William Poyntz

William Poyntz was born William Lawrence Poyntz on July 24, 1902, to Benjamin Bayless Poyntz and Katherine “Kate” Thompson Lawrence Poyntz. He grew up in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, and graduated from Holmes High School in 1920 before enrolling at the University of Kentucky to study mechanical engineering. During his collegiate years, he became active in campus life through the Theta Chapter of Kappa Alpha, the University Band, Phi Mu Alpha, the Lyre Club, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the F. Paul Anderson Engineering Society, and the prestigious “K” Association. His senior yearbook also reflects his participation in basketball during all four years at Kentucky.

Poyntz joined Coach George Buchheit’s basketball program as a freshman in 1920 and quickly earned a place on the varsity roster. He was a member of Kentucky’s 1921 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship team, traveling with the Wildcats to the Southern Tournament in Atlanta. Contemporary accounts consistently praised his steady improvement, and by the 1921–22 season he was competing for significant playing time at forward. He scored six points against Marshall and added another point against Centre before the season concluded. The 1922 Kentuckian described him as a player who “always put up a creditable performance” whenever given the opportunity and predicted he was likely to become “one of the best forwards in the South.”

Entering the 1922–23 season, Poyntz was expected to form part of the nucleus of Kentucky’s team, but a preseason foot injury limited his availability and cost him the opening portion of the schedule. Despite the setback, he returned to appear in three games, officially scoring 10 points on three field goals and four free throws. His best performances came in a four-point effort against Georgia and a six-point outing against Cincinnati. As a senior in 1923–24, he provided experienced depth to a talented Wildcat squad led by Jimmy McFarland, Will Milward, and teammates who would help usher Kentucky into a new era. He appeared in several games, including contests against Sewanee, Clemson, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute, scoring one point against both Sewanee and Clemson as Kentucky rolled to another successful season.

Away from athletics, Poyntz was equally accomplished as an engineering student. He progressed through the College of Engineering as a mechanical engineering major, participated in the 25th Annual Senior Engineering Inspection Trip, where the senior class toured industrial facilities in Pittsburgh, Niagara Falls, and Buffalo, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. His involvement in both athletics and engineering reflected the well-rounded student experience that characterized many Kentucky athletes of the era.

After graduating from Kentucky, Poyntz married Dorothea Boyd and built a successful career as a mechanical engineer with the Webb Engineering Company in Detroit, where he worked for two decades. He and his wife raised a daughter, Susan. Poyntz died on September 2, 1960, at the age of 57. Funeral services were held in Lexington, where he was buried. Remembered as a man of integrity and a respected engineer, he also left his mark on Kentucky basketball as a member of the Wildcats’ first Southern championship team and one of the accomplished scholar-athletes of the George Buchheit era.