Basil Ewing Hayden (May 19, 1899 – January 9, 2003) was an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

player and coach. A

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

native, he began playing the sport in the sixth grade and, after a year at

Transylvania University Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It was founded in 1780 and is the oldest university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is Higher educ ...

, transferred to the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

to study chemistry and play on the school's basketball squad. He captained the team to victory at the

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conferen ...

Championship and was named an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

for his efforts – the first basketball player to earn the honor at the University of Kentucky. After graduating in 1922 Hayden took on a number of different jobs and was called to coach the University of Kentucky's basketball team in 1926 following the departure of Ray Eklund. After a 3–13 record in his first year he was replaced with John Mauer and returned to his previous occupations. When he died in 2003, at the age of 103, he was the University of Kentucky's oldest former athlete, and his jersey is among those hung in the school's

Rupp Arena Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center is an arena located in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Since its opening in 1976, it has been the centerpiece of Central Bank Center (formerly Lexington Center), a convention and shopping facility ...

Early life

Hayden was born in Stanford, Kentucky; his father Joseph was a grocer, and his mother Annie (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

: Brown) was a tutor. He moved to

Paris, Kentucky Paris is a home rule-class city in Bourbon County, Kentucky, and the county seat. It lies northeast of Lexington on the Stoner Fork of the Licking River. It is part of the Lexington–Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2020, it ha ...

at an early age and began playing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

in the sixth grade, which he continued upon entering Paris High School. He was drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, but the conflict ended before he was shipped out. He entered

in 1918, intending to become a minister, but switched to the

the following year to study industrial

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. While there, he played

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and competed in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

, setting a school record.

Basketball career

Hayden joined the school's basketball team for the 1919–1920 season and was the squad's leading scorer with 133 points in 12 games, leading to an average of 11.8 points per game; no other player on the team scored more than 56 points or had an average greater than 7. While he slipped to 9.71 points per game the following year (and finished second in both points and average to rookie William King), he found success captaining the team to the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championship – the University of Kentucky's first victory at a major basketball tournament. He was named an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n in 1921, the first University of Kentucky basketball player to be so honored. He also had his highest-scoring game ever that season, scoring 20 points against

Georgetown College Georgetown College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Georgetown, Kentucky. Chartered in 1829, Georgetown was the first Baptist college west of the Appalachian Mountains. The college offers over 40 undergraduate degrees and a Mas ...

. He injured his knee in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

prior to his final 1921–1922 season but still finished with an average of 4.92 points per game, the third best average on the team that season and the fourth highest number of points. At the peak of his playing career he was 5'11", weighed 165 pounds, and was nicknamed "The Blond Adonis". His overall career statistics saw him amass 333 points in 39 games – an average of about 8.5 points per game. After his graduation Hayden moved to

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

to work for

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

but returned to Kentucky after the first summer because of

homesickness Homesickness is the distress caused by being away from home.Kerns, Brumariu, Abraham. Kathryn A., Laura E., Michelle M.(2009/04/13). Homesickness at summer camp. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 54. Its cognitive hallmark is preoccupying thoughts of home ...

. During the 1922–23 basketball season he coached at

Kentucky Wesleyan College Kentucky Wesleyan College (KWC) is a private Methodist college in Owensboro, Kentucky. Fall 2018 enrollment was 830 students. History Kentucky Wesleyan College was founded in 1858 by the Kentucky Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It ...

which was in Winchester at the time. In his one season at Kentucky Wesleyan he went 8–1. He then taught and coached at George Rogers Clark High School while taking a job in the insurance business in

Richmond, Kentucky Richmond is a home rule-class city in Madison County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 34,585 as of the 2020 census, making it the state's seventh-largest city. It is the principal city of the Richmond–Berea micropolitan area, wh ...

. In 1926 he was called to replace Ray Eklund as the head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky but was given only one week to prepare for the task with a team made up of unskilled members. The squad consisted primarily of football players, many of whom lacked the incentive to fully participate. The team finished with a 3–13 record, winning once against the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

and twice against

Centre College Centre College, formally Centre College of Kentucky, is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, United States. Chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819, the col ...

. When Harry Gamage was named the new head coach of the university's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

squad, he had Hayden replaced with John Mauer. The team would not have another losing season until 1988–89 under

Eddie Sutton Edward Eugene Sutton (March 12, 1936 – May 23, 2020) was an American college basketball coach. A native of Bucklin, Kansas, Sutton played college basketball at Oklahoma A&M (later Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball, Oklahoma State) and was a h ...

Later life

After his experiment with coaching, Hayden went returned to the insurance business and also worked as a banker,

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

, a hospital administrator, school teacher, and

state bank inspector. He also worked as the treasurer of a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

church until his mid-70s. He was a lifetime member of

Rotary International Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and p ...

and the

Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig or KSig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international Fraternities and sororities in North America, fr ...

Fraternity A fraternity (; whence, "wikt:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular ...

. He was married to Mary Hardin for 67 years until her death; he would remarry to Edna Lytle. At the time of his death on January 9, 2003, at the age of 103, his jersey was one of 41 retired jerseys hanging in

, (with his name only, as the jerseys did not have numbers during his era), and he was the oldest living former University of Kentucky athlete. As of 2009, he is the only one of the 49 University of Kentucky basketball All-Americans to have been born in the 19th century, as well as probably being the shortest. He is a member of the Paris High School Greyhound Hall of Fame.

Head coaching record

Basketball

References

External links

University of Kentucky Coaching Record for Basil Hayden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayden, Basil 1899 births 2003 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men centenarians American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Kentucky Basketball players from Kentucky Forwards (basketball) High school basketball coaches in the United States Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers football coaches Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers men's basketball coaches Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball coaches Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players People from Paris, Kentucky People from Stanford, Kentucky Transylvania University alumni