Audio Slideshow: Memorial to Bill Keightley
April 3, 2008 by Mark Cornelison
Filed under Audio Slideshow, Charles Bertram, David Perry, Mark Cornelison, Multimedia, Photographers, Second Look, Sports, UK Athletics
About 2,000 people attended the memorial service for Bill Keightley in Rupp Arena. Full coverage here. ALSO: Check out more photos highlighting Keightley’s career at UK, and listen to comments from Jeff Sheppard, John Pelphrey, Rick Pitino, Billy Gillispie, Mitch Barnhart, Joe B. Hall at the memorial service.
For those of us who bleed blue, the world is a sadder place today. We console ourselves in knowing that heaven is that much happier.
I never met Mr. Bill, but everytime the Wildcats played he was in my home, just like a family member. Just seeing him put a smile on your face.
I commend whoever put the memorial together. The coaches, players and staff who spoke did a wonderful heartfelt job and you could hear the hurt in their voices. I truly hope when the good Lord takes me home, he does it just like He did Mr. Bill. At least Mr. Bill didn’t have to go through chemo or anything like that. God was merciful to him and I pray for his family, friends, coaches, players and
staff who will miss him the most. May God bless .
Thank you for a beautiful service and tribute to a wonderful man who will remain in the hearts of all Kentuckians forever.
My heart goes out to the family and to all the Kentucky fans. He was the greatest person that loved everyone and his teams.. The slide show was wonderful it made me bleed blue. R.I.P BILL KEIGHTLEY
What a beautiful and fitting tribute to Mr Wildcat. I believe he would have been so proud yet so humbled by those who spoke and those in attendance. He loved the University of Kentucky like no other. May we all strive to be kinder and gentler people and may we all carry the spirit of Kentucky’s greatest fan with us always.
May God bless his family and his “UK” family during this most trying and difficult time.
I will forever miss Mr.Bill. He like coach Rupp was and forever will be Kentucky Basketball!!!
A wonderful service to behold , everything was a mark of class reflecting on the life of a Kentucky Legend. Coach Pitino as well as all the others expressed heartfelt tributes, everyone watching had to be touched We all appreciate the great slide show available for our viewing. May God Bless his family and our “U of K’
What a sad but glorious time, Mr Wildcat’s dedication to the University and people of all walks of life are touched thru this memorial to Mr. Bill. For me it gives me goose bumps to see and hear all these things of such a great and loved person. The mind Mr Rupp, The soul Mr. Cawood, and now the heart Mr. Bill together again for the grand-championship.
I have never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. wildcat but his passing brought tears to my eyes. After learning so much about him in the last several days, I am so inspired by the life he lived. My wife is always telling me that she knows me better than I know myself. Thats really true in a strong way. You live your life and when its time for you to go, its the people that are left behind tell your story. His live and passing brought both joy and sadness to me. I was truly touched by his story. God bless his family and those that can tell his story, I pray to God for their comfort.
The position will be filled but the man will never be replaced in the hearts and minds of those who experienced his love and friendship. What wonderful tributes by so many! May the happy memories experienced by those who held him dear help take away the hurt.
I am proud to be a Kentucky fan today, I will miss seeing Mr. Bill on the bench and will tell the stories to my kids about who and what he was all about.
I enjoyed what I saw but I haven’t seen it all (the service) in it’s entirety. A former classmate is working on that for me. I got to see about an hour of the Memorial Service. Enjoyed everything and everybody. Cried. My friend sent Rick Pitino’s and Billy Gillespie’s speech last night – both outstanding – cried like a big baby. The tribute to “Mr. Wildcat” was a great fete for a great man! I will miss seeing Mr. Bill on the bench. I’m 46 years old and have been a Wildcat Fan almost all my life. I do bleed blue – good seasons and bad. I started in Memorial Coliseum and then moved to Rupp when Rupp was built. My Dad has been a season ticket holder for many many years. He took me to Memorial Coliseum so I have “known” Mr. Bill almost all my life. My Dad is a member of the Committee of 101. He ushered at Mr. Bill’s Memorial Service 4/3/08.
My prayers are with “Miss Hazel” (who I worked with many years ago in the Funkhouser Buildging. She was in financial Aid and I was in Undergraduate Admissions.) and Karen and her husband (I have never met them) and their extended family: Big Blue Nation. The postings, the guest book signings, everything that has been written or said about him this week are a great tribute to a great man. I know you will miss him more than we will, but know that we will miss him too. He was loved by us too.
“I Can Only Imagine” is one of my favorite Christian songs by one of my favorite Christian group’s (Mercy Me) and to have that song being sung while you showed Mr. Bill’s life in video…..well, it was just another tear jerker. Tears release pain like nothing else can do. Pain and Sorrow for you for us. We will cry with you Miss Hazel and Karen and friends and we will laugh with you at all the memories that we know of. He was a much loved man, as you well know. May God bring you peace in this most difficult time and rest in peace Mr. Bill. Thank you for all the years that you gave to the great Commonwealth of Kentucky, the University of Kentucky and everywhere you went as an Ambassador of Kentucky. You wore your pride well.
THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER MR. WILDCAT, SAY HELLO TO MR.CAYWOOD ,WE KNOW YOU BOTH ARE UP THERE WATCHING OVER THOSE CATS……..
I believe that the first chair on UK’s bench should remain empty as a tribute.
For Miss Hazel and daughter, Karen. Thank you for sharing Mr. Bill with us for so many years. I am so sorry for your loss and our loss, too.
I LIVE IN MICHIGAN BORN A WILDCAT LOVE THE WILDCATS WILL MISS SEEING BILL ON THE BENCH CAN;T IMAGINE TRYING TO FILL THE SHOES HE LEFT. SO HAPPY THEY HAVE THE INTERNET SURE LOVED THE SERVICE THAT I GOT TO SEE AND LISTEN TO. AS MR BILL WOULD SAY GO CATS. SIGNED A MICHIGAN UK WILDCAT
I’m an 82 yr. old former student at U.K. Bummed around with Bob Gaines, Wa Wa Jones, Alex Groza, Lloyd McDermott, Ralph Beard, Cliff Taylor and so many others back in the late 1940’s.
It was a great time after the war when we all had the opportunity to “let off some
steam”. U.K. has that certain something that sticks with you when you have been able to experience it all. Back then, the student body consisted of about 7,000 students. Tickets to the basketball games for the students were green one week and red the next “cause we didn’t have room for everybody.” No colliseums like we have today. Just a regular gymnasium, but Adolph and the boys were National Champions !!!
Just goes to show you that it isn’t the magnificent facilities that make the performers..it’s what’s inside them . The allegiance, the dedication, the desire
and determination. The money afterwards, was never thought of with those guys that I knew so well.
But U.K. is still a special place and I’m proud to say that I was able to spend at least some of my time there.
Cliff Richardson