1962 Kentucky Wildcats football
Kentucky's "Thin Thirty" starting line-up, September 22, 1962
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
Record3–5–2 (2–3–1 SEC)
Head coach
Home stadiumMcLean Stadium
Seasons
← 1961
1963 →
1962 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 3 Ole Miss $ 6 – 0 – 0 10 – 0 – 0
No. 5 Alabama 6 – 1 – 0 10 – 1 – 0
No. 7 LSU 5 – 1 – 0 9 – 1 – 1
Georgia Tech 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 3 – 1
Florida 4 – 2 – 0 7 – 4 – 0
Auburn 4 – 3 – 0 6 – 3 – 1
Georgia 2 – 3 – 1 3 – 4 – 3
Kentucky 2 – 3 – 1 3 – 5 – 2
Mississippi State 2 – 5 – 0 3 – 6 – 0
Tennessee 2 – 6 – 0 4 – 6 – 0
Vanderbilt 1 – 6 – 0 1 – 9 – 0
Tulane 0 – 7 – 0 0 – 10 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1962 Kentucky Wildcats football team represented the University of Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference during the 1962 NCAA University Division football season.[1] Coached by Charlie Bradshaw, a Bear Bryant disciple, the team was thinned by his brutal methods from 88 players to just 30. The team was thus known as the Thin Thirty.[2] While the team's record was just 3–5–2, it did include a dramatic victory in the season finale against Tennessee in Knoxville, 12–10. The winning margin was provided by a field goal by Clarkie Mayfield, one of the heroes of the game, who later died in the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire on May 28, 1977.[3]

Players on the Kentucky team included Tom Hutchinson, Dale Lindsey, and Herschel Turner, all of whom later played in the NFL. Bob Kosid and Junior Hawthorne later played in the CFL. Two assistant coaches on the 1962 Kentucky staff, Leeman Bennett and Chuck Knox, later had success as NFL head coaches. Assistants Homer Rice (Cincinnati Bengals, University of Cincinnati and Rice University), Bud Moore (Kansas University) and Dave Hart (University of Pittsburgh) were all later head coaches. Lindsey went on to become a successful NFL assistant coach, working with the Chicago Bears.

Schedule

DateOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 22Florida State*
T 0–034,000[4]
September 29at No. 7 Ole Miss
L 0–1442,000[5]
October 6Auburn
  • McLean Stadium
  • Lexington, KY
L 6–1633,500[6]
October 12at Detroit*
W 27–814,548[7]
October 20 No. 4 LSU
  • McLean Stadium
  • Lexington, KY
L 0–737,000[8]
October 27at Georgia
T 7–732,000[9]
November 2at Miami (FL)*
L 17–2543,614[10]
November 10Vanderbilt
  • McLean Stadium
  • Lexington, KY (rivalry)
W 7–026,000[11]
November 17Xavier*
  • McLean Stadium
  • Lexington, KY
L 9–14[12]
November 24at Tennessee
W 12–1034,172[13]
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Postseason

Book

The 1962 Kentucky football team is the subject of a book, The Thin Thirty, by Shannon Ragland, published in August, 2007. The focus of the book is the '62 roster of players under first-year coach Charlie Bradshaw—a Bear Bryant disciple—who ended up thinning the team from 88 to 30 players via his brutal conditioning tactics and exploitation of players. It places this in the backdrop of racial and economic tensions of the South and its impact on several players.[14]

The book asserts that several members of the 1962 team became involved in a gay sex scandal involving actor Rock Hudson, and that a crucial game was fixed that year.[15] It then finished by following up with what happened to the players afterward.[14]

Reception

The Thin Thirty received reviews in several publications, including the Voice-Tribune, the Charleston Post & Courier, the Louisville Courier-Journal and by Professor Weldon Johnson, the author of Chokehold.[16][17]

Jon Johnston from CornNation praises the research and epilogue, but finds the back story at 100-pages was long, the writing was redundant at times, and the assertion of the Xavier game being fixed without evidence "damages the credibility" of the book.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Kentucky Historical Scores". www.jhowell.net. Archived from the original on October 6, 2009.
  2. ^ University of Kentucky (2007). "Kentucky Football History and Records". University of Kentucky. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
  3. ^ James Barcus (2005). "J-Club Remembers". The Chanticleeer. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
  4. ^ "It's 'hit-and-miss' for U-K in scoreless duel with FSU". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. September 23, 1962. Retrieved October 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Carl Walters (September 30, 1962). "Ole Miss Wins Uphill Fight Against Kentucky Cats 14-0". The Clarion-Ledger. pp. 1C, 3C – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Woodall boots field goals as Auburn annexes, 16–6". The Selma Times-Journal. October 7, 1962. Retrieved October 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Jack Berry (October 13, 1962). "Kentucky Rips Titans, 27-8: U-D Runs into Wildcat". Detroit Free Press. pp. 1B, 2B – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "LSU nips pesky Kentucky". The Lima Citizen. October 21, 1962. Retrieved October 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Georgia gets 7–7 deadlock with Kentucky". Daily Press. October 28, 1962. Retrieved October 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Miami overcomes Kentucky, 25–17". The Atlanta Constitution. November 3, 1962. Retrieved October 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Kentucky's ground game turns back Vandy 7–0". St. Petersburg Times. November 11, 1962. Retrieved October 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Kentucky upset by Xavier". The Paducah Sun-Democrat. November 18, 1962. Retrieved May 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Kentucky springs upset on Tennessee". Messenger-Inquirer. November 25, 1962. Retrieved April 26, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ a b c "Review: 'The Thin Thirty' - Charlie Bradshaw's 1962 Kentucky Wildcats". March 5, 2008.
  15. ^ Shannon Ragland (2007). "The Thin Thirty - Excerpt" (PDF). The Set Shot Press. Archived from the original (.PDF) on September 29, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
  16. ^ Mike Mooneyham (2007). "Book details scandalous activities of gay wrestling promoter". Charleston Post and Courier. Archived from the original on October 15, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
  17. ^ Eric Crawford (2007). "Book recounts abuse at UK under Bradshaw". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved October 3, 2007.[dead link]
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