- Name
- Vincent Splane
- Position
- Forward
- Class
- Junior
- Hometown (Last School)
- Madisonville, KY
- Ht
- 6'1"
- Wt
- 180
- Seasons
- 1941-42
- Birthday
- November 30, 1921
Vincent Splane was born Vincent DePaul Splane, Jr. on November 30, 1921, in Paintsville, Kentucky to Geneva and Vincent Depaul Splane, Sr. Splane was a 6’1″ lefty forward who played for the Kentucky Wildcats basketball team during the 1941-42 season.
Splane played football and basketball for Madisonville High School.
Splane played on the freshmen team at Kentucky and progressed to earn a varsity letter his sophomore year. He played in 11 games and scored a career total of 39 points. His career high came on his first career start on December 22, 1941, when he scored 11 points by “dunking three goals,” according to the Courier-Journal, and canning 5 charity tosses. That team went on to win the 1942 SEC championship.
He was also a member of the Sigma Nu social fraternity.
Splane enlisted into the Army Air Corps as a student pilot on April 1, 1942, effectively ending his athletic career at UK. He was commissioned a second lieutenant upon graduation of the Army Flying School at Blackland Field, Waco, Texas in April of 1943 and was assigned to duty with the 13th Air Force on four-engine Liberator bombers in the south Pacific. Splane was promoted to captain and married Treva Whayne on April 16, 1944, in Fulton, Kentucky. Following their honeymoon, Splane and his wife returned to Miami, Florida while Splane awaited further orders.
With the end of the war came the end of Splane’s military career. Upon leaving, he enrolled at Southwestern University in Memphis where he continued his basketball career.
Splane continued his education at the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry where he graduated in 1949.
Splane, of Middleburg, Florida, passed away on October 24, 1989.
