Kentucky Sports Illustrated Covers
Sports Illustrated issues with Kentucky players or coaches on the cover.
Note: The inaugural Sports Illustrated with Ralph Beard on the cover is not recognized by Sports Illustrated today. The reason is that the original Sports Illustrated magazine was published by Dell beginning in 1949 (with Beard on the cover) in a very crowded market for sports publications. This oversized magazine was published only briefly before publication ceased (and the issues that were published subsequently became collector's items.)
A few years later, Dell sold the rights to the name Sports Illustrated to Henry Luce of Time-Life Magazine and they revived the sports magazine, although in a less ambitious format than the Dells were.
This leads to some confusion whenever the trivia question "who was on the cover of the first Sports Illustrated" is asked, since the answer recognized by the current-day publication is Eddie Matthews of the Milwaukee Braves in the August 16,1954 issue. However Beard was the first to be on the cover of the Dell issues, which preceded that by five years.
In an additional bit of trivia, Jamal Mashburn was set to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated in the February 19, 1990 issue, however a late night upset of Mike Tyson by Buster Douglas in Tokyo, not only knocked out the heavyweight champ but also knocked Jamal off the cover.
The below displays Sports Illustrated covers which shows photos of UK players or coaches.
| Date | Cover | Persons Shown |
|---|---|---|
| February 1949 |  | Ralph Beard |
| December 10, 1962 |  | Charles "Cotton" Nash |
| March 7, 1966 |  | Adolph Rupp |
| March 28, 1966 |  | Pat Riley |
| December 2, 1968 |  | Mike Casey |
| March 16, 1970 |  | Dan Issel |
| March 31, 1975 |  | Mike Flynn |
| April 3, 1978 |  | Jack Givens |
| December 5, 1983 |  | Sam Bowie |
| February 26, 1996 |  | Rick Pitino |
| April 8, 1996 |  | Antoine Walker |
| April, 1996 |  | Tony Delk and Jeff Sheppard Commemorative Issue |
| March 16, 1998 |  | Wayne Turner Regional Issue |
| March 30, 1998 |  | Nazr Mohammed |
| April 6, 1998 |  | Wayne Turner |
| April, 1998 |  | Orlando "Tubby" Smith Commemorative Issue |
| March 15, 1999 |  | Heshimu Evans Regional Issue |
| March 10, 2003 |  | Cliff Hawkins |
| October 12, 2007 |  | Dan Issel, Adolph Rupp, Jamal Mashburn and Pat Riley Commemorative Issue |
| November 22, 2009 |  | Patrick Patterson Regional Issue |
| January 11, 2010 |  | John Wall Regional Issue |
| March 17, 2010 |  | DeMarcus Cousins Regional Issue |
| November 11, 2011 |  | Terrence Jones Regional Issue |
| March 19, 2012 |  | Anthony Davis |
| March 31, 2012 |  | Michael Kidd-Gilchrist Regional Issue |
| April, 2012 |  | Anthony Davis |
| April, 2012 |  | Terrence Jones, Anthony Davis and Doron Lamb Commemorative Issue |
| April, 2014 |  | Aaron Harrison and Andrew Harrison |
| November, 2014 |  | Alex Poythress Preseason Preview |
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