UNK Mike Homa

Mike Homa was born Michael Edward Homa on October 16, 1923, in Fairfield, Connecticut, to Peter and Eva Homa. Known as “Mickey,” he attended St. Thomas Parochial School and Roger Ludlowe High School, where he lettered in basketball, baseball, and golf. After graduation, he joined the United States Marine Corps, serving 34 months in Iceland during World War II. He also played for the Marine Corps basketball team, making appearances in Scotland and England. Following his discharge, he accepted a basketball scholarship to play for Adolph Rupp at Kentucky.

Homa showed promise during the summer of 1947. After a July intrasquad game, the Lexington Herald singled out the freshman forward as especially impressive among Kentucky’s newcomers. The Kentucky Kernel later praised his speed and dangerous left-handed hook shot, suggesting that he could become an outstanding freshman contributor. By October, he was practicing at forward alongside Joe Holland, Jim Line, and fellow freshman Walter Hirsch.

Earning a varsity uniform was an accomplishment on that experienced Kentucky squad. In October 1947, Rupp announced that the university would field neither a freshman nor a reserve basketball team that season. Homa was one of only four freshmen selected for a varsity roster featuring 12 returning lettermen from a team that had won 34 games the previous season. The other newcomers named in the announcement were Hirsch, Ernest Henno, and John Rousakis.

Homa appeared in Kentucky’s first two games of the 1947–48 season, matching 80–41 victories over Indiana Central and Fort Knox. Against Fort Knox, he played with a unit that included Hirsch, Wallace “Wah Wah” Jones, Johnny Stough, and Ab Cummins, helping finish the first half and begin the second. Homa made one field goal and one free throw, accounting for all three points of his Kentucky career. Shortly afterward, he returned his uniform and withdrew from school before the Wildcats’ two-game series against Tulsa. His stay ended months before Kentucky captured its first NCAA championship that spring.

After Kentucky, Homa played six years of professional basketball with Perry Pilotti’s Bridgeport Newfields, earning the nickname “Hooks Homa.” The club faced such prominent opponents as the New York Knicks, Harlem Globetrotters, and Renaissance. In 1948, he scored 10 points in a World Professional Basketball Tournament appearance for Bridgeport, continuing a basketball journey that had taken him from Connecticut to wartime Europe and Lexington.

Golf became his lasting career. Homa learned under Tommy Armour at Rockledge Country Club, worked as a playing professional at Westchester Country Club, and later became head professional at Rolling Hills Country Club. He won three consecutive Westchester Opens from 1955 through 1957. In 1972, he became head professional at Fairfield’s H. Smith Richardson Golf Course, remaining until his retirement in 1995. Homa died at home on April 9, 2014, at age 90. He was survived by Wanda Soltys Homa, his wife of more than 63 years, their two sons, and five grandchildren.