Blog Post #10, Joe B. Hall

Now in this post I want to talk about Coach Joe B. Hall. Although he doesn’t coach the men’s basketball team he is still very active in the basketball community and he is still very active here in the University of Kentucky. He was very important to Memorial Coliseum’s history.

Coach Joe B. Hall was yet another amazing men’s basketball coach here at the University of the Kentucky. Hall took over for Rupp as head coach for the men’s basketball team when Rupp was forced to retire in 1972. Hall had a lot of ahead of him and that was expected of him when Rupp left. Hall more than rose to that challenges. He was titled SEC coach of the year three times in a row. That is absolutely astounding; imagine not only being the best in your field but being the best for three years in a row that’s awesome.

Coach Hall had contributed something to the men’s basketball that no one would have every thought would get this big. Midnight Madness. Coach Hall was the first coach in Kentucky’s history to start this tradition. Then Midnight Madness was held in Memorial Coliseum. Midnight Madness was actually held at midnight or real close to it. In 2005 Memorial Coliseum was under construction to build on the new training facility for the teams. While Memorial Coliseum was being constructed on they could not allow people into the building so they had to move the festivities of Midnight Madness to Rupp Arena. Now Midnight Madness is held at Rupp Arena due to the large amounts of people who want to attend it. The event now starts at about 7pm instead of midnight.

Joe B. Hall was also the coach that made the jump from playing in memorial Coliseum to the men’s basketball team playing at Rupp Arena, in the 1970’s.

Works cited.

Web. 31 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ukathletics.com/>.

Blog Post #7: "Baron of the Blugrass"

Memorial coliseum is so much more than just a gym for our volleyball team, our women’s basketball team, and our gymnastics team. Memorial coliseum was built in 1950 to pay homage to those from Kentucky who served in World War 1 and World War 2. This location has seen things that will shock you. It was home to the men’s basketball team before Rupp Arena was built. The men’s basketball team is just as important to memorial coliseums history.

The men’s basketball team had two coaches while they played and performed in memorial coliseum. Coach Adolph Rupp and Coach Joe B. Hall. Both of these men where amazing at what they had done and they both transformed men’s basketball at the University of Kentucky into what it is today.

Adolph Rupp was an amazing basketball coach from Halsted, Kansas. By the end of his career he had amassed a total of 876 victories. Rupp was quite a strict coach and he told you how it was. Rupp had quite an amazing legacy here in Kentucky. Not many here in Kentucky would argue with you if you were to say that Rupp was the best coach here at the University of Kentucky. He had one year that was an unwinning year in the 42 years that he had coached here.

One thing that stuck with Rupp’s legacy though was the fact that he was a racist. The most infamous game in his entire career that continued speculation on whether or not he was a racist was the championship game between Texas Western and the University of Kentucky. Where Texas Western had five starting African American players and where the University of Kentucky had five white starters. Rupp had only ever gotten one black player in his entire 42 years here at the University of Kentucky.

Now in the earlier paragraphs I talked about Coach Joe B. Hall I was planning on talking about him in this post but I found more on Adolph Rupp than I had expected so I will talk about Coach Joe B. Hall in the next post.

Works cited.

Carter, Bob. "Rupp: Baron of the Bluegrass." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2014. <http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Rupp_Adolph.html>.

Web. 31 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ukathletics.com/>.

What is needed in a documentary.

So for my group we are going to be making a video documentary on Memorial Coliseum. I have never made a documentary before. I see a documentary as a video that is on a topic that is well known, most of the time. The topic in the film has some purpose for being documented. Whether that purpose is to save the subject from extinction or to inform people of the topic.

1.       Depending on how you and your group’s purpose certain areas of the topic need to be thoroughly and well documented. So basically making sure that the audience can understand what your purpose is, you don’t want to have a documentary where your audience has no idea what you are trying to say or do.

2.       Next your documentary should have a captivating presentation style, such as do something that will get people’s attention and make them remember your video. So like a time line that’s done as a sports real, something like that. Make it interesting!

3.       Make sure that all of your main points connect to each other. You don’t want your documentary to be scatter brained; no one would understand what the purpose is. I know that I don’t enjoy sitting and watching someone who is throwing random main points at you.

4.       Make sure that you get all the facts that you need into your documentary. Don’t just add facts to add time, you are going to want to make sure all of your points connect so that everything leads back to your purpose.

5.       Make sure you have visuals.

6.       Make sure that you have an equal amount of visuals and words/facts. You are going to want to find that perfect balance.

7.       Make sure that in the end you connect back to your thesis and purpose.

Proposal Experience.

My proposal experience was quite interesting. When I was looking up information on the alumni association I found that they had done a lot of work for the University of Kentucky. This organization, if being looked into, could come out to have lots of information on how they had impacted the University of Kentucky’s campus, although this information would not have appealed to some. I had really enjoyed looking through all of the scholarships that the alumni association offered here. I learned that when picking topics for a presentation that I should look and see what would appeal to the students in class with me than just what would appeal to me to write about. If I had to do this proposal all over again I probably would have picked Rupp Arena or Memorial Coliseum instead. I would have chosen differently not because I think that the alumni association is dumb or anything but that it didn't appeal to people like it did to me. And Rupp Arena and Memorial Coliseum would appeal better toy people in my opinion. One problem that I found with trying to get research for this topic of scholarships is that there really was only one source that I could find which was the alumni association page. The information was quite reliable but there was not much depth to it. The information was really to the point, which is good for just trying to sign up for the scholarship. But when it came to research the information was not good enough especially if you have multiple questions about the scholarships. Or more in depth questions about the scholarships. Something that was good about the research was that the information was all in one area so I didn't have to do very much digging. So basically my one good thing was also my downfall. 

Memorial Coliseum's Schedules.

I wanted to get this post out so that students in our class can go and visit Memorial Coliseum and experience it for themselves. I have been in Memorial Coliseum a total of three times so far this year. With being in the band I have the opportunity all the time to go into this great facility and play and interact with the teams and show my school spirit. The first time I was there was for the freshman induction ceremony to play with the band. The last two times I have been there has to attend volleyball games and play with the band. I have never particularly been interested in the sport of volleyball. I strongly encourage all of you in class to try at least one game. They are a lot of fun to take part in.

Here soon basketball season is starting up. This coming Friday is Midnight Madness. For those of you who don’t know what Midnight Madness is or have never been its pretty much when Kentucky gets to meet this year’s basketball teams, both men’s and women’s. It’s an amazing event that I highly suggest you try to go and see it, although this takes place in Rupp Arena not Memorial Coliseum.

My main goal for this post is to get people involved in Memorial Coliseum. In the last two times that I have been there the attendance for the volleyball games has been quite low and truthfully sad. I have been to several men’s basketball games and there is rarely an empty seat. Which makes me wonder what is wrong with Memorial?

Why are has there been a loss in attendance for sports that take place at Memorial Coliseum but not for sports that take place at Rupp Arena?

It can’t be that the teams that play at Memorial Coliseum are terrible because the volleyball team is literally undefeated and they are ranked 8^th in the nation. I watched yesterday as they pulverized Auburn beating them in three sets easy.

Could it just be that there isn't enough promotion of the programs that play at Memorial Coliseum?

Do people even know about the teams that play there and how good they are?

Do people even care about Memorial?

Listed below I have links to the women’s basketball and volleyball schedules. I hope that those who read this post are more interested in going and checking out Memorial for yourself.

Women’s Basketball: http://www.ukathletics.com/sports/w-baskbl/sched/kty-w-baskbl-sched.html

Women’s Volleyball: http://www.ukathletics.com/sports/w-volley/sched/kty-w-volley-sched.html

Works cited.

Web. 13 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ukathletics.com/>.

Interviews of Memorial Coliseum.

Interviewees:

1.    Joe B. Hall- Mr. Hall was the men’s basketball coach while the men’s basketball team was still housed at Memorial. It was around this time that Rupp Arena was being built. Mr. Hall was the coach who had also opened up with the men’s basketball team playing there. Interviewing Mr. Hall would be more beneficial because he was actually there. He was there with Adolph Rupp until Mr. Rupp retired, giving Mr. Hall the men’s basketball coaching position.

2.    Matthew Mitchell- Interviewing Coach Mitchell would be a good choice because his team plays at Memorial all the time. He is the coach of the women’s basketball team here at UK. Maybe potentially giving us insight into if Memorial will be getting any new renovations that would help to increase community participation in games.

3.    Craig Skinner- Coach Skinner is the volleyball coach here at UK. Coach Skinner could potentially give us some insight into how he feels about Memorial and the future that it may have.

Questions:

1.    For Mr. Hall, Why did the men’s basketball team make the move to Rupp Arena when it was built?

2.    All, Do you believe that adding more seating to Memorial Coliseum will make it more popular in a sense that Memorial Coliseum will be as famous and big as Rupp Arena?

3.    All, What was/is one of the best moments that you and your team had at Memorial?

4.    Coach Mitchell and Coach Skinner, Do you believe that in the future that your team will make the transfer over to Rupp Arena? Why or why not?

5.    All, What do you think of personally when you think of Memorial?

6.    Coach Mitchell and Coach Skinner, Are there any issues that you are having now at Memorial that you feel should be fixed?

7.    All, What was the draw for you to be in Kentucky and to coach here at the university?

8.    Mr. Hall, Was the move over to Rupp Arena easy to assimilate to? Why or why not?

9.    Coach Mitchell and Coach Skinner, Has the new training facility come in handy for you and your team?

10.   Mr. Hall, When you were at Memorial where did your team practice?