Butch Beard recalls racist reaction when he was recruited by Kentucky

By John Clay Lexington Herald-Leader
Published June 29, 2020
You can read the original article here.

Over the weekend, former Louisville and NBA star Butch Beard recalled the racism he experienced when he was being recruited by Adolph Rupp to play basketball at Kentucky.

In a story for the New York Daily News, Beard told Stefan Bondy that he was upset about the lack of Black executives in the NBA.

"The biggest problem is that ownership -- I don't think people even understand this -- they don't think we can organize, they don't think we're smart enough to organize," Beard tells the Daily News. "And that bothers the s--t out of me. It really does. That's why you don't have any Black people in the NBA offices as general managers, relative to the number of Black athletes that you have. They don't think you're smart enough to do it."

The 73-year-old Beard also talked about what happened after Rupp visited the former Breckinridge County star in hopes Beard would be the first Black basketball player at UK.

Writes Bondy:

"Beard, named the best player in Kentucky in 1965, remembers the mother of a seventh-grade teammate telling him, 'Don't you ever knock on my door again.' When Adolph Rupp was recruiting Beard to become the first Black player at the University of Kentucky, hate messengers arrived at his house 'calling me the N-word, telling me if I go to Kentucky, we'll kill you,' Beard recalls.

"'That leaves an impression on you the rest of your life,' says Beard, who instead chose Louisville."

Kentucky's Mr. Basketball in 1965, Beard teamed with Wes Unseld at U of L. Beard went on to be the 10th overall selection in the 1969 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks. He played 11 seasons in the NBA and was coach of the New Jersey Nets from 1994 through 1996.

Beard’s comments about the NBA come after the New York Knicks hired Leon Rose as its president and William Wesley as its executive vice president and senior advisor. Both Rose and Wesley are close friends of UK head coach John Calipari.

Rick Bozich of WDRB talked to Wesley about his new gig.

"The answer is Wesley does not want to be quoted, ever. If you ask to quote him, the conversation will be short," writes Bozich. "Let's just say that he is thrilled to get to work at Madison Square Garden and build a legitimate NBA contender. Actually, wink, let's just say that I said that."