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UK Athletics to Honor 10 Elite Teams in 2018-19

UK Athletics to Honor 10 Elite Teams in 2018-19

by Eric Lindsey

LEXINGTON, Ky. – UK Athletics will officially honor 10 teams across three programs during the 2018-19 athletics season, as selected by UK’s reunion committee that was established last year to honor elite teams of the past.
 
Over the course of the 2018-19 athletics season, Adolph Rupp’s men’s basketball national championship teams (1948, ’49, ’51 and ’58), the 1993 men’s basketball team, the 1958, ’59 and ’88 men’s cross country teams, and the 1988 and ’89 women’s cross country teams will be honored. The Adolph Rupp national championship teams reunion was postponed from last year.
 
UK Athletics established a reunion committee last year 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 places 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 again placed on teams that would typically fall outside the committee’s reunion windows moving forward.
 
Dates for each group reunion are to be determined. Due to roster crossover and shared accomplishments, several teams will be honored together. Those groups include:

  • Adolph Rupp’s national championship teams (1948, ’49, ’51, ’58) – Kentucky’s first four men’s basketball national champions also combined for four regular-season Southeastern Conference championships and two SEC Tournament crowns
  • 1993 men’s basketball team – Reached the Final Four for the first time since 1984 and won the 1993 SEC Tournament
  • 1988 and ’89 women’s cross country teams – The 1988 team won UK’s first and only national championship and its second SEC championship; the 1989 repeated as SEC champions and finished as the national runner-up
  • 1958 and ’59 men’s cross country teams – The cross country’s program first two SEC championships
  • 1988 men’s cross country team – UK’s most recent SEC cross country championship and its first since the 1970 season; the team also finished eighth nationally

For the latest on UK Athletics, follow @UKAthletics on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and on the web at UKathletics.com
 

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