John Lloyd Crigler (May 31, 1936 – December 1, 2012) was an American basketball player best known as a starting

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for the "Fiddlin' Five," 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. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

's 1958 NCAA championship team. Crigler, a 6'3" forward from Hebron, Kentucky, played three years for the Wildcats from 1955 to 1958. As a junior in 1956–57, Crigler was fourth on the team in scoring at 10.1

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by nu ...

as the team went 23–5 and were

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

champions. As a senior in 1957–58, Crigler increased his scoring to 13.6 per game and helped lead the Wildcats to the 1958 NCAA championship. Crigler had 14 points and 14 rebounds in the final against

Seattle University Seattle University (SeattleU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington. Seattle University is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate prog ...

, led by Elgin Baylor. Following the close of his Kentucky career, Crigler became a high school teacher, coach and administrator at Scott County High School in Georgetown, Kentucky for more than 40 years. Crigler died on December 1, 2012.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Crigler, John 1936 births 2012 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball players from Kentucky Forwards (basketball) High school basketball coaches in Kentucky Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players People from Hebron, Kentucky Sportspeople from the Cincinnati metropolitan area