Kentucky Football Coaches & Captains

[NewWildcatOrder]

John Ray (1969-1972)

During his UK career John Ray was credited with driving the Commonwealth Stadium building project to completion. Though he would not see his own team play in the stadium he was the primary driving force for bringing it to fruition.

1)South Bend -- Happy family -- The family of Notre Dame Assistant Head Coach (John Ray) was a happy group Friday night, after the University of Kentucky announced that he would be the Wildcats new head football coach. Left-to-Right Debbie Ann 10 years, Kathy 12 years, Mrs John (Barbara) Ray and Chris 8 years seated next to his mother. Not in picture is Jeff 14 years who was in bed with influenza. (1968)

2) December 13, 1968: NEW COACH AT UK -- The new University of Kentucky football coach, John Ray, said he will name a seven-man assistant coaching staff to coordinate recruiting "as soon as possible.". The 41-year old native of South Bend, Ind. was formerly chief defensive coach at Dame. (AP Wirephoto). Kentucky Wildcats Football Coach John Ray Press Photo

[NewWildcatOrder]

Blanton Collier (1954-1961)

Blanton Collier
2/10/1954 Blanton Collier, assistant coach at the professional team, Cleveland Browns, leaves to become coach at the University of Kentucky.

2) Blanton Collier family:
Married in 1931 to Miss Mary Forman Varden, the Colliers have three daughters: Carolyn, 21 attends the University of Kentucky, Kay 17, a student at Henry Clay High School and, Jane, 15, goes to Morton Middle School.

1962-01-02: Kentucky buys out the remaining three years on Blanton Collier's contract. He would go on to coach the Cleveland Browns to a Superbowl.

[NewWildcatOrder]

1954:

1) 1954 - University of Kentucky coach Blanton Collier instructs Billy Mitchell during the season opener against the University of Maryland in 1954. The game was Blanton's debut as UK's coach. Louisville Courier-Journal File Photo

2) Football Coach Blanton Collier gets victory ride after UK defeats Tennessee, 14-13, in his first season as head coach; photo appears on page 190 in the University of Kentucky: A Pictorial History by Carl B. Cone

I have some of the call by Claude Sullivan for the 1954 Tennessee vs Kentucky game, but cannot upload the mp3 format. See if this link works for you:

https://exploreuk.uky.edu/catalog/xt754746qt9q_15_8


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[Matt Dillon]

I never met coach Ray, but he seemed like a likable person. I was very disappointed that he failed at UK. If I'm not mistaken, Collier still has the best record of any UK fb coach vs. UT.

[NewWildcatOrder]

I never met coach Ray, but he seemed like a likable person. I was very disappointed that he failed at UK. If I'm not mistaken, Collier still has the best record of any UK fb coach vs. UT.

I'm with you on John Ray, they say he was the heir apparent of Ara Parseghian at Notre Dame. I think the reason why he failed is that he was so optimistic. He came to town with the thought that he could beat everybody, but the fans bought in and he couldn't live up to expectations. Oops I guess that was Blanton Collier that left the cupboard bare, but his own roster was thin when he took the job Charlie Bradshaw also left the cupboard threadbare. But Ray didn't have the bodies to compete early in his tenure.

Blanton Collier could've easily become our best coach, in my humble opinion, with a little patience from the administration and fanbase. He was a different kind of coach - ahead of his time. As savage as The Bear and Charlie Bradshaw were to the players, Blanton was kind and encouraging. He learned to coach by watching the Cleveland Browns head man, Paul Brown, coaching the young enlisted men at the Great Lakes Naval Training Base in Illinois. During wartime college teams often played teams made up of the young recruits on military bases. Paul "Bear" Bryant coached an Air Force flight school in North Carolina before he came to fame. I'll share a program for the Fort Knox team here




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[NewWildcatOrder]

Charlie Bradshaw (1962-1968)

(Jan. 10)--NEW COACH--Charlie Bradshaw, assistant football coach at Alabama, was named Wednesday as head coach at the University of Kentucky, his alma mater. AP WIREPHOTO 1962

[NewWildcatOrder]

1963: Excerpt from University Of Kentucky vs. Virginia Tech Football Game Program advertised the football radio broadcast.

[NewWildcatOrder]

The team and the book, Thin Thirty, would define the Charlie Bradshaw coaching tenure.

[NewWildcatOrder]

1951 Co-Captains, Doug Moseley and Babe Parilli, appeared in the football game program for Kentucky vs. Tennessee Tech.



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[NewWildcatOrder]

Albert "Ab" Dennis Kirwin
(1938 - 1944)

In 1938 "Ab" Kirwan returned to his collegiate alma mater as head football coach. The first Kentucky alumnus to hold the coaching job, his teams compiled a record of 24 wins, 28 losses, and four ties. Following his coaching career he went on to many other roles within the University both in academics and collegiate sports (SEC and NCAA), including as the president of the University of Kentucky from 1968-70 prior to his sudden death in 1971.

Here he is shown with University of Kentucky administrators from a 1942 Kentucky
vs. Alabama football game program.

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[NewWildcatOrder]

1939 Coaching Staff:

UK football coaching staff, (top row,left to right) Joe Rupert, Gene Myers, (bottom row, left to right) Frank Moseley, Ab Kirwan (head coach), and Bernie Shively (Athletics Director and line coach), 1939; photo appears in the Cincinnati Enquirer with caption reading "Presented above are the men who have prepared the University of Kentucky Wildcats unbeaten and untied in four starts, for the invasion of Xavier Stadium in the homecoming fracas Saturday afternoon".

[NewWildcatOrder]

1938 Captain UK Football was shown in the football game program for Kentucky vs Alabama

Kentucky Player Page (1)-1938 UK Game Program •(Clockwise from left): Captain Sherman Hinkebein, Luther Linden-T, Joe Shepherd-QB, Tom Spickard-G, Harold Black-C, Carol Combs-HB. Source:UK Archives.

2)
1938 Kentucky Wildcats Football Center Sherman Hinkebein Press Photo

[NewWildcatOrder]

1931 Captain UK Football: John Sims "Shipwreck" Kelly

1931 - John Sims "Shipwreck" Kelly As shown in the 1931 Kentuckian Yearbook. UK Archives: UK Digital Library [exploreUK.uky.edu].

[NewWildcatOrder]

1931 UK Football Coaches:

left to right, Lloyd Ramsey, Frank Moseley, Albert (Ab) Kirwan, Bernie Shively (head coach), Gene Myers, and Joe Rupert; photographer: Lafayette Studios, Lexington

[Matt Dillon]

Charlie Bradshaw (1962-1968)

(Jan. 10)--NEW COACH--Charlie Bradshaw, assistant football coach at Alabama, was named Wednesday as head coach at the University of Kentucky, his alma mater. AP WIREPHOTO 1962

Any mention of Charlie Bradshaw and I immediately think of "The Thin Thirty".