College recruiting is an intense process, and the introduction of the Internet, social media, and cell phones has made it much more demanding and comprehensive. Before all of that came along recruiting was a more personal process, and the University of Kentucky showcased that.
In the 1950s UK basketball had a big change in how they went about recruiting. They made a deal with WHAS radio out of Louisville, which meant that their games would be broadcast hundreds of miles. This greatly impacted how University of Kentucky went about recruiting because now prospective players outside of Kentucky in Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and even up into Pennsylvania and New Jersey could hear UK basketball games on the radio. Even Adolph Rupp, when he was coaching, would finish a game and go straight to WHAS radio to do a postgame show to continue reaching a wider audience.
Louie Dampier’s story of how he got recruited to UK illustrates the personal aspect of recruiting. Dampier explained how UK relied on their recruiters to sign players and had never heard of him. They were looking at a player in Columbus, Indiana and asked if there were any other players in the area they should look at and they mentioned Louie Dampier. Rupp himself went to watch Dampier play at Butler Field House where he had a fantastic first half. However, the second half did not go as well. Luckily for him, Rupp only stayed for the first half and left with a great impression of him, and ultimately signed him to University of Kentucky.
In the late 60s UK recruited around a 250-mile radius from Lexington, and anyone within that area they looked at, but anyone much more beyond that they didn’t hear much about. Jim Andrews grew up in Michigan but moved to Ohio his senior year of high school. Around that same time Joe B. Hall, who was the assistant to Adolph Rupp, was driving to Finley Ohio to investigate another recruit. He stopped to get gas and started to make small talk with the gas station attendant and asked if there were any good basketball players around. The attendant went on to explain that there was a kid who just moved from Michigan who was averaging 36 points a game and 22 rebounds; Hall went to watch Andrews play that night. Andrews recalls Hall telling him that story and saying that he doesn’t even remember the name of the other kid he was going to see in Ohio. Andrews went on to play for UK and became a two time All SEC Performer.
University of Kentucky greatly relied on print media, mainly newspapers, to aid in their recruiting process. Jim Andrews recalls walking in on Monday’s and seeing stacks of newspapers on the floor for the coaches to search through. If players weren’t in the newspaper, the coaches would have no idea about them.
Dan Issel’s story of recruitment also demonstrate UK’s old-school personal recruitment style. Coach Joe B. Hall called Issel one day and told him he was in Batavia, where Issel lived, and asked if he could stop by. Issel agreed but said he had a date at 7:30. Hall came by and 7:30 rolled around and Issel left; but Hall stayed. Issel came back around 11:00 and Hall was still there, talking with his mother as his father had already gone to bed. Hall ended up staying in town for a few days and even went to work with Issel’s father for a couple days. Hall’s persistence paid off as Issel agreed to visit UK, and ultimately signed with them.
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