Members of the African American and Africana Studies program at the University of Kentucky are calling on the school to remove the name of legendary men's basketball coach Adolph Rupp from their arena citing the coach's history of racism and exclusion.
In a letter to school president Eli Capilouto, the faculty wrote the following:
"The University should rename Rupp Arena. 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. In addition, the University should survey all campus buildings and remove all names of enslavers, Confederate sympathizers (such as William C.P. Breckinridge), and other white supremacists."
Rupp served as Kentucky's basketball coach from the 1930-31 to 1971-72 seasons, and he won 876 games and led the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament 20 times, including four national championships.
According to ESPN, Rupp didn't sign his first Black player until 1969. His detractors have also claimed that he was a racist, pointing to evidence like a newspaper clipping in which he used the N-word.
Changing the name of the arena might not be solely up to university leaders such as Capilouto, however. Rupp Arena is owned and operated by the Lexington Center Corporation, which is an agency of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government. The facility is not on UK's campus and is owned by a quasi-governmental agency.
UK and the Lexington Center Corporation announced in January that naming rights to the arena and surrounding convention center had been sold to Central Bank and that the facility's new official name is Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. The naming agreement is set to last through 2033.
