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BASKETBALL

YEAR BY YEAR WITH THE CATS

1950-51
32 - 2
SEC Champions
National Champions
Ranked 1st AP, 1st UPI

UK was led by junior AA Bill Spivey. Kansas came to Memorial in a battle for #1. Kansas was led by AA and future pro star Clyde Lovellette. Kansas was coached by Rupp's old coach Phog Allen. Uk won this UK-KU game 68-39 and Rupp took Spivey out when Lovellette fouled out so the sportswriters couldn't say the comparison was invalid by Spivey having more minutes.

Spivey went head to head with Lovellette, holding him to 10 points on 4 of 17 shooting. Spivey scored 22 on 9 of 16 shooting. At one point, Spivey (a 7 foot center) stole the ball and dribbled the length of the court for a dunk. Spivey's career was ruined by the point shaving scandal, though nothing was ever proved against him and he always maintained his innocence. Bill felt betrayed by UK.

Bill Spivey

He was 40-50 years ahead of his time. He was a seven footer that could run the floor. He was blackballed by the NBA even though he was found not guilty in a New York trial and passed a lie detector teast. The NBA wasn't a big thing in those days, and Spivey settled a lawsuit with them for a relatively small amount of money. He dominated Lovellette in a college head to head matchup and Lovellette was later a top NBA player. Imo Spivey would've been a lock NBA Hall of Famer had he been allowed to play.

Contributed by Larry Butler

Standing Tall In Difficult Times

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