1958 NCAA champion Ed Beck passed away

Ed Beck, an NCAA basketball national champion and former letterman for your University of Kentucky Wildcats, passed away on Wednesday. He was 83.

Beck played three seasons under Adolph Rupp from 1955-58, serving as one of Rupp’s team captains in the 1956-57 and 1957-58 seasons. He scored 459 points over the course of his career and earned Second Team All-SEC honors as a junior. One year later, Beck claimed the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award and helped guide Kentucky to its fourth national championship in school history.

UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart had this to say about Beck’s passing: “Ed Beck was an important member of the Kentucky basketball family. He cemented his…