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34 Kenny Walker

Name
Kenny Walker
Position
Forward
Class
SR
Hometown (Last School)
Roberta, GA (Crawford County Comprehensive)
Ht
6'8"
Wt
190
Seasons
1982-83, 1983-84, 1984-85, 1985-86
Birthday
August 18, 1964

Kenny “Sky” Walker is a two-time consensus All-American, a two-time Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, a four-time All-SEC player and is one of 38 players to have his jersey retired in the Rupp Arena rafters.

Walker was born in Roberta, Georgia. As a high school player, Walker led Crawford County to back-to-back state championships in the early 1980s.  In 1981-82, he led his team to a 30-1 record averaging 28.5 points per game and 18 rebounds per game.  In three years of high school basketball, he scored 1,938 and had 1,181 rebounds.  He had game highs of 46 points, 24 rebounds and nine dunks. In 1982, the Atlanta Constitution newspaper dubbed him the best high school basketball prospect to ever emerge from Georgia.  After being named Mr. Basketball in his home state of Georgia, Walker verbally committed to play collegiately at Kentucky on March 18, 1982.  In the McDonald’s All-Star Classic, he scored 20 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, blocked 3 shots and had 2 dunks.

Walker capped his career as the second-leading scorer in program history with 2,080 total points. He also owns the record for most made free throws in a career (550) and in a season (218). His 72 career SEC games played is the most in school history. He ranks among the all-time career leaders in field-goals made (765), rebounds (942) and double-doubles (31).
 
He started 103 career games for the Wildcats and helped UK amass a 102-30 record that included three regular-season SEC titles, two SEC Tournament crowns and a Final Four appearance in 1983. 

  • Voted an NCAA Consensus First Team All-American in 1986 and an NCAA Consensus Second Team All-American in 1985, including first-team recognition from the Wooden Award
  • One of only two players in school history to win multiple SEC Player of the Year honors
  • Tabbed SEC Player of the Year All-SEC First Team All-SEC and All-NCAA Regional Team in 1986 when he led the team in scoring (20.0 points per game), blocks (1.2 bpg) and rebounds (7.7 rpg), and was second in field-goal percentage (.582)
  • Achieved his highest point and rebounding averages in his junior season in 1984-85 with 22.9 points and 10.2 rebounds per game
  • Also tabbed SEC Player of the Year, All-SEC First Team and All-NCAA Regional Team in 1985
  • Helped guide UK to SEC regular-season titles in 1983, 1984 and 1986 and SEC Tournament championships in 1984 and 1986
  • Scored in double figures in all 67 games for two consecutive seasons (1984-85 and 1985-86), including 20 or more points in 39 games and 30 or more nine times
  • Named All-SEC First Team by the league’s coaches, AP and UPI in his sophomore season
  • Voted All-SEC Third Team by the AP in the 1982-83 

Following his days in the blue and white, Walker was drafted No. 5 overall in the 1986 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks. He was the NBA Slam Dunk champion in 1989.  He played nine seasons professionally, including seven seasons in the NBA, averaging double figures in his first two seasons.

Walker lives in Lexington, and is active in the community, doing local radio and promoting childhood literacy.

Per Game

SeasonGGSMPFGFGAFG%FTFTAFT%TRBASTSTLBLKTOVPFPTS
1982-8331319.32.84.6.6111.62.5.6624.90.60.40.61.12.17.3
1983-84343332.05.09.1.5552.43.2.7345.91.30.90.61.22.512.4
1984-85313136.77.914.2.5597.09.2.76810.21.30.91.21.72.922.9
1985-86363634.87.212.4.5825.67.3.7647.71.41.31.21.52.520.0
Career13210330.95.810.1.5714.25.6.7507.11.20.90.91.42.515.8

Totals

SeasonGGSMPFGFGAFG%FTFTAFT%TRBASTSTLBLKTOVPFPTS
1982-8331359988144.6115177.6621511813203564227
1983-8434331087171308.55580109.7342004431224084422
1984-8531311139246440.559218284.7683154128375489710
1985-8636361254260447.582201263.7642765046435490721
Career13210340797651339.571550733.7509421531181221833272080

On This Day In UK Basketball History

On March 18, 1966, Louie Dampier joined the 1,000-point club.  He did it in 53 games.

 

On March 18, 1966, Kentucky, the No. 1 team in the nation, faced off against No. 2 Duke in the 1966 NCAA Final Four.   Louie Dampier (23 points) and Pat Riley (19) led the top-ranked Cats past No. 2 Duke in front of 14,253 at the Cole Field House in College Park, Md.

 

On March 18, 1972, Adolph Rupp coaches his last game at UK, a 73-54 loss to Florida State for the Mideast Region title in the NCAA Tournament.

 

On March 18, 1978, in the 1978 NCAA Tournament round of eight, sophomore point guard Kyle Macy scored nine points in the final 6:16 to rally the Wildcats past Michigan State and freshman star Earvin “Magic” Johnson before 13,485 at the University of Dayton Arena.

 

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