Questions surrounding the legacy of Adolph Rupp resurfaced last week when Kentucky’s department of African-American and Africana Studies stated in a letter to UK president Eli Capilouto, “The University should rename Rupp Arena.” The department argued that Rupp’s name “has come to stand for racism.”
The letter sparked a debate over how Rupp handled race relations in the 60s. It’s not a new conversation. In fact, Rupp spoke candidly about why he did not sign a Black basketball player until Tom Payne in 1969, six years after the school abolished the rule forbidding African-Americans from participating in athletic events and four years after Nate Northington broke the SEC color barrier as a Kentucky football player.