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12 Vincent Splane

Name
Vincent Splane
Position
Forward
Class
Junior
Hometown (Last School)
Madisonville, KY
Ht
6'1"
Wt
180
Seasons
1941-42
Birthday
November 30, 1921

Vincent Splane was born Vincent DePaul Splane, Jr. on November 30, 1921, in Paintsville, Kentucky to Geneva and Vincent Depaul Splane, Sr.  Splane was a 6’1″ lefty forward who played for the Kentucky Wildcats basketball team during the 1941-42 season.

Splane played football and basketball for Madisonville High School.

Splane played on the freshmen team at Kentucky and progressed to earn a varsity letter his sophomore year.  He played in 11 games and scored a career total of 39 points.  His career high came on his first career start on December 22, 1941, when he scored 11 points by “dunking three goals,” according to the Courier-Journal, and canning 5 charity tosses.  That team went on to win the 1942 SEC championship.

He was also a member of the Sigma Nu social fraternity.

Splane enlisted into the Army Air Corps as a student pilot on April 1, 1942, effectively ending his athletic career at UK.  He was commissioned a second lieutenant upon graduation of the Army Flying School at Blackland Field, Waco, Texas in April of 1943 and was assigned to duty with the 13th Air Force on four-engine Liberator bombers in the south Pacific.  Splane was promoted to captain and married Treva Whayne on April 16, 1944, in Fulton, Kentucky.  Following their honeymoon, Splane and his wife returned to Miami, Florida while Splane awaited further orders.

With the end of the war came the end of Splane’s military career.  Upon leaving, he enrolled at Southwestern University in Memphis where he continued his basketball career.

Splane continued his education at the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry where he graduated in 1949.

Splane, of Middleburg, Florida, passed away on October 24, 1989.

On This Day In UK Basketball History

On March 28, 1992, in what many called the “best NCAA Tournament game ever,” Kentucky takes defending NCAA champion Duke into overtime before losing 104-103 in the East Regional finals in Philadelphia. A last-second shot by Christian Laettner sends Duke to the Final Four, and breaks the hearts of Wildcat fans everywhere. It is Cawood Ledford’s last game as the “Voice of the Wildcats.”

 

On March 28, 1998, against Stanford, Kentucky rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit, then grabbed a 5-point overtime lead, before fending off the Cardinals to advance to the title game for the third straight season. Jeff Sheppard canned three long-range three-pointers - two in the final three minutes and one in overtime - en route to a career-high 27 points.

 

On March 28, 2014, unranked Kentucky beat No. 5 Louisville 74-69, in the 2014 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.  Aaron Harrison buried a three-pointer from the left corner with 39 seconds left that put UK ahead to stay before 41,072 in Lucas Oil Stadium.

 

On March 28, 2015, No. 1 Kentucky defeated No. 8 Notre Dame, 68-66, in the 2015 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.  With its 37-0 record on the line, Kentucky trailed Notre Dame 59-53 with 6:14 left. UK rallied in front of 19,464 fans in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena and preserved its perfect season thanks to a crucial blocked shot by Willie Cauley-Stein and two game-deciding free throws from Andrew Harrison in the final seconds.

 

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