The WUKY SportsPage
It's time to turn to the WUKY SportsPage with your host Keith Elkins. . .revealing conversations and stories you thought you knew from prominent Kentucky sports figures.
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Ravi Moss, a walk-on at Kentucky under coach Tubby Smith from 2002-2006, worked his way into a prominent role with his three-point shooting and all-around game. He also has a promising broadcasting career, working several UK games, and takes a look at the current Wildcats from that perspective.
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Chip Rupp was a division I college basketball player at Vanderbilt and West Virginia. Before that, he played on Henry Clay High School’s 1983 state championship team. He's also the grandson of legendary UK basketball coach Adolph Rupp. In this interview, he provides a wide range of memories of his famous grandfather, as well as insight into his own background in basketball — which included cutting down the nets at Rupp and playing in the SEC.
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Cisco Bryant was a wide receiver at Kentucky from 1982-85. He’s also a UK football parent. His son Ty is a starter at defensive back for the Wildcats. In this conversation, Cisco talks about his UK career and teammates, playing in the SEC for coach Jerry Claiborne, and his role as a parent and coach.
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Kevin Cook is the author of the recently-published book Memorial Coliseum: 75 Years as Monument, Stage and Arena. He combines an extensive collection of photos and text to look back at the history of the building, including the years leading up to its construction. The Coliseum has served as a war memorial, the home of University of Kentucky men’s basketball from 1950 until the move to Rupp Arena in 1976, and the site of many major events, including visits by Presidents Eisenhower, Johnson and Ford. Now known as Historic Memorial Coliseum after a major renovation in 2024, the updated Coliseum is the home of the women’s basketball, volleyball, gymnastics and stunt teams.
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Todd Svoboda, a fan favorite on Kentucky’s 1992-93 Final Four team, was a star at Northern Kentucky for three seasons before transferring to UK to join the Wildcats and complete his engineering degree. In 2014, he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer. His fight against the disease has continued since then, with several recurrences. In this conversation with host Keith Elkins, Todd talks about the battle with cancer, but also about his year with Rick Pitino’s Wildcats, including his first meeting with the coach.
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Bill Ransdell is a member of the UK Athletics Hall of Fame, and one of the outstanding quarterbacks in UK history. Playing from 1983-86, he set Kentucky season records for most offensive plays, total offense, pass attempts, pass completions, passing yardage, completion percentage and consecutive passes without an interception. He established school career records at that time for total offense, total offensive plays, pass completions, passing yardage and completion percentage. He helped lead the Wildcats to a 9-3 record and Hall of Fame Bowl victory in 1984. In this conversation, he talks about playing for coach Jerry Claiborne, his early experience in football, including a camp run by then-Indiana coach Lee Corso, and the leadership and the decision-making skills required of a quarterback, among other topics. He also offers his outlook on the 2025 Wildcats.
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Lloyd Gardner has had an amazing career in basketball, and is still active today. He is a member of the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame and the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. He coached Fairdale High School to the 1994 boys state championship, and was an assistant on two other championship teams at Fairdale. He organized and continues to coordinate the King of the Bluegrass Tournament, one of the leading high school tournaments in the country since he started it in 1981. Before all that, he was the trainer, equipment manager and traveling secretary of the Kentucky Colonels, who won the ABA championship 50 years ago. He talks about it all on this edition of the WUKY SportsPage.
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Oliver Simmons was a member of Kentucky’s national championship team of 1996. He was recruited to UK by coach Rick Pitino after a high school career in which he was named Tennessee’s Mr. Basketball in 1994 and 1995. Simmons and other reserves worked their way through the same difficult Pitino practices and training as the stars who saw most of the playing time. The roster contained nine future NBA players, including current UK coach Mark Pope. Early in his sophomore season, Simmons transferred to Florida State, where he played for two and a half years and started a total of 47 games for the Seminoles. Simmons has had a long career in teaching and coaching. He and his family live in Stewartville, Minnesota, but he keeps up with the Wildcats and has some great memories of his time at UK. Here, he talks about the experience of being on a championship team and his long-standing relationships with his teammates, as well as some of the challenges of being part of the UK program in that era.
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On the eve of another UK basketball postseason former Wildcat great Kyle Macy is our guest in this edition of the WUKY SportsPage. Kyle Macy is a member of the UK Athletics Hall of Fame and a three-time All-American at Kentucky who helped lead the Wildcats to the 1978 NCAA basketball championship. In this conversation with Keith Elkins he talks about tournament time, and the challenges it presents for players and coaches, including this year’s Wildcat team. He also covers the 1978 championship run, the intense fan interest in UK basketball, and his lifelong connection to the game, which began when he accompanied his father, a longtime coach in college and high school, to games and practices. In addition, he provides insights into his NBA experiences, including time as Michael Jordan’s teammate early in Jordan’s career with the Chicago Bulls. His own project, “From the Rafters of Rupp,” in which he interviews some of UK’s greatest stars, gives fans another perspective of UK basketball history.
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Sean Woods is a member of the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame, and is one of four players who are known as the Unforgettables. Woods, John Pelphrey, Richie Farmer and Deron Feldhaus were at Kentucky in the late 1980s when there was a coaching change and a probation period, but they all decided to stay at UK for their entire college careers. They eventually led the team to an NCAA regional final in 1992, the first year that Kentucky was allowed to compete in the NCAA tournament following probation. Woods is still UK’s all-time leader in assists per game at 5.3. He has been a head coach in college at Morehead State, Mississippi Valley State and Southern University for a total of 14 seasons. He played in high school at Indianapolis Cathedral, and was named to the Indiana All-Star team for the games against the Kentucky All-Stars in 1988. In addition to the Unforgettables and their decisions to stay at UK, we talked about his coaching career, and Indiana high school basketball in general, including his start in basketball in East Chicago before he moved to Indianapolis.