Rupp may have said some racial things, but that was common talk during that time. Although, I am sure he said many things that would get him barred from the sport today, he was far more liberal thinking than the rest of the SEC in terms of racial integration. Before any SEC teams had any black players, Rupp wanted to recruit them, but it was not really tolerated in the SEC. Some other teams, actually wanted Kentucky and Rupp out of the SEC for even considering recruiting black players. KET just aired a documentary on him, and they were reading actual hate mail letters from local fans and even athletic directors from other schools in the SEC sent to Rupp about his attempts to encourage the SEC to allow black atheletes. He coached high school basketball before taking on the UK job, and coached several black atheletes during his time there. So it really wasn't so much of a problem with Rupp as it was with the majority of the SEC. Then once black atheletes were allowed in the SEC, it was difficult for him to encourage them to attend UK, because of all the hate they would be subject to, especially on road games. He finally convinced Payne from louisville to attend in 1969, and even in the early 70's, fans from teams like Tennesse would chant racial slurs at him (I am talking the majority of the crowd). Rupp was just a product of his time, however, much more forward thinking than hollywood, or folklore want you to know about.

I still hope Cal. surpasses his record for starting a season, maybe add a couple banners in the next 10 years. What a turn around from last year.