Joe B. Hall obit

Legendary Kentucky coach Joe B. Hall dies at 93

 

He was not on the list.

 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WYMT/WKYT) - A Kentucky basketball legend is no longer with us.

According to UK, legendary head coach Joe B. Hall died Saturday morning.

Hall was coach of the Wildcats from 1972-85, replacing Adolph Rupp and leading them to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances including a national championship in 1978.

It is with great sadness we share the passing of the great Joe B. Hall. Our hearts are with the Hall family. We love you, Joe B.

Following his retirement from UK, Hall remained a staple in Lexington until his death.

Mayor Linda Gorton tweeted to honor Hall after hearing of his passing.

Joe B. Hall was a champion, both on and off the court. I'm so sad to hear of his passing this morning. At 93, he lived a long life filled with friendships, championships, and dedication to his family, and the Kentucky Wildcats.

Current Kentucky head coach John Calipari posted a series of tweets commemorating Hall.

Coach Joe B. Hall – my friend, my mentor, and an icon in our state and in our profession – passed away this morning. Joe B. Hall took over a program and carried on the winning tradition and legacy of excellence of Kentucky basketball.

Calipari also tweeted that he saw Hall on Friday, even inviting him to be the ‘Y’ at the Tennessee game. He went on to say Hall told him he would be there if he could.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement on the passing of coach Joe B. Hall.

“Today, Big Blue Nation and all of Kentucky remembers Coach Hall, a man who distinguished himself here and around the globe for his leadership, his passion, and his philanthropy,” said McConnell. “We send our deepest condolences to his children and family.”

The Wildcats are set to take the floor against Tennessee on Saturday afternoon.

Hall played one year of varsity basketball at Kentucky before transferring to the University of the South (Sewanee), where he completed his basketball playing eligibility but did not graduate. After Sewanee, Hall toured with the Harlem Globetrotters and later returned to Kentucky to complete his undergraduate studies. Hall graduated from Kentucky in 1955.

Hall previously coached at the University of Central Missouri (formerly Central Missouri State University) in Warrensburg, Missouri and Regis University before returning to Kentucky in 1965 to serve as an assistant coach under Adolph Rupp. In the 1978 NCAA Tournament, he coached the Wildcats to their fifth NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. He was named National Coach of the Year in 1978 and Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year on four occasions. His record at UK was 297–100, and 373–156 over his career. Along with the 1978 title, Hall also guided Kentucky to a runner-up finish to UCLA in the 1975 NCAA tournament, a Final Four appearance in the 1984 NCAA Tournament (losing to eventual champion Georgetown), and an NIT championship in 1976. He won eight Southeastern Conference regular season championships and one Southeastern Conference tournament championship.

On September 18, 2012, the University of Kentucky unveiled a statue of Hall outside of the Wildcat Coal Lodge to commemorate his accomplishments at UK and his contributions toward the Wildcat Coal Lodge. The university says the bronze sculpture was produced over a period of eight months, beginning as a clay sculpture, then was cast in bronze. It was created by sculptor J. Brett Grill of Columbia, Missouri. Hall co-hosted a radio sports talk show with former University of Louisville basketball head coach Denny Crum from March 2004 to October 2014. The Joe B. and Denny Show ended on October 30, 2014, after WVLK-FM, the Lexington station from which Hall did his portion of the show, announced a change in format.

The Wildcats were 20-8 in Hall’s first season but followed that with a 13-13 campaign, their worst record in 50 years. He eventually guided them back to national prominence and college basketball’s pinnacle six years later.

Led by Kevin Grevey, Jimmy Dan Conner and Rick Robey, Kentucky reached the Final Four in 1975, its first appearance since 1966. The Wildcats lost the championship game 92-85 to UCLA in coach John Wooden’s final game with the Bruins.

Three years later, Hall and Kentucky earned another banner to hang from the rafters of Rupp Arena, which was named after the longtime coach and opened in 1976.

The Wildcats went 30-2 and won their first NCAA title in 20 years, beating Duke 94-88 in St. Louis behind 41 points from Jack “Goose” Givens. It was Kentucky’s fifth championship and first in 20 years. More than 10,000 fans greeted the returning team at Blue Grass Airport.

Hall coached 24 players who were drafted into the NBA, including five first-round selections. He was named the national coach of the year in 1978 and Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year four times. Seven of his players earned All-American honors 11 times.

But his longtime friend, Lexington lawyer Terry McBrayer, told The Courier Journal Magazine in 1985 that Hall was far more sensitive than he would ever admit.

“He lives this school and Big Blue 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said McBrayer, who died in 2020. “He doesn’t like the booing. It hurts him. It doesn’t make him mad. It hurts him.”

The year before Hall became head coach, the team had no Black players; on his final team, eight of the 13 players were Black. Four of Hall’s seven All-Americans – Sam Bowie, Jack Givens, Melvin Turpin and Kenny Walker – were African Americans.

Hall in 1974 also hired the first Black assistant coach in UK basketball history, Leonard Hamilton. When Hamilton, later head coach at Oklahoma State, University of Miami, the NBA’s Washington Wizards and Florida State, talked about the things he had learned from other coaches, he cited Hall for his toughness.

He coached football and basketball at Shepherdsville High from 1956-58, then became assistant coach at Regis, a small Jesuit college in Denver. One of his recruits was center Louis Stout, from Hall’s home town of Cynthiana. Years later, Stout recalled Hall’s distaste for underachieving.

Former Wildcat Mike Pratt tweeted out “Special person & coach Joe B Hall !! Thank you for bringing me to UK and being a friend afterwards! RIP Coach Joe.”

Former Wildcat Roger Harden - "BBN, nobody gave their heart & soul to UKBB like Coach Hall. He loved the BBN and was a proud Kentuckian. An honor to play for him and will miss my life long friend. He was the only friend I ever needed. Thank you Coach & by profession in Christ rest til we meet again."

UK President Eli Capilouto - "Some people are larger than life. Others make life larger and better for all of us. In a life that knew the biggest of victories on the biggest of stages, Joe B. Hall did both. He helped coach some of the greatest figures in college sports, won championships and helped expand and enlarge the greatest tradition in college basketball. That’s the Joe B. Hall we all admired. The Joe B. Hall I was privileged to know was gentle and kind, unfailingly gracious and big-hearted. He told warm and funny stories, always made time for anyone and treated them all – no matter their station or walk of life - with respect and dignity. We lost a Kentucky basketball great. More importantly, we lost a great man, who lived a wonderfully big and loving life. We are deeply sad today with his passing, but much better for his living and what he gave to all of us as Kentuckians."

Cats' Pause founder Oscar Combs - "Personally, his friendship over the past 50+ years was always there from the 1960s to this day. Joe B. loved being around people and talking anything from fishing to history, but most of all, he loved seeing Kentuckians proud of UK basketball. Love you Joe B. Gonna miss you."

Coach Hall is one of only three men to both play on an NCAA championship team (1949– Kentucky) and coach an NCAA championship team (1978– Kentucky), and the only one to do so for the same school. The only others to achieve this feat are:

    Bob Knight – Player for Ohio State in 1960 and coach at Indiana in 1976, 1981, and 1987.

    Dean Smith – Player for Kansas in 1952 and coach at North Carolina in 1982 and 1993.

Other players who played for him include Kyle Macy, Larry Johnson, Mike Flynn and Dirk Minniefield.