DANA KIRK
Kentucky is Churchill Downs, fried okra, the UK Wildcats in Rupp Arena, mint juleps, southern belles in fancy hats, moonshine whiskey, thoroughbred horses, cornbread, hillbillies,and the Louisville Cardinals in Freedom Hall.
Kentucky is Churchill Downs, fried okra, the UK Wildcats in Rupp Arena, mint juleps, southern belles in fancy hats, moonshine whiskey, thoroughbred horses, cornbread, hillbillies,and the Louisville Cardinals in Freedom Hall.
Tennessee is Graceland, bbq ribs, UT Volunteers football in Neyland Stadium, The Grand Ole Opry, bourbon whiskey, walking horses, rednecks, and the University of Memphis Tigers in the Fed Ex Forum.
I lived in Paducah, Kentucky for two years, having started my collegiate athletic career at Paducah Community College in the far western part of the state where the Ohio River separates Missouri, Kentucky, and Illinois. It was here that I found a slower, more comfortable pace of life. The weather was a bit warmer, folks a little friendlier, and a 9 AM meeting signified anytime between 9:15 and 10:45. Traveling via station wagon on the junior college circuit, I got to sample all the Bluegrass State had to offer in the mid 70’s. Although excited to begin my division one basketball career at Memphis State after my two years at Paducah had ended, it was a melancholy exit leaving such warm and friendly people behind. Fortunately for me, I found much of the same southern hospitality in Memphis.
Fittingly, I played my last minutes of college basketball at Freedom Hall versus the Louisville Cardinals in the Metro Conference tournament held there in 1979. We were being blown out, and I was relegated to my normal garbage time appearance. I scored three points in about 2 minutes of playing time as my disappointing basketball career came to an end. Although bitter at being overlooked by the Memphis State staff that included assistants Larry Finch, Lee Fowler, and Head Coach Dana Kirk, I took the high road after the game and thanked them for allowing me to finish what I had started and conclude my hard court career after I had switched sports and scholarships for football in 1978.
Dana Kirk was a bit of an odd sort and an eccentric. A former assistant coach under Denny Crum at Louisville, he had knowledge of the game combined with a hustler’s mentality….always looking for an angle or an edge. Even thought he took the MSU Tigers to the promised land of the final four in 1985 before bowing out to eventual champion Villanova and had an overall record of 158-58, it was living on the edge that cost him his job after the 1986 season when he was convicted on federal charges of income tax evasion. He spent four months in a minimum security prison after that season, and never coached college basketball again.
I read that he died last week of a heart attack at the age of 74. He was a good coach but a flawed individual. My last memories of him were at Freedom Hall. Unfortunately for Dana Kirk…..he lost his freedom and his career with one careless mistake in 1986. And even the friendliest of people in the south weren’t able to overlook that.
Fittingly, I played my last minutes of college basketball at Freedom Hall versus the Louisville Cardinals in the Metro Conference tournament held there in 1979. We were being blown out, and I was relegated to my normal garbage time appearance. I scored three points in about 2 minutes of playing time as my disappointing basketball career came to an end. Although bitter at being overlooked by the Memphis State staff that included assistants Larry Finch, Lee Fowler, and Head Coach Dana Kirk, I took the high road after the game and thanked them for allowing me to finish what I had started and conclude my hard court career after I had switched sports and scholarships for football in 1978.
Dana Kirk was a bit of an odd sort and an eccentric. A former assistant coach under Denny Crum at Louisville, he had knowledge of the game combined with a hustler’s mentality….always looking for an angle or an edge. Even thought he took the MSU Tigers to the promised land of the final four in 1985 before bowing out to eventual champion Villanova and had an overall record of 158-58, it was living on the edge that cost him his job after the 1986 season when he was convicted on federal charges of income tax evasion. He spent four months in a minimum security prison after that season, and never coached college basketball again.
I read that he died last week of a heart attack at the age of 74. He was a good coach but a flawed individual. My last memories of him were at Freedom Hall. Unfortunately for Dana Kirk…..he lost his freedom and his career with one careless mistake in 1986. And even the friendliest of people in the south weren’t able to overlook that.
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