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More than a century of glorious Kentucky basketball sights and sounds…

Listening to the radio

When one sport, one school, one supreme program so dominates a state, you can take its measure with sounds alone. Cock an ear to the sound track of more than a century of basketball in the Bluegrass State and you’ll hear:

 

The buzz of the Hyatt lobby in advance of a game at Rupp Arena….

 

The rap of a hammer as Governor Happy Chandler pounds a nail into the floor of Memorial Coliseum to mark the spot from which Joe Hagan’s 48-footer beat Marquette in 1938….

 

The strains of that same Happy Chandler, a half-century later, leading the crowd in on Senior Day….

 

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Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter’s Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.

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On This Day in UK Basketball History

On March 20, 1942, after winning its sixth SEC championship, UK wins its first NCAA Tournament game, 46-44, over Illinois.

 

On March 20, 1946, Ralph Beard's free throw with 40 seconds left lifted the Wildcats to their first national title in the NIT, with a 46-45 victory over Rhode Island before 18,475 in the old Madison Square Garden in New York City.

 

On March 20, 1948, Kentucky defeated Holy Cross, 60-52, in the 1948 NCAA Final Four.  Alex Groza went for 23 points and Ralph Beard 13 while Kentucky held Holy Cross star Bob Cousy to five points before 18,472 in the old Madison Square Garden in New York City. This was a pivotal win in the drive to Kentucky’s first NCAA title.

 

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