RIP Joe B. Hall

[mpcincal]

The coach who succeeded Adolph Rupp and did pretty well for himself, with a 297-100 career record and a national title in 1978.

Legendary Kentucky basketball coach Joe B. Hall dies at 93

I was just getting interested in sports at the age of 10 in 1978, and I loved watching that Kentucky team. The link contains a lot of tweets, many of them with that photo of him cutting down the nets with his players. I saw that photo in my issue of SI, and that's always been my lasting image of him.

 

[micropolitan guy]

His son-in-law was an OC at Microville Tech in the early 1990s. JBH would sometimes come to games early in the season. RIP to a decent man, from everything I read. Coaching hoops at Kentucky is a thankless job.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Succeeded Adolph Rupp and was followed by Eddie Sutton. They don’t always go for the young up-and-comers in Lexington. The one they did, Billy Gillespie, bit them.

 

[maumann]

RIP, coach Joe B.

Some stories say he toured Europe with the Globetrotters in 1951, although they may have lifted that from the Wikipedia page. In any case, he permanently severed the "whites preferred" barrier at UK.

I remember the basement-dwelling Gators giving Kentucky all it had in tiny Florida Gym during that 1978 season, but Kyle Macy catching fire in the second half (figuratively, not literally) and snuffing out any thoughts of an upset.

 

[Songbird]

Vague memories but knew of him. I was 7 in '78 and just getting into sports.

 

[Jake from State Farm]

His title team got to the Final Four with a 52-49 victory over Michigan State
Kyle Macy scored 18 but notably Magic Johnson had six points, six turnovers and was 2-of-10 shooting

 

[X-Hack]

His title team got to the Final Four with a 52-49 victory over Michigan State
Kyle Macy scored 18 but notably Magic Johnson had six points, six turnovers and was 2-of-10 shooting

7 year old me (EL native) cried after that game.