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Thin Thirty

1962 Kentucky Wildcats football
Thin30.jpg
University of Kentucky Thin Thirty team starting line September 22, 1962.
Conference Southeastern Conference
1962 record 3–5–2 (2–3–1 SEC)
Head coach Charlie Bradshaw
Home stadium Stoll Field/McLean Stadium
Seasons
« 1961 1963 »
1962 SEC football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#3 Ole Miss $ 6 0 0     10 0 0
#5 Alabama 6 1 0     10 1 0
#7 LSU 5 1 1     9 1 1
Georgia Tech 5 2 0     7 3 1
Florida 4 2 0     7 4 0
Auburn 4 3 0     6 3 1
Georgia 2 3 1     3 4 3
Kentucky 2 3 1     3 5 2
Mississippi State 2 5 0     3 6 0
Tennessee 2 6 0     4 6 0
Vanderbilt 1 6 0     1 9 0
Tulane 0 7 0     0 10 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1962 Kentucky Wildcats football team represented the University of Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference during the 1962 college football season. Coached by Charlie Bradshaw, a Bear Bryant disciple, the team was thinned by his brutal methods from 88 players to just 30. The team was thus known as the Thin Thirty. While the team's record was just 3–5–2, it did include a dramatic victory in the season finale against Tennessee in Knoxville, 12–10. The winning margin was provided by a field goal by Clarkie Mayfield, one of the heroes of the game, who later died in the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire on May 28, 1977.

Players on the Kentucky team included Tom Hutchinson, Dale Lindsey, and Herschel Turner, all of whom later played in the NFL. Bob Kosid later played in the CFL. Two assistant coaches on the 1962 Kentucky staff, Leeman Bennett and Chuck Knox, later had success as NFL head coaches. Lindsey went on to become a successful NFL assistant coach, notably working with Brian Urlacher and the Chicago Bears.

The 1962 Kentucky football team is the subject of a book, The Thin Thirty, by Shannon Ragland, published in August, 2007. The focus of the book is the '62 roster of players under first-year coach Charlie Bradshaw—a Bear Bryant disciple—who ended up thinning the team from 88 to 30 players via his brutal conditioning tactics and exploitation of players. It places this in the backdrop of racial and economic tensions of the South and its impact on several players.


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Wikipedia

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