-0. Not only that. If Unseld would have came here it would have opened the door for the next year for 7'0" Jim McDaniels & Hazard's Jim Rose to sign with Kentucky. That would have gave us our greatest team ever our 1970 team with Dan Issel, Mike Pratt, Larry Steele, Tom Parker & maybe a healthy Mike Casey minus his car accident. Add McDaniels & Rose to that roster. WOW a perfect 30-0.
Not only our greatest team ever. But arguable the greatest team in the history of college basketball.
 
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