Joe Coons

Joe Coons was born Joseph Morrison Coons in October 1880 in Kentucky to Elijah G. Coons Jr. and Emma McCormick. He came to Kentucky State College from Mount Sterling and became one of the pioneers of Kentucky basketball. His college career combined athletics, academic achievement, and campus leadership during the years before the school adopted the Wildcats nickname.

Coons played center on Kentucky’s inaugural basketball team in 1902–03. Organized in January 1903, the team raised $3 to purchase a basketball, while the players supplied their own uniforms and shoes. He appeared in all three games, including the program’s first victory, an 11–10 win over the Lexington YMCA on February 18, 1903. As a member of that original team, Coons helped establish the foundation of Kentucky’s basketball tradition.

Returning in 1903–04, Coons appeared in all five games and recorded nine points. Kentucky finished the season with a 25–21 victory over Cincinnati, its only win of the campaign. His continued presence at center connected the program’s first two teams as basketball began to find its place on campus.

Coons served as captain in his final season, 1904–05, again appearing in all five games. The season’s highlight came on January 27, 1905, when Kentucky defeated Kentucky University, now Transylvania, 30–29. He completed his Kentucky basketball career with 13 appearances and 19 recorded points. His lasting distinction was helping launch the program and leading it through its earliest years.

His accomplishments extended well beyond basketball. Coons played left guard for Kentucky’s football team, including the 1904 squad recognized as Kentucky champions, and held school track records in the 120-yard low hurdles and 220-yard hurdles. He also served as a sergeant in the college’s cadet battalion. A member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society, he graduated in 1905 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. The commencement program listed him as the department’s sole honor graduate, a distinction requiring an average grade of 14 out of a possible 15.

After college, Coons became a farmer and married Grace Ogg in Mount Sterling on June 30, 1908. Their life together was brief. Suffering from tuberculosis, he traveled with his wife to Asheville, North Carolina, seeking relief, but died there on July 26, 1909, at age 28. He was buried in Machpelah Cemetery in Mount Sterling. Although his life ended young, Coons remains part of Kentucky basketball’s origin story—a member of its first team and one of its earliest captains.