Without explicitly calling Adolph Rupp a racist, faculty members of the University of Kentucky’s African American & Africana Studies department have urged the university administration to remove his name from Rupp Arena.
According to the last of a 10-item list of demands and requests, “The Adolph Rupp name has come to stand for racism and exclusion in UK athletics and alienates Black students, fans, and attendees. The rebuilding of the arena and the convention center offer an opportunity to change the name to a far more inclusive one, such as Wildcat Arena.”
Setting aside that Rupp’s name is more often associated with brilliant basketball than inequality or discrimination, and that UK does not own Lexington’s downtown arena, it’s far from established fact that the Baron of the Bluegrass was a bonafide bigot.