Rupp Family to be Honored; Rupp Title Teams Reunion Postponed
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The first game of the Adolph Rupp Classic will fittingly feature one of the most sacred families in Kentucky basketball history.
At halftime of the ETSU game, the first game of the Adolph Rupp Classic, the family of Adolph Rupp will be honored. Rupp, the winningest coach in Kentucky basketball history, led the Wildcats to their first four national championships in 1948, ’49, ’51 and ’58 and 876 total wins.
Due to a scheduling conflict, the originally scheduled reunion of Rupp’s national championship teams has been postponed. A future date will be determined later.
The Rupp national championship teams reunion is one of seven reunions UK Athletics is celebrating during the 2017-18 athletics season. UK Athletics is officially honoring 14 teams across six programs during the 2017-18 athletics season, as selected by a newly formed reunion committee UK has established to honor elite teams of the past.
The Rupp national championship teams reunion is currently postponed, but UK will move forward with honoring the Rupp family during the ETSU game. Kentucky will also honor the 1978 national championship team on Feb. 24 for the Missouri game for a separate reunion.
Single-game tickets for the ETSU game are still available. Fans can purchase tickets at Ticketmaster.com, by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000 or the Rupp Arena box office at (859) 233-3535, or in-person at the Joe Craft Center ticket office.
UK Athletics recently established a reunion committee as a way to honor great Kentucky teams of the past. The committee was formed to define official parameters of recognition, identify and select deserving teams, and coordinate dates and arrangements with the specific programs. Input from current head coaches and administrators was taken into account when setting the criteria.
Standards for selecting teams each year will include but is not limited to final records, conference championships and postseason finishes. The committee will place emphasis on honoring teams that coincide with yearly markers (for example, a 25th anniversary of a team’s championship), although other factors will be taken into consideration. Special attention was placed this year on teams that would typically fall outside the committee’s reunion windows moving forward.
Over the course of the 2017-18 season, the 2006-08 Kentucky football teams, the 1978 men’s basketball team, Adolph Rupp’s men’s basketball national championship teams (1948, ’49, ’51 and ’58), the 1988 baseball team, the 1987 and ’88 volleyball teams, the 1988 men’s tennis team, and the 1986 and ’88 women’s golf teams will be recognized or have already been honored.
Kentucky opens the regular season Friday at 7 p.m. vs. Utah Valley in Rupp Arena.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
