Charles "Jock" Sutherland (March 14, 1928 – November 20, 2023) is an American basketball coach from

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

, who was inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame.

Biography

Jock Sutherland was born and grew up in the shadows of 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 ...

's Alumni Gym and Memorial Coliseum. From an early age basketball was his first love. As a youngster he sneaked into the gym to watch Kentucky basketball practices under the legendary coach

Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed the "Baron of the Bluegrass", he coached the University of Kentucky Wildcats to four NCAA Division I men's basketball tournam ...

. He played high school basketball at Lafayette for coach Ralph Carlisle, and as a senior was the team's leading scorer. With Carlisle's encouragement he developed an ambition to become a high school coach. During Sutherland's high school coaching career he took teams from three different schools to

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 ...

's state high school basketball tournament (the Sweet Sixteen): Gallatin County High School in 1959, Harrison County High School in 1966 and Lafayette High School in 1979. After his Lafayette team won the state tournament in 1979 Sutherland retired from coaching, and for twenty years worked as a color man and analyst for University of Louisville basketball broadcasts on WHAS Radio in Louisville. He remains a longtime Cardinal favorite in retirement. As an Alabama assistant coach under

C. M. Newton Charles Martin Newton (February 2, 1930 – June 4, 2018) was an American collegiate basketball player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Transylvania University from 1956 to 1968, the University ...

, he was a groundbreaker in the integration of college sports in 1969 when he recruited

Wendell Hudson Wendell Hudson (born April 16, 1951) is a retired American basketball player and former Associate Athletics Director for Alumni Relations and the former women's basketball program head coach of Alabama Crimson Tide women's basketball. In 1969, H ...

, the first black to participate in varsity sports for the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

. In 1958

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

designated Sutherland "The Quickest Thinking Coach in America." In 1999 Sutherland was inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame. Sutherland died on November 20, 2023, at the age of 95.

References

Sources

''Jock: A Coach's Story'' (Wind Publications, 2010) by Stuart Warner
* ''Every Step of the Way: Louisville's Road to the National Championship'' (Falsoft, April 1987) by Jock Sutherland and John Crawley
University of Alabama Athletics Department web site
* “Quickest Thinking State Coach? He’s Gallatin Co.’s Sutherland,” by Earl Cox, ''The Courier-Journal'', January 12, 1958 * “Alabama Signs Black Athlete,” United Press International, April 27, 1969 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland, Jock 1928 births 2023 deaths High school basketball coaches in Kentucky University of Louisville people Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball coaches