19 Jack Tingle

Obituary – Jack Tingle, Trimble’s Most Noted Athlete, Dies of Cancer, Trimble (KY) Democrat

Trimble County’s greatest proven athlete “Jack” Tingle will be laid to rest this afternoon (Thursday) in the Bedford I.O.O.F. cemetery, only a short distance on the south side of town. From the gymnasium of Trimble County High School where he began a basketball career, that subsequently gained him the title of All-American. The quietness at the gravesite as family and friends file away after the rites will recall remembrances of yesteryear, when across town the ovations for the elongated towhead echoed from the confines of McCain auditorium. Jack died at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Louisville, Monday night at the age of 33 years.

Jack was hospitalized about a year ago and under went surgery, then re-entered the hospital August 25th, where his condition steadily worsened and death out distanced him. He resided with his family at 107 Holly Road, Lyndon.

For the past eight years, Jack had worked in the photoengraving department of the Courier Journal in Louisville.

When basketball is spoken of in Bedford the name of Jack Tingle is mentioned, always.

Recognized for natural ability, Jack was playing varsity basketball for Trimble High while an eighth grader, even then clicking in the spectacular which was so much his stock in trade. The frail built lad that he was then was more than offset by his ability to score at precisely the right time. Fans in Trimble County will remember those flings from center court, when he nearly threw himself along with the ball to gain momentum enough to hit the hoop “Dead Center.”

Commencing as a freshman, he was named to the all-star team of the North Central Kentucky Conference, and he received that honor four straight years while in high school. In 1941 he was the sparkplug of the TCHS team that went to the final of the regional tournament, losing out by only two points to Valley High School. Again in 1942, the team with Tingle went into the quarter finals of the regional, dropping out in a game with Williamstown – an outfit with 6’8″ Arnold Risen who later was an All-American at Ohio State, and still is playing professional basketball. In 1943, Tingle’s last year, the then TCHS Blue Demons won their first North-Central Kentucky Conference Championship. His was then a great career, but still destined to become much greater.

Already singled out as a sterling prospect by Coach Adolph Rupp, Jack entered the University of Kentucky, and while there compiled one of the most enviable records. He became one of only three players in the university’s history to be named to the All Star team of the Southeastern Conference four years in a single sport, or otherwise. The other players similarly named were Wallace “Wah Wah” Jones, a teammate of Jack and Ralph Beard.

Fans from the county followed the game rabidly, braving all sorts of winter driving condition to see Jack play in Louisville and at Lexington. Recalled to mind is the game in Louisville during Jack’s college sophomore year, when it appeared that the University of Notre Dame had defeated the Wildcats, but in the final minute, the spectacular began to be engineered by Jack. In a razzle-dazzle spark of showmanship he intercepted and hawked the ball and rolled up eight points for UK on the scoreboard, enough to defeat the Fighting Irish.

Coach Rupp, in praising him call him “One of our battlers always fighting and always in there – an all-round basketball player.”

Rupp’s singled him out as a great prospect when Jack was only a junior in high school proved compensating to the baron of Kentucky basketball, because in the four years that Jack played with Kentucky, the Wildcats won the Southeastern title each year. Jack was an All-American selectee still headed for greater things after college.

Jack played professional ball with the Washington Capitols, the Minneapolis Lakers and the New York Nationals. He later coached at Hiseville High School.

With the same tenacity that he fought on the hardwood, Jack battled with cancer, waging a known losing fight for more than a year, not revealing the seriousness of his condition to his family. He was their ideal – a truly great All-American regular fellow.

Robert Jackson “Jack” Tingle is survived by his wife, Mrs. Joan Ruby Tingle, daughter of Courier Journal Sports Editor Earl Ruby; two daughters, Margaret Ann “Peggy” Tingle, 10, and Jocelyn “Jolly” Tingle, 4; a son, John “Jackie” Tingle, 2; his mother, Mary Yager Tingle, Bedford; his father, Howard Tingle, Columbiana, Ohio; his Grandmother, Mrs. Jessie Jackson, Bedford and a sister Mrs. Evelyn Wilson, Frankfort.

Funeral services are being conducted at the Methodist Church in Bedford by Rev. George Miller, pastor. It is not a private funeral. Pallbearers will be Billy Jackson, Tommy Jackson, Hayward Tingle, Glenn L. Hutcherson, Leonard A. Spillman and Carl Williamson.

The remains are at the Spillman Funeral Home until time of the funeral.