Kevin Grevey - From The Rafters of Rupp

[Music] I was very fortunate to grow up in an active family brothers and sisters mother and father who you know valued exercise and sports and so we played tennis we played golf we did things as a family my dad was a basketball player at Xavier back in the late 40s and so as long as I can remember little boy I had a basketball in my hand and a basket in the backyard and it was something I could do with my brothers and something I could do with my dad first person I wanted to beat on the basketball court was my older sister so the bar was not extremely high when I got started and then it was my mother my mom was a pretty good athlete played a lot of tennis and she was very competitive and board games didn't matter what it was and so not only was I playing a lot of different sports but I also wanted to win at a young age I hated losing in anything and I think by the time I was 13 years old I was the best player in a family we had really great high school teams in southern Ohio Hamilton Ohio was in a very it was a hotbed for talent at that time when I was growing up they won a state championship in 61 and won in 62 so I was like eight nine ten years old going on the high school games watching the best team in the state of Ohio and that coach was well known as a terrific coach and when I started playing organized basketball in junior high school that high school coach would come to the junior high school coach and direct how he wanted to see the team play what kind of offense well he was feeding us the work you know the right way to play at a very young age and so when I got the high school I was well prepared and he was way ahead of his game his name was Mark McGowan and Marv he was the president of the high Ohio High School basketball association when I became a sophomore in Kentucky so that tells you and what a scheme he was thought of among his own peers as coaches your dad was a coach and and that's a big advantage to be able to talk basketball learn how to play the right way and it was a extreme advantage for me to have a coach that I had in my high school and to this day my dad and my high school coach are the two most important people in my life certainly in the southern Ohio area Fred Taylor from Ohio State Tay Baker from University of Cincinnati Darryl Hedrick from Miami of Ohio Don Danaher from Dayton and I named just the school's within maybe you know 6070 miles from my high school and that's where I thought I was going to go and the better that I played my sophomore and then by my junior year pretty much I was getting you know 150 200 letters and you know all the big schools not John wounds from UCLA not Bobby Knight from Indiana I was waiting on that letter never got it but the highest program was Kentucky probably you know I remember my dad saying you know all these schools that we've been watching and and in the early 60s Ohio State Cincinnati were trading for NCAA Championships Kentucky was good but they weren't as good as a high o stay in Cincinnati I thought they were and he said no Kevin Kentucky if you think you're really good you want to go to a school like Kentucky so you know I kind of went under the radar I saw Pistol Pete play here in an unofficial visit saw him score you know 55 points saw pianist I saw these guys and my official visit came later after my basketball season my senior year I was kind of late and getting that official was huntin burglars Pizza has been proudly serving communities across America for over 25 years down low the Hunt Brothers Pizza app to find one of our 7500 locations inside a convenience store near you are you a sporting shooter hunter or looking for the best concealed carry option Bud's gun shop and range is Kentucky's largest selection of firearms ammunition and fire are accessories located on industry road in Lexington I love coach Hall when he was recruiting me nobody was you know more engaging with my family I knew my parents in the back of mine mine wanted me to go to Kentucky but I wanted to stay open-minded myself be honest with you I started wanting to started doubting whether I wanted to go to Kentucky I felt too much pressure although my parents would deny that there was any at all one day I made a decision to go to Miami of Ohio and I signed a letter of intent with Darryl Hedrick and I signed it in the driveway and I came back in I said boy I've just the pressures gone mom dad I just signed I said with Kentucky I write and I said no with Miami well I saw just the life come out of their bodies when I told them I had signed in the driveway with the Miami and I had a date that night I was so excited I was going out with this girl at night I see all these blue Cadillacs coming up a driveway and it was coach all tl plane you know Dickie Parsons I mean the Cavalry's coming up my driveway and I looked at my parents what are they doing here they said we called coach and we told him what you had done so I was really mad at my parents and I wanted to go out the back door and you know and so now I don't go up with this pretty girl I've washed his car for nothing and now I got to talk to these Kentucky coaches and and they said just go down with Coach Hall just two hours it's a short ride from Hamilton Ohio which is about an hour 15 minutes watch the game and come I wasn't real happy and but I got in the car in coach Hall and coach Parsons and coach TL playing the three of them put me in the back seat and they're like what's wrong with you Miami Ohio you know what did they offer you first of all because how could they even be in the same breath of Kentucky you know and I'm like well because I know those guys and I know you know the coaches and so on and they said well this is unbelievable you know so the whole drive down was they were belittling Miami of Ohio and wondering what kind of sane mind I was that I wouldn't you know want to go to Kentucky and so you know I always felt like if that decision failed you know I Miami would have an open door for me and it never did and you know I was the best decision I ever made thank God my parents and the coaches stayed with me because I don't know what would have happened that gone to Miami [Music] Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance big on commitment we never set out to being the largest auto dealer in Kentucky he just set out to provide people reliable vehicles and great customer service and for the last 50 years that's what we've done my first game as a varsity player Kentucky was I was against Michigan State at Michigan State and I took three shots I scored six points and I thought I played pretty well that game we beat Michigan State and I remember my mom and dad were at the game they were like God what was wrong with you you're scared to death that don't worry you don't want to hear your parents tell you that stuff they were right I was scared to death man you were the co Player of the Year in has deceived with window Hudson from Alabama well the best play on our team was Jim Anders the best player in the conference was me how do you figure well the reason I think I was player of the year in the SEC really was I had a stretch you know what hot is like I got white-hot the last eight games of the the conference I was averaging about 12 points a game and then I went you know 30 32 36 40 of every game I was exceeding my season and career high for about six eight games and we end up winning the SEC Championship by convincingly beating Tennessee at home the last game of the regular season I missed curfew and and I wasn't in my bed and so coach Hall decided to wait on me so he laid in my bed and I didn't come home that night and he slept in my my the whole night and then he left a notice that Kevin hope you had a nice evening I hope you had fun when you get a chance come by the office I like to talk to you joby hall and I thought my teammates had done this I said damn that looks like he's writing those dirty dogs why would they do that so I never called because I knew it had to be lot Mueller or hail or Guyot or somebody messing with me and about 10 o'clock I get a message you know Coach halls looking for you and I said why is he looking for me I said you guys are really good at making up a joke I swear I didn't believe that a man would sleep in my bed a coach and would do that when I bought noon I realized the joke it's not a joke this really happened so I had to go over there with my tail between my legs and he suspended me for a game so I don't know how many games that play but there was one I didn't play in and that was because I yeah I miss curfew did all kinds of stuff to avoid curfew and to have fun and that's all stories get carried away actually that that was when I tripped on the bicycle chain in front of Holmes Hall I had my hands in my pocket it was a crisp winter day and I wasn't doing anything wrong god I had actually had books under this hand and I had a sandwich under this hand and I was like this walking and I had these pegged blue jeans you know back when they wore him real tight and my toe caught the chain I went face-first and so because my hands were my pocket I landed like that on the concrete to save from going doing a pancake and the bone went through both of my I mean dingo food by my leather jacket but I stood up my arms were numb and I noticed blood come out of both of my hands I went oh my god what'd I do and I had a friend he was standing next to me took my jacket off and I had punctured both elbows so I had to play the rest of that season that was my junior year you know you got to use him elbows man when you're playing it was hurt I was hurt the coal industries had a big impact on my life my grandfather was a coal miner my father was a coal miner coal is the largest driving force and our local economy that's why I'm a friend of coal double dogs is a great place to eat in a single word delicious playing in Bloomington as you know assembly halls from the toughest places to play I had beat Indiana yet and this is the best team I'd ever been on I thought we were gonna have a chance to beat them you know those fans were unbelievable is pi the toughest environment ever played in and everything was shot I took was missed and we were down by about 30 and coach took all of us starters out we'd put our reserves in and Bobby Knight he kept his starters out and I was sitting next to coach hall you know and I heard him saying to the assistant coaches how bad does he want to beat us and then finally you know they scored another basket and he looked down at Bobby Knight and he said Bobby what's going on you know you're dead you got us by 30 I got mine my sub sent and he said you coach your game I'll coach mine Joe and that's when they met and that's when the back slap and you know the glasses go flying and I can be very now look back Bobby Knight did us a great favor fraud being such a jerk coach Hall he took the high road he didn't whine about it in the media but he just said to us remember what happened fellas I got a feeling we're gonna see these guys again we don't win a championship without going through Bobby Knight in Indiana it was way before the game even started it was not a shoot around actually it was the practice the day before the game in Dayton Ohio and ud Arena and I remember coach Hoff kicking out the CBS broadcasters one of the broadcaster's was Jerry Lucas who was a teammate of Bobby Knight and he told him I know who you formed get out of here he Bates a civil coach we're allowed to be here we got CBS passes can't happen today but he kicked him out of the arena and we talked about how we were gonna go fight through the moving screens he caught him pancakes he want us to run in and drop those Indiana players just put your shoulder into him take him out we got all these fouls to give we're gonna give them we're not gonna be intimidated like we were on Bloomington so it started way before the game we were very very satisfied with ourselves upsetting Indiana it was undefeated and Bobby Knight saying this might be the best team he's ever coached and it was a great team and we did everything we needed to do to get to that point but we still got a championship and two games left a highlight my career we went to the NC double-a finals then it was probably the biggest thrill I ever had we were a little deflated that Louisville didn't beat UCLA alright so there's a bit of a disappointment if coach would have probably done it over here after we played that game was should have gone back to the hotel because we wanted Louisville and that every guy wanted them and when we saw the way they lost the deflating way they lost I'll be honest with there was a little disappointment never did I ever think we'd have any chance losing from UCLA and then the first time I ever heard of cameras come on to me and they said coach would just announced his retirement said tomorrow night's game is gonna be his last game as a coach how do you feel about that and I'll be honest with that and know how to answer it you know and coach Hall standing next to me it was a coach player interview and he answered two question for me he said what's news we just heard that I don't think it's gonna make it at a difference and I remarked telling everybody because it was just he and I the heard the question goes on the bus and he announced was what is taking place so that's another kind of a negative you know then we hear this in I remember my dad going back to the hotel and we had a team meal and then after the meal I said hey what coach say about that John would return before the game and I said dad's not gonna make a bit of difference at all we're better than them is not amazing well that's interesting because you guys are like four points favorite yesterday now you're one point favorite so if somebody thinks it makes a difference that's third mistake my dad should have never said that to me and it just went like that you know is you know so it had an effect on our psyche and had a big effect on UCLA players those guys played like champions and you know I was surprised well what we were seeing because we didn't see it on film we didn't see it against Louisville they were lucky to win but man were they good that [Music] every MBA team had a representative like back in the all-star game at that time you had to have a representative and Bob ferry he called Wes Unseld he won availably called Elvin Hayes he wasn't available called somebody else and and and I just happened to pick up my phone I was ready to get on a plane I was coming to work a basketball camp and here in Kentucky it's a camera you home I said yeah I said you have your game jersey at the house I said I think I might he's again on a plane go to Atlanta represent two bullets for the CBS workhorse contest thank God Johnson were Bob I don't know if I can't he said of gonna pay two thousand dollars just for showing up surely you're gonna do it right and I said yeah I'll do it I wasn't his first call I was like the fifth call well it gave me great confidence because I did real well as you mentioned in advance and there was a couple things that happened then he gave me confidence that you know after my rookie year which wasn't the best year I could play on this level but what these guys didn't know that I was competing with us I had played horse since obviously little kid now they're on my turf you know they can't block my shot nobody's gonna out quick me I'm gonna be creative and come up with stuff and man I had more tricks I had us not Pete Maravich tricks Pete was the master you know magician but I had stuff that these guys Jojo white I destroyed him in that horse contest and Rudy T and these guys because they were two straight-up basketball players they didn't have the creativity and I did and I was a backup shooting guard and starting small forward when Phil got hurt they moved me to guard and then Bob Ferry signed Bobby Dandridge to be the small forward you know unfortunately for Phil but that injury we would have never signed Bob Dandridge if he had got hurt I would have never been the shooting guard so you have to be ready for an opportunity and I was and I took care of it and it just seemed to you know that that year are obviously Wesen elven having been to Championships and never won they were motivated man they talked about it often you know we got we're gonna have another opportunity I don't take care of it left-handed great shooter play for Coach Hall I think those guys lost to UCLA so you know my career you know is great but I don't I don't really look back too much you know I don't I really don't I don't reflect a lot like you would think I'm you know I can't watch the old picture some video of my kids I get all teary on I get sad like oh my god what happened where did time go you know or when I look back I hate watching myself play I'm probably my worst critic I watched me play you know and in college in the black and white film Kyle I don't like looking back be honest with you afraid of my why what I might see [Music] you

Channel: From The Rafters of Rupp

Views: 2,577

Rating: 4.8888888 out of 5

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Id: 0JxOjEoCr8o

Length: 20min 11sec (1211 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 19 2020