Coach Hall: My Life On and Off the Court

Coach Hall: My Life On and Off the Court

Overview

Until I was nine or ten, everyone called me Joe or Joe Hall. Then one day, my grandmother, for reasons known only to her, pulled me aside, telling me my name was "too short and too plain." She said, "Let's add your middle initial to make it more interesting. From now on, you say your name is Joe B., not just Joe. It's Joe B. Hall."

Joe B. Hall is one of only three men to both play on an NCAA championship team (1949, Kentucky) and coach an NCAA championship team (1978, Kentucky), and the only one to do so for the same school. In this riveting memoir, Hall presents intimate details about his remarkable life on and off the court. He reveals never-before-heard stories about memorable players, coaches, and friends and expresses the joys and fulfillments of his rewarding life and career. During his thirteen years as head coach at the University of Kentucky, from 1972 to 1985, Joe B. Hall led the team to 297 victories. The most memorable of these is the 1978 NCAA Men's Division Basketball Championship. This legendary coach followed in the colossal footsteps of Adolph Rupp to chart his own path to success and become one of college basketball's all-time greats and winningest coaches.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780813178561
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Publication date: 11/19/2019
Pages: 248
Sales rank: 781,540
Product dimensions: 6.30(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Joe B. Hall was the head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky from 1972 to 1985. He had previously coached at Central Missouri State University and Regis University before coming to UK in 1965 to serve as an assistant coach under Adolph Rupp. In the 1978 NCAA Tournament, he coached the Wildcats to their fifth NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. He was named National Coach of the Year in 1978 and Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year on four different occasions. His record at UK was 297—100, and 373—156 over his career.

Marianne Walker is a retired professor of English and philosophy at Henderson Community College. She is the author of  Margaret Mitchell and John Marsh: The Love Story Behind Gone With the Wind and The Graves County Boys: A Tale of Kentucky Basketball, Perseverance, and the Unlikely Championship of the Cuba Cubs.

Table of Contents

Foreword Rick Bozich ix

Prologue: Kevin Grevey's Awakening xiii

1 Why "Joe B. Hall"? 1

2 Hard Times 4

3 The Epiphany 7

4 Back to Kentucky 10

5 Fishing 13

6 Teenage Years 17

7 Football 21

8 My Early Influences and Role Models 23

9 About Working 28

10 Wildcats' World, 1944-1947 31

11 A UK Freshman 34

12 First Practice, 1947 37

13 The Fabulous Five 45

14 Sewanee 51

15 My World Tour 56

16 Katharine 61

17 Shepherdsville 67

18 Regis College 70

19 Great Opportunity 73

20 Adjusting to Coach Rupp's Routines 78

21 More Adjusting to Coach Rupp's Routines 84

22 Recruiting 91

23 Beginning of the End, 1967 103

24 The Heir Apparent, 1969-1970 108

25 The Agony, 1971-1972 113

26 UK Head Coach, 1972 119

27 Australian Tour, 1974 125

28 The Avengers! 1975 129

29 John Wooden's Ploy: NCAA, 1975 136

30 Running the Wall 141

31 About Boys Being Boys 144

32 Wildcat Lodge 148

33 NCAA Championship, 1978 159

34 That Georgetown Game, 1984 165

35 Life After Coaching 168

36 Farewell 176

37 My Thank-You Note 180

Acknowledgments 188

Index 191

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The conversational tone of this book evokes the sense that Coach Hall is sitting right across the table from you, telling his life story for the very first time." -- Doug Brunk, author of Forty Minutes to Glory: Inside the Kentucky Wildcats' 1978 Championship Season

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