Joe Beasman Hall (November 30, 1928 – January 15, 2022) 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 ...

coach. He was the head coach at 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 ...

from 1972 to 1985, leading the Wildcats to a national championship in 1978.

Biography

Hall played one year of varsity basketball at Kentucky before transferring to the Sewanee: The University of the South, where he completed his basketball playing eligibility but did not graduate. After Sewanee, Hall toured with the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters is an American Exhibition game, exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 ...

and later returned to Kentucky to complete his undergraduate studies. Hall graduated from Kentucky in 1955. Hall previously coached at the Central Missouri State College (now the University of Central Missouri) and

Regis University Regis University ( ) is a Private university, private List of Jesuit educational institutions, Jesuit university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1877 by the Jesuits, Society of Jesus, the university offers more than 120 degrees th ...

before returning to Kentucky in 1965 to serve as an assistant coach under

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 ...

. When Rupp reached mandatory retirement age of 70, Hall was selected as the new coach on April 1, 1972. In his initial statements upon taking the job he made it clear that he would recruit black players to the team (previously there had only been three in the program's history). Hall made further waves by hiring the program's first black assistant coach;

Leonard Hamilton James Leonard Hamilton (born August 4, 1948) is an American former 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 ...

would serve as one of Kentucky's main recruiters and would later have great success as a head coach himself. In the 1978 NCAA tournament, he coached the Wildcats to their fifth

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the Division I level ...

. He was named National Coach of the Year in 1978 and

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

Coach of the Year on four occasions. His record at UK was 297–100, and 373–156 over his career. Along with the 1978 title, Hall also guided Kentucky to a runner-up finish to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

in the 1975 NCAA tournament, a

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

appearance in the 1984 NCAA tournament (losing to eventual champion Georgetown), and an NIT championship in 1976. He won eight

regular season championships and one

tournament championship. On September 18, 2012, the

unveiled a statue of Hall outside of the Wildcat Coal Lodge to commemorate his accomplishments at UK and his contributions toward the Wildcat Coal Lodge. The university said that the

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...

was produced over a period of eight months, beginning as a clay sculpture, then was cast in bronze. It was created by sculptor J. Brett Grill of Columbia, Missouri. Hall co-hosted a radio sports talk show with former

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

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 ...

head coach Denny Crum from March 2004 to October 2014. ''The Joe B. and Denny Show'' ended on October 30, 2014, after WVLK, the Lexington radio station from which Hall did his portion of the show, announced a change in format.

Personal life and death

Hall died at his residence in Lexington, Kentucky, on January 15, 2022, at the age of 93. He was buried at The Lexington Cemetery in

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 ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

University of Kentucky Coaching Record
at BigBlueHistory.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Joe B. 1928 births 2022 deaths American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Kentucky Basketball players from Lexington, Kentucky Central Missouri Mules basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in the United States Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball coaches Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players People from Cynthiana, Kentucky Regis Rangers men's basketball coaches Sewanee Tigers men's basketball players

Biography

Personal life and death

Head coaching record

See also

References

External links