Kentucky’s historic 1978 championship team to be featured in SEC Network documentary
By Keith Farner
Published:
Kentucky fans looking to get their minds off of the disappointing 2020-21 season will have an opportunity on Monday night on the SEC Network.
That’s when the network will debut “Win or Else,” its latest SEC Storied film, at 9 p.m. ET. The documentary will take an in-depth look at the Kentucky team that delivered the first NCAA championship for an integrated team in the school’s storied basketball history when it won the 1978 title.
Coach Joe B. Hall led the team, which featured seniors Jack Givens, James Lee, Rick Robey and Mike Phillips as they became the first Kentucky team to win the NCAA Championship since the Wildcats won their fourth title under Adolph Rupp in 1958.
“Even though I grew up 15 minutes from what was one of the best basketball schools in the country, I didn’t dream of playing basketball at Kentucky like most of my white friends did,” said Givens, in a press release about the film, who the Most Outstanding Player of the ’78 Final Four. “Coach Rupp was winning games and championships, but I never watched because I didn’t see anyone on the team who looked like me. Coach Hall started changing the culture and I started thinking about going there for my college basketball career. Still, when it came time for me to pick a school, the decision was not as easy as you would think. But it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life!”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
