Former UK All-American Kenny Walker grew to love coach Joe Hall even more after his basketball career ended. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kenny Walker cannot help but wonder sometimes what his collegiate career would have been like for him and his UK teammates if there had been NIL opportunities then.
“We had so many stars on the teams I was on that I think we would have all done really well with that stuff (NIL),” Walker said.
Walker’s teammates included Sam Bowie, Melvin Turpin, Jim Master, Winston Bennett, Dicky Beal, James Blackmon and Roger Harden.
“On the other hand, it made us better men staying in school longer. We got a chance to grow on and off the court at a natural pace,” Walker said. “It is tough to have kids thinking down the line and getting as much money as they possibly can now or they hit the transfer portal.”
Walker did not always see eye-to-eye with former UK coach Joe Hall during his career — he was on Hall’s last team and then finished his UK career playing for coach Eddie Sutton.
“I would say coach Hall and I were close when I played but over the years we became great friends,” Walker, who played in the NBA for the New York Knicks. “We ate lunch together. We traveled together if he needed me. About a month before he passed away I got a chance to visit.
“He did not say a lot. He just listened to me talk and rubbed the top of my head. That just made me smile. He always wanted us to be clean shaven and I had a beard but he still rubbed my head. He even had a little beard and I had never seen that so that was kind of funny.”
Hall passed about three years ago at age 93. He won almost 300 games, including the 1978 national title, at UK and led the Cats to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances.
“I loved coach Hall . He was a disciplinarian but he was fair,” Walker said. “He always had our best interests at heart. He protected us from ourselves. We wondered why we had a curfew, dress code and other stuff but he knew we were under a spotlight and looked out for us. It took me a while to learn to appreciate that.”
