Overview

Known as the ""Man in the Brown Suit"" and the ""Baron of the Bluegrass,"" Adolph Rupp (1901--1977) is a towering figure in the history of college athletics. In Adolph Rupp and the Rise of Kentucky Basketball, historian James Duane Bolin goes beyond the wins and losses to present the fullest account of Rupp's life to date based on more than one-hundred interviews with Rupp, his assistant coaches, former players, University of Kentucky presidents and faculty members, and his admirers and critics, as well as court transcripts, newspaper accounts, and other archival materials. His teams won four NCAA championships (1948, 1949, 1951, and 1958), the 1946 National Invitation Tournament title, and twenty-seven Southeastern Conference regular season titles. Rupp's influence on the game of college basketball and his impact on Kentucky culture are both much broader than his impressive record on the court. Bolin covers Rupp's early years -- from his rural upbringing in a German Mennonite family in Halstead, Kansas, through his undergraduate years at the University of Kansas playing on teams coached by Phog Allen and taking classes with James Naismith, the inventor of basketball -- to his success at Kentucky. This revealing portrait of a pivotal figure in American sports also exposes how college basketball changed, for better or worse, in the twentieth century.

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9780813177205

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Reviews

Rupp is meticulously researched (not unexpected given Bolin's stellar academic credentials and larger-than-life reputation as a scholar), with 38 pages of source notes at the conclusion of the Introduction, 14 chapters and Epilogue that form the architecture for this comprehensive exploration of a subject many in the commonwealth take almost as seriously as they do their religious convictions. The book also includes a 24-page black-and-white photo album in the center that helps to bring the text to life in a way that would not have been possible otherwise. I spent a considerable amount of time perusing these vintage pictures that span not only his coaching career, but his entire life as well....It would be hard to digest this manuscript without developing an enthusiasm for the monumental contributions of Rupp to intercollegiate athletics on multiple levels. At the same time, Bolin was careful to present an accurate portrait of Rupp, blemishes and all, an individual who was a product of the times in which he lived and worked. His views on race, for example, are the focus of the 11th chapter, Rupp and Race, which provides a balanced treatment of the issue at hand. Remember, Rupp was in the national spotlight during the height of the civil rights movement....I really enjoyed this one and my guess is that many readers - especially in this part of the country - will want to add it to their bookshelves. Highly recommended. -- Daily News, Bowling Green, KY In Adolph Rupp and the Rise of Kentucky Basketball, James Duane Bolin examines one of the country's storied college programs during a tumultuous time in our nation's history. -- Wall Street Journal

In Adolph Rupp and the Rise of Kentucky Basketball, James Duane Bolin examines one of the country's storied college programs during a tumultuous time in our nation's history. -- Wall Street Journal

Author Information

James Duane Bolin is professor emeritus of history at Murray State University. He is the author of Home and Away: A Professor's Journal, Bossism and Reform in a Southern City: Lexington, Kentucky, 1880-1940, and Kentucky Baptists, 1925--2000: A Story of Cooperation.

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