Jim Andrews: great player, better person
Aug. 25—There's a new name heading into the UK Hall of Fame soon, and that person is Jim Andrews. A lot of the younger generation may not know about Andrews, but he is one of only five players to have played under both coach Adolph Rupp and coach Joe B. Hall. In his to this day underrated career at UK, Andrews posted 43 double-doubles, good for 3rd most in the history of UK basketball, as well as posting averages of 20.1 points and 12.4 rebounds as a senior.
Nowadays, the 6'11" Andrews lives a simple life, like meeting up with good friend Othel Turpin for some good lunch at Amon's Bakery here in Somerset, a place that if he needed or wanted to, Andrews would love to move to.
"This area is great. If I was looking for a place and wanted to move, this would be where I would go. There's not much trouble here and the people share most of my values as well," he explained.
Andrews had the pleasure of playing for two hall of fame coaches in Rupp and Hall, but as he relayed, there were a lot of differences between the two coaches.
"Rupp had a brilliant mind although his health was beginning to fail him, he didn't care how you scored as long as you scored. He actually was supposed to step down right when I started playing but continued coaching for two more years, my sophomore and junior seasons," he stated.
Andrews played his senior season under coach Hall and also relayed how great of a coach he was as well.
"Coach Hall was more of a technician in the way he coached," he said.
In an era dominated by UCLA, Andrews was very fond of the era he grew up playing basketball in.
"There were probably more great basketball players to come out of this area in my time, including Ohio, then at any other time in history. The competition was on a different level and it was more about offense rather than defense," he exclaimed.
Andrews was very appreciative of his friend Othel Turpin for meeting him for a good lunch as well.
"I knew Othel when I was working with industrial chemicals, and I was managing his territory. We rediscovered each other when I was buying a car from his Toyota place, and that's why I come down here a lot now," he said.
He has high hopes for this year's version of the Wildcats, with the thought that their depth could potentially carry them far this season.
"They are going to have a lot of depth this year. It's something they didn't have when Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington went out with injuries at points last season. They have two legitimate point guards with Cason Wallace and Wheeler, and they have 3 or 4 shooting guards and wings, and then we haven't even seen the young man who is going to come in and back up Tshiebwe, Lance Ware is no slouch either, so they are going to have a lot of talent and a lot of ability," he elucidated.
Jim Andrews may be going into the Hall of Fame for his athletic career at the University of Kentucky, but if there was a Hall of Fame for just being a good person, he should definitely be there as well!
Jacob Pratt is the Sports Editor of the Commonwealth Journal and can be reached at jpratt@somerset-kentucky.com. You can follow him on Twitter @PrattTheNation
