Jack Givens, right, helped UK win a a national title in 1978 and was a Lexington high school basketball standout.
Athletes who have made huge contributions to the University of Kentucky were inducted into the Lexington African-American Sports Hall of Fame.
Perhaps the biggest names were one-time high school rivals Jack Givens and James Lee, who helped UK reach the 1975 Final Four and win the 1978 national championship.
Givens, a Bryan Station High School graduate, was the Most Outstanding Player in the 1978 Final Four after he scored 41 points in the national title game against Duke. He was a three-time All-American and finished his UK career with 2,038 points, 793 rebounds, and 270 assists. He had a career field-goal percentage of 51.5. He currently does work for the UK Radio Network and is often on BBN Tonight on WLEX-TV.
Lee went to Henry Clay High School and was a terrific sixth man for the championship team. His power off the bench often demoralized other teams. He had 350 points, 165 rebounds and 37 assists in 31 games during the championship season when he earned all-SEC honors. He just missed making the 1,000-point club as he finished with 996 points, 589 rebounds and 128 assists.
Those with ties to the University of Kentucky include Dermontti Dawson, Tayna Fogle, Jack Givens, James Lee, Marc Logan, Dirk Minniefield, S.T. Roach and John Shelby. More information on each inductee is listed below.
Dawson and Logan were letterwinners for the Kentucky football program, while Givens, Lee and Minniefield starred for the Kentucky men’s basketball program. Fogle was a member of Kentucky women’s basketball’s 1982 Southeastern Conference championship squad. Shelby is the father of three Kentucky Wildcats as his sons John Shelby III, JaVon Shelby and Jaren Shelby all played baseball for UK. Roach was a member of the UK Athletics Board of Directors for many years.
Right after Lee and Givens left UK, Lafayette High School star Dirk Minniefield — Kentucky’s 1979 Mr. Basketball — arrived to play for coach Joe Hall. He was a three-time All-SEC performer and 1982 SEC Tournament MVP. He scored 1,069 points and also had 646 assists and 156 steals in 123 games.
One of the most successful Lexington athletes after he left UK was football player Dermontti Dawson. He was an all-SEC guard at Kentucky before being converted to center with the Pittsburgh Steelers where he was a seven-time Pro Bowl selection when he played in 170 straight games. The Bryan Station High School graduate was on UK’s 1984 Hall of Fame Bowl winning team.
Running back Marc Logan was MVP of the 1984 Hall of Fame Bowl when he scored two touchdowns. He set bowl records for longest kickoff return (85 yards) and longest play from scrimmage (63 yards). He finished his UK career with 2,360 total yards and 15 touchdowns before going on to a 10-year NFL career with Cincinnati, Miami, San Francisco and Washington.
Kentucky had not won a women’s basketball SEC Tournament championship since 1982 before winning one last season. Lafayette graduate Tayna Fogle averaged 10.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while shooting 47 percent from the field during the championship season. She played in 116 games and was named the team’s most improved player in 1981.
Also inducted was John Shelby, the father of brothers John Shelby III, JaVon Shelby and Jaren Shelby, who are believed to be the only three African-American brothers to play for UK baseball. Shelby graduated from Henry Clay High School and played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball and wonWorld Series titles with the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers.
