Cronley Elliott

Legal Name:  Edward Cronley Elliott
Date of Death: December 18, 1962

There is some debate as to whether he was a member of Kentucky’s first basketball team.  Records indicate he graduated from Kentucky in 1902 which would suggest that he was not a member of the first basketball team because it did not officially start until January of 1903.  But the University of Kentucky Basketball Encyclopedia by Tom Wallace includes him as a member of that team.  The Catalogue of the Officers, Studies, and Students of the State College of Kentucky, Lexington, Volume 4 (Session ending 1898 June 2) lists him as a Freshman in 1898 and the Catalogue of the Officers, Studies, and Students of the State College of Kentucky, Lexington, Volume 4 (Session ending 1902 June 5) lists him as a Junior.  The latter suggests that, despite records showing he graduated in 1902, he may have still been around campus in 1903.  He also played football, baseball and ran track.  Was a Sergeant Major in the Cadet Battalion of the Military Department as a junior in 1902.

Born in Lexington, he was a son of the late Richard Gill and Susan Francis Lyon Elliott. He attended Lexington public schools, graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1902 and received his dental training at the Louisville School of Dentistry.

At UK, Dr. Elliott was a member of the football, basketball and baseball teams from 1898 through 1902. He was a member of the city bowling league for 30 years and held a record at the YMCA alleys with a score of 277 and at the Ammerman Alleys with 288.  According to Big Blue History, he refereed a handful of Kentucky basketball games from 1911-1913.

Dr. Elliott was a charter member and past president of the Lexington Kiwanis Club, a former member of the YMCA board, past president of the Blue Grass Dental Society and held membership in the state and national dental societies. He practiced dentistry for 52 years, prior to his retirement in 1958.

Dr. Elliott was a member of Merrick Lodge No. 31 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and served as representative to the Odd Fellows Grand Lodge and Grand Encampment for many years.

He was a past grand national alumni secretary for Pi Kappa Alpha social fraternity and a former President and member of the executive committee of the University of Kentucky Alumni Association.

He was a deacon at Calvary Baptist Church and taught the R.G. Elliott class there for 35 years, the same class his father taught for 35 years.

Died at 11:10 a.m., December 18, 1962, at the age of 82 years old at the Good Samaritan Hospital after a long illness. He lived at 8 Mentelle Park.