Several members of the University of Kentucky faculty want the name of Rupp Arena changed.
Rupp Arena is named after legendary Kentucky basketball coach Adolph Rupp, who made the Wildcats a national power and brought four national titles to Lexington. (RELATED: David Hookstead is the real King At north When it comes to college football)
Faculty members from the Department of African American and African Studies stated the following in part in a letter:
The university should rename Rupp Arena. Adolph Rupp’s name has come to represent racism and exclusion in UK athletics and alienates black students, fans and assistants. The rebuilding of the arena and the convention center offer the opportunity to change the name to a much more inclusive one, such as Wildcat Arena. Additionally, the University should inspect all campus buildings and remove all names of enslavers, Confederate sympathizers (such as William CP Breckinridge), and other white supremacists.
The biggest problem with Rupp was the fact that he didn’t join the Wildcats for a long time, and lost to Texas Western in the 1966 title game, which is covered in the movie “Glory Road.” According to A Sea of Blue, the Wildcats “began actively recruiting black players in the mid-1960s.”
As I say with all these name change proposals, we must be very careful before rushing down this path. At the end of the day, it will be a Kentucky decision.
The people involved with the Wildcats will make a decision about Rupp Arena.
This is what I will say and it is what I will always say. Judging people of decades ago by today’s standards is a very bad idea.
Under that standard, we have to erase our entire history. Rupp started training in the early 1930s season and performed in the early 1970s.
Guess what, folks? The world was a little different in 1930 in Kentucky than it is now. All-white sports teams used to be one thing.
This is how the world worked. Do you think I’m kidding? The Alabama football team was not integrated until the 1970s! Should Bear Bryant be removed from the history books? Of course, no!
Adolph Rupp is one of the best basketball coaches the world has ever seen. He won four national titles for Kentucky and did so in a different era.
Yes, he did not integrate Kentucky in the vast majority of his career. Does that make him the devil? I’m not so sure it will. It seems that it was a product of the times, and should not be erased for that. If you get rid of Rupp’s incredible legacy, then you should get rid of Bear Bryant and all the other coaches you led with white teams decades and decades ago.
It just doesn’t make sense.
We’ll see what Kentucky decides to do, but this is a dangerous way to go. Judging historical figures by today’s standards is incredibly stupid.
H / T: Outkick
