Frank Ramsey, a native Kentuckian whose basketball legacy includes helping the University of Kentucky win the 1951 national championship, then becoming the original Sixth Man of the Boston Celtics and ultimately induction in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982, died Sunday morning in his hometown of Madisonville. He would have turned 87 on Friday.
Richard Clark, a funeral director at the Barnett Strother Funeral Home in Madisonville, confirmed Ramsey’s death.
Ramsey teamed with Cliff Hagan on UK teams that won 86 of 91 games in the early 1950s. UK had a 32-2 record en route to winning the 1951 NCAA Tournament.