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25 Terry Mobley

Name
Terry Mobley
Position
Guard
Class
SR
Hometown (Last School)
Harrodsburg, KY (High)
Ht
6'2"
Wt
188
Seasons
1962-63, 1963-64, 1964-65
Birthday
December 9, 1943

Terry Mobley was born Terry Bailey Mobley on December 9, 1943, in Harrodsburg, Kentucky to Cecil Mobley and Beatrice Bailey Mobley.  Mobley played for Kentucky from 1962 to 1965, earning national attention for a clutch shot against Duke University during the Sugar Bowl Classic in 1963.  He went on to build the university’s fledgling fundraising efforts into a multimillion-dollar philanthropy system

Mobley found early fame as a 6’3″ basketball player from Harrodsburg.  When he was only 13 years old, he started his first high school basketball game.  He scored 22 points.  The widely-sought All-Stater posted a 23-point average in 1960-61 while leading his Harrodsburg team to an undefeated regular season his senior year.  A good student (he was president of his senior class) and clever ball handler, Mobley was also an excellent shooter, outstanding rebounder, and a fine leader.  He hit 94 percent of his free throws.  He was coached at one time in high school by former UK All-America Forest (Aggie) Sale.  Mobley reportedly had offers from more than 50 schools including several in the Southeastern Conference.  Mobley led his 11th Region team to an undefeated regular season.  He also starred as a catcher and .362 hitter in baseball and took part in cross-country running.

On April 1, 1961, with coach Adolph Rupp in attendance, Mobley signed to play for Kentucky.  He became the first boy from his hometown ever to play basketball at UK.

As a freshman at Kentucky, Mobley averaged 11.8 points per game for the Kittens.  He played in only 13 games but started 10 of those.  He ran into academic trouble in the second semester and missed some games however he did show signs of great potential when he did play.  He had a season-high 28 points against the Lexington YMCA.  He shot 82.6% from the charity stripe.

As a sophomore, Mobley was a key reserve seeing action in 18 games but got a starting job after teammate Chili Ishmael was lost due to academic difficulties for the second semester.  He was seventh on the team in scoring with 4.8 per game.  For the campaign, he contributed 87 points and 33 rebounds.  His high point effort came with 13 against Dartmouth.  Mobley particularly impressed with his poise under pressure, his drive toward the basket, and his ability to get open to hit underneath.  He connected at a 46.5 percent clip from the field at medium range and was 80.8 percent accurate at the charity line.

As a junior, Mobley was the team’s fourth leading scorer and rebounder. He tallied 255 points and grabbed 140 rebounds.  He played in 27 games, starting 25.  His best games were against North Carolina, on his 20th birthday, and Loyola of Chicago—he scored 21 against each.  Mobley was best known for a thrilling, 10-foot set shot with four seconds left of the 1963 Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans, propelling UK to a 81-79 over its nemesis Duke University. Kentucky had overcome a 10-point halftime deficit and was down by as many as 12 points in the first half.  The game was tied at 79-79 with one minute, 27 seconds left, and Mobley sank a corner shot to tie the score. With Duke having possession of the ball and the score tied at 79-79, the Blue Devils called a time-out with 59 seconds remaining. They came out of the huddle with the apparent intention of playing for the last shot. However, Ted Deeken batted the ball out of the hands of Hack Tison, and sophomore guard Tommy Kron snapped it up. Kentucky then called a timeout with 47 seconds left, playing for the final shot. Randy Embry dribbled the ball until he fired a pass to Mobley, who was the last Wildcat the Blue Devils expected to take the vital shot.  Herald-Leader columnist Mark Story declared it one of the 25 greatest clutch shots in UK history.

As a senior at Kentucky, Mobley played in 25 games.  He averaged 29 minutes per game and scored 226 points on the season for a per-game average of 9 points.  He hit 83% of his free-throws.  At season’s end, he was awarded the Chandler Trophy which is awarded to the player chosen by a secret committee as best exemplifying the qualities of leadership, scholarship, character, and ability.

Mobley went on to become one of UK’s administrative mainstays and a member of the Board of Trustees, who oversaw its first $1 billion capital campaign and even served as interim athletics director after a series of scandals.

After he graduated from UK in 1965, Mobley worked for IBM in Lexington. After several years, he returned to the school to work in UK’s fledgling fundraising apparatus, which took in about $3 million annually. He was named UK’s chief development officer in 1977. With his athletic connections and easy-going personality, Mobley grew the department in less than 20 years to almost $61 million a year.

In 2002, he became interim athletics director after then-director Larry Ivy resigned amidst a scathing athletics review commissioned by new UK President Lee Todd that found a culture that used tickets and booster groups as a patronage system under Ivy’s control. Earlier, the NCAA had put the UK football team on probation for recruiting violations and a lack of institutional control. Mobley oversaw numerous changes to the department, including tighter controls from the Board of Trustees, but did not apply for the permanent job, which went to current director Mitch Barnhart.

“As a still new president, Terry stepped in to serve as my interim AD during some very trying days,” former UK President Lee Todd said in a statement. “His high moral character, steady hand and always strong leadership solidified the department.”

Todd said the first $1 billion capital campaign overseen by Mobley “changed the culture of the University. It made us believe not only in our mission to be one of America’s leading universities, but in our role as a leader for the Commonwealth in addressing its most compelling challenges. Terry was through and through UK and will be sorely missed.”

Mobley also served on the board of the Business Partnership Foundation, Gluck Equine Research Foundation, Center on Aging Foundation, Mining Engineering Foundation, and the UK Development Council. In 2005, the Terry B. Mobley Philanthropy Awards were established. The annual awards are designed to recognize staff who have demonstrated outstanding performance and professional achievement in the philanthropy profession at UK.

Mobley was still on the Board of Trustees when President Eli Capilouto was hired in 2011.

“His focus was on service to the university, to his community, to his faith and to his family,” Capilouto said. “His wise, quiet and private counsel was a source of great comfort and help to me in my first years at UK. He always put the institution and its needs first, and I knew that when he spoke publicly, which was rare, that it was coming from a place of considerable reflection, thought and years of knowledge about the university and the Commonwealth.”

Mobley passed away on February 12, 2018, after a long illness. He is survived by his wife, Becky, and his children, Steve Stone and Mary Beth. His dedication to the University of Kentucky, his community, and his faith was unwavering, and his impact will be remembered for generations.

College Statistics:

Per Game

Season G GS MP FG FGA FG% FT FTA FT% TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
1962-63 18 14.2 1.8 3.9 .465 1.2 1.4 .808 1.8 0.6 1.2 4.8
1963-64 27 31.0 3.9 8.7 .449 1.6 2.1 .768 5.2 1.7 2.8 9.4
1964-65 25 3.3 7.1 .463 2.5 3.0 .827 3.2 2.0 9.0
Career 70 24.3 3.2 6.9 .457 1.8 2.2 .803 3.6 1.2 2.1 8.1

 

Totals

Season G GS MP FG FGA FG% FT FTA FT% TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
1962-63 18 256 33 71 .465 21 26 .808 33 11 22 87
1963-64 27 838 106 236 .449 43 56 .768 140 45 76 255
1964-65 25 82 177 .463 62 75 .827 79 51 226
Career 70 1094 221 484 .457 126 157 .803 252 56 149 568

 

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