Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones]
[Moderated by Matt Jones]
A piece of Kentucky basketball died today. Mr. Bill Keightley is not simply the equipment manager for the University of Kentucky basketball team. That may be his official title but it does not even touch the surface of who Keightley really is and what he represents. More so that any one player, coach or administrator could ever be, Mr. Bill is Kentucky basketball.
College athletics are by their very nature a transitory business. Players and coaches come and go depending on their ability or job status and while each makes their own mark on the program, it moves forward no matter who is at its core. But not Mr. Keightley. For Bill Keightley has been, like so many of the fans who adore him, a mainstay of Kentucky basketball through times of great turmoil and triumph. While others moved on, he stayed. And as the names on the backs of the jerseys changed and the signs on the head coach’s office were altered, Bill Keightley remained. Seated in his standard seat at the end of the bench, no matter who was fortunate enough to be next to him, he was the representative of the true UK program. Unlike everyone else, he cannot be replaced.
Keightley’s life in many ways parallels the life of so many Kentucky fans like him. He was born in a small town in 1926 (Lawrenceburg) and attended high school at a community school so small, it no longer exists (Kavanaugh High School). Like so many of his great generation, he joined the armed forces in 1944 and fought in the United States Marine Corps. After receiving a job working in the postal service, he agreed to help a friend on the side who had a second job as equipment manager for the UK basketball team.
Beginning in 1962, he started work with the UK basketball program under Adolph Rupp and ten years later, he became the head Equipment Manager. During that time, he worked for six coaches, was a part of three national championship teams and handled the equipment of countless college basketball legends. In a position that is usually done with no fanfare and receives virtually no attention from fans, Keightley quietly, and with dignity, became a legend himself. Along with his good friend and fellow UK legend Cawood Ledford, Keightley was the one constant of the UK program, a face that could be counted on in good times and in bad times to oversee whatever was taking place in the UK basketball world.
And what things Mr. Bill saw! He was there when Rupp’s Runts lost to Texas Western in 1966, Dan Issel set every UK record imaginable, the Cats dropped the championship game to John Wooden in his last tournament appearance, Jack Givens went for 41 to bring home a title, the Dream Game against his true rival Louisville came to fruition, Walker, Bowie and Turpin had the Commonwealth rolling, probation nearly brought the empire down, a young coach from New York named Pitino brought it back, the Unforgettables had their heart broken against Duke, Jamal Mashburn made the Cats great again, the 1996 team set a standard for dominance, Tubby and the Comeback Cats took the 1998 title, Tayshaun hit five threes in a row against UNC, the 2003 Cats went undefeated in the SEC for the first time ever and Billy Clyde began a new era. He saw every part of the last 46 YEARS of basketball at Kentucky from the best seat in the house…and he loved every minute of it, for at his core he was a fan just like the rest of us.
And therein lies the reason that so many Kentuckians are so devastated around the Commonwealth today. It isnt simply that a legend has died or that someone associated with the program is now gone. It is that the true representative of the Kentucky fan has passed away. In an age when big-time college athletics can be about everything but the game, Bill Keightley was like all the fans that adored him around the state. He loved the kids who wore the jersey with Kentucky on the front and they loved him back. I have never heard one player call him any name that didnt star with “Mr.” Their love and respect for him was uniform and genuine. He also loved the coaches who led them into battle every night and all of them have a special connection with the man. I personally have heard Joe B Hall, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith and Billy Gillispie speak of him in reverential terms and the sight of the latter coach meeting him just before his introductory press conference is one I will remember for all time. But most importantly, Mr. Keightley simply loved the Big Blue. A year or so ago, I asked him why he continued to do the job and he said, “its not a job, its just me loving my life.” Every time I saw Bill Keightley at a game, he had a smile on his face. He looked genuinely excited at the chance to be a part of a Big Blue event….just like any other fan would.
When one tries to describe the UK basketball program and the affection that its fans have towards it to those from elsewhere, it is almost impossible to quantify. Basketball in Kentucky means so much more to the people of the Commonwealth than can be rationally understood by outsiders. But one person who did understand it is Bill Keightley. He dedicated a good part of his life to being a part of its experiences and to being the face of Kentucky basketball to an entire state of supporters. He was a kind and gentle man, always quick with a smile, story or simply a salute. He was the type of person who could hold Billy Donovan’s attention just minutes before a game, but would also tell a young kid with a blog congrats on passing the bar. He had time to give to everyone who wanted time from him and he enjoyed every moment of it. He represented all that is good about the Kentucky basketball program and why it is so special to so many. Today we lost a piece of Kentucky basketball and one that cannot be replaced.
Mr. Bill Keightley, age 81. He will be missed.
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Bill Keightley Report : Never to be forgotten.
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April 1st, 2008 at 12:12 am
Good bye Sir!
April 1st, 2008 at 12:14 am
Matt this is a truly great post!
April 1st, 2008 at 12:15 am
you will always be remembered mr. keightley! and always hold a special seat in my heart! we will miss you!
April 1st, 2008 at 12:15 am
Great piece Matt…..he will be sorely missed
April 1st, 2008 at 12:18 am
Heaven just got the best equipment manager they’ll ever need, and an even better friend.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:22 am
Well Done Sir.
I didn’t even know the man but I knew him so deeply at the same time. I feel so sorry for those who knew him and loved him.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:24 am
I can’t even go to sleep thinking about this.. Ugh
April 1st, 2008 at 12:26 am
I’m a true lurker on the boards, but this it heartbreaking. I’ve tried my best to deal with this but it’s hard. I was a diehard Dale Earhnardt fan and his death is the only thing I can compare this to in terms of someone I never had the priviledge of meeting. He wasn’t a coach, a player, or even an assistant… but he was Kentucky basketball. He lived to cheer the team we love, for 46 years on the sideline.
There is something gone tonight that can never be replaced. The heart of Wildcat Nation is hurting. We will go on but we will never be the same. God blees you Mr. Keightley… Mr. Wildcat, and thank you for all you have done to make our program and the world a better place.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:37 am
I know there has been some sense of struggle this past year in defining what to call this team. We’ve all batted around nicknames because at Kentucky we name our great teams. I feel like this past year’s team truly deserves a name to showcase their heart and determination in trying to turn our program in the right direction. And no one, ever, has had more true UK blue in his heart than Mr. Bill Keightley. To say this team mirrors his grace, power, heart and determination is an understatement. To this end, I vote we forever call the 2007-08 UK Men’s Basketball team “Bill’s Boys.” Or some other fitting tribute befitting him. His name is in the rafters, his seat will never be filled. And to truly honor him is to name a team after him so future generations can get some sense of what he meant to this team and this university.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:37 am
Excellent post Matt. This is an unfortunate circumstance as we all loved to see Keightley rooting the team on from his customary seat. I sure hope the athletic department has BIG plans for honoring him and his family. I would be in favor of naming the court “Keightley Court at Rupp Arena.”
April 1st, 2008 at 12:42 am
Well said Matt.
Bill was the ambassador of KY Basketball for almost 50 yrs. He had a rare abiltiy to be everyones friend, regardless of who you were or weren’t. He was total class. His influence on UK basketball has been off the charts.
No doubt he made a difference in his time here on earth.
He will be missed!
April 1st, 2008 at 12:53 am
I was sad about this and then I read your post it brought tears to my eyes. Excellent writing and I will truly miss Mr. Wildcat. There will never be another Bill Keightly and for that I am most sad. That seat at the end of the bench should never hold another man. Leave the end of the bench open so Bill’s soul can come down to see the team he loved so much anytime he wants.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:57 am
Well said, Matt. One of your best posts. You expressed a lot of what I was feeling and others would no doubt agree.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:08 am
Bill Keightley has the highest honor anyone associated with the Kentucky program could get, a retired jersey hanging in Rupp arena forever. It was presented to him while he was still alive so that he could enjoy the priviledge and honor after an extremely long service to the University.
He is one of 2 people to ever get that honor who didn’t coach or play for the team (Caywood also has a retired jersey).
There is no honor higher than that. It is the top, hanging above us for eternity.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:20 am
we need to keep his seat empty on the bench at Rupp and at every away game!!!
just passed coach leaving Lodge just before 1, looked like he had a long day. I would see those two out together all the time, especially at Sal’s after games.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:28 am
An ex-NFLer once said please let me pass away after the season’s over… to which I thought, let me pass after I know the outcome of the UK season.
Here’s to “Mr. Wildcat” seeing his last full season of UK bball AND it ending on a somewhat positive upswing. he’ll truly be missed.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:42 am
Wow. I’ve been going back in forth between all the UK boards tonight and the more I read, the harder it seems to handle. When I first saw the news tonight about 8:30, I don’t think it fully hit me. However, as the night has worn on, seeing everyone’s comments and true heartfelt sorrow from all of UK fans, it’s been hard to take. Seeing Mr. Wildcat in some of these pics has been very difficult as well. The pic of he and Anthony Epps hugging was a tough one to take. If I remember correctly, right after the 97 title game ended, Epps began to cry and who was here for the big hug to console him, but Mr. Wildcat.
April 1st, 2008 at 2:12 am
Why can’t all UK fans be like Mr. Wildcat. He was without doubt the
greatest Cat fan in the history of Kentucky Basketball. Never did he
have a bad word or negative outlook for a player that suited up for
the big Blue. Some of our fans could use Mr. Wildcat as an example
of how real passionate fans behave and talk about our boys in Blue.
He was the ultimate fan of UK sports and for basketball especially.
God now has the best equipment manager ever to walk the face of the
his earth. May God bless his family and I hope they know how everybody
loved Mr. Wildcat, Bill Keightley. Rest in peace Bill, we all love ya!
April 1st, 2008 at 3:01 am
Great post Matt. Mr.Basketball will truly be missed. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr.Wildcat when I was
11 years old at Slick Ricks UK basketball camp. Mr. Wildcat was truly a great person, he seemed like a grandpa to everyone.
I will truly miss him as everyone in the big bluegrass will. Rest in Peace Bill.
April 1st, 2008 at 3:02 am
Truly sad. Great write-up, Matt. I want to add just one thought:
One source of pride in UK I have had since 9/11/01 has been that the U.S. flag was not placed on the team uniforms, unlike so many other schools. I am told I have Mr. Keightley to thank for that, what with his service in the Marine Corps and attention to detail in knowing that instead of honoring the flag and our veterans by adding it as a decoration to a uniform during this time of war, you are properly honoring it, the veterans, and the U.S. by NOT adding it. As a service member myself, that little nuance has often made me proud; and I hope the athletic department and we remember why we don’t have the Stars and Stripes on the unis.
Thank you, Mr. Keightley, for even the little things you brought to UK basketball.
April 1st, 2008 at 3:23 am
Rest in peace Mr. Wildcat.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:18 am
In our sadness, let us try to find solace in this: Mr. Wildcat had a tumor growing on his spine. For many reasons, the probability is high that this would have went undetected until the cancer had spread throughout his body. After all, how often do any of us go to the doctor for a physical and he or she orders a CaT scan or MRI on our spines? When doctors would have found the problem, it would have been too late. Mr. Keightley would have endured a lot of pain and suffering battling the cancer, and it most likely would have killed him. But–God’s will or whatever–his passing was probably relatively painless compared to the alternative. A brief fall, internal bleeding that isn’t painful (he was joking on the way to the hospital), and sudden arrest. But, this is a sad day for the BBN.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:49 am
Mr. Wildcat will be truly missed. What a man of character and class!
April 1st, 2008 at 7:07 am
Truly a sad day…
April 1st, 2008 at 7:31 am
I’ve never met Mr. Keightley, but I feel as if I knew him all my life.
Bill Keightley video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlJ2UVGLvos
April 1st, 2008 at 7:32 am
I had to hold back tears for a man that I had never met last night. But like many other people here, I felt like I knew him like a close friend. He cannot be relpaced, and will be truly missed.
My last memory of Mr. Wildcat will be seeing him at the Sweet 16 Championship swapping stories with Joe B.
My thoughts and prayers are with his family.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:34 am
Great Post Matt.
I like the tie-in with Cawood. They were both so much a part of UK that it is just going to be hard to imagine UK without them. Like so many others I would turn down the volume to listen to Cawood which I do not do anymore. I don’t know what the proper tribute for Mr. Keightley will be but it won’t be enough.
Goodbye Mr. Wildcat.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:43 am
It certainly will not be the same looking at the bench in the future without him there. Our thoughts and prayers be with the family during this time. RIP Mr. Wildcat, you will be greatly missed.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:48 am
I HOPE TO SEE A KEIGHTLEY JERSEY HANGIN IN RUPP NEXT YEAR!
April 1st, 2008 at 7:51 am
#29 There already is one.
Best Keightley quote came after Pitino lost his first game to UK after going to Louisville.
“I love Rick like a son,” Keightley said that day, “and sometimes your son needs his butt kicked.”
April 1st, 2008 at 8:19 am
after kentucky lost the 1997 championship game to arizona,i remember mr. keightley hugging and consoling a distraught anthony epps—to me this spoke volumes about what the players thought of him!
April 1st, 2008 at 8:25 am
Beautifully written Matt…I don’t think Mr. Bill Keightley’s importance to the UK program could’ve been stated anymore eloquently or correctly than you did today.
Another Mr. Wildcat video, and his quote from the end of the two minute clip:
Well, I don’t know how much of a legacy I could leave, I know one thing–
I know what a legend is: It’s a man in the twilight of a very ordinary career.
And I guess when I leave this place, well, when I leave this Earth, I think I’ll have it
inscribed up on the monument, “to be continued.”
Indeed, Mr. Keightley, indeed…to be continued.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ughHkuHs1iM
April 1st, 2008 at 8:53 am
Well written Matt…
When I woke up this morning, I knew you would find the exact words to express how I feel and how I viewed Mr. Keightley.
May God be with you Mr. Bill Keightley (”Mr. Basketball”)
April 1st, 2008 at 8:56 am
He is already missed. God bless
April 1st, 2008 at 8:57 am
Great post, Matt. Made me cry first thing this morning! As a student at UK, I was fortunate enough to have
a part in the lady’s basketball program. I would run into him quite often and was always the nicest man. One day
I asked him for his autograph and he signed it “Mr. Wildcat, Bill Keightley.” It’s something I’ll cherish even
more now.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:06 am
There’s a room at the Kraft Center named for Mr. Wildcat.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:08 am
That picture of him and Ramel is awesome.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:14 am
Just saw there’s a story about his death on espn.com. I’m positive the death of another team’s equipment manager wouldn’t have made national news.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:21 am
I met him for the first time last fall, great guy, great heart, made everyone feel like family, he will be greatly missed.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:27 am
[...] you still don’t completely understand where this fan is coming from then I suggest you read Mr. Wildcat Bill Keightley (1926-2008). I suspect, however, that whether or not anyone outside of Kentucky knew who Mr. Wildcat was, die [...]
April 1st, 2008 at 9:41 am
If there isnt a Keightley jersey hanging in the rafters yet there should be. R.I.P Bill.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:47 am
17 said:
“The pic of he and Anthony Epps hugging was a tough one to take. If I remember correctly, right after the 97 title game ended, Epps began to cry and who was here for the big hug to console him, but Mr. Wildcat.”
I remember more about it than that. Epps was sobbing after the OT loss to Arizona, and when Keightley hugged him, it was easy to tell what Keightley was telling him: “you had your championship.” In a moment of terrible disappointment for a team that had come as close as possible to the ultimate goal while still falling short, Keightley had the wisdom and perspective to remind Epps that as painful as the loss was, the memories of his playing career at UK would forever be about championship success (winning the title in ‘96) before anything else, including the loss to Arizona. It was a wonderful gesture that even helped me, just a fan watching on TV, deal with how tough that loss was.
I can’t imagine there are many people out there in any walk of life who have inspired as much genuine affection as Keightley did from so many people, most of whom never got a chance to meet him. And all this from someone who had such an unsung job, equipment manager for a basketball team. RIP to a great man.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:48 am
I think they should keep his seat empty from now on. No one should every sit in that first seat. I know that will be hard with the 30 players we will be dressing next year but I think leaving that seat open would be a great rememrance of Mr. Wildcat and the fact that he can’t be replaced.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:48 am
Where are you guys seeing the Epps picture? I can’t find it.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:13 am
Matt,
This may have been your finest post. Congratulations on truly catching the spirit of what most of us are feeling today.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:51 am
Bill “Mr. Wildcat” Keightley will truly be missed by the entire Big Blue Nation. There’s not nearly enough good things that could be said about this great man. We’ll miss you Mr. Wildcat.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:54 am
This truly is a sad day for all Wildcat fans. Rest in peace, Mr. Wildcat. You will be missed and never forgotten or replaced. God bless you and your family.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:07 am
Today it has been asked to put your UK flags up on your car in honor of Mr. Keightly
April 1st, 2008 at 11:19 am
Bill Keightly represented the passion of UK fans and the love of a program. In this time of grief , just remember that he had a great life and will leave a legacy behind. Something most of us only hope for.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:52 am
[...] at A Sea of Blue and Kentucky Sports Radio, Tru and Matt have done a great job of covering this untimely and disheartening [...]
April 1st, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Great post Matt,Bill would be proud.I never saw Mr.Keightly with out a smile on his face.He was the type of person you would want as a grandfather.I did’nt know about his passing until now and was shocked to find out.As I read your post I will admit that I shed some tears and Bill deserved every one of them.God Bless you Mr.Wildcat!
April 1st, 2008 at 10:27 pm
[...] can read more tributes at A Sea of Blue and Kentucky Sports Radio [...]
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:36 pm
I will miss seeing him at the games! He was always the first person i’d find and talk to!