| Wins against Kentucky - 0 | Losses against Kentucky - 1 |
Alma Mater: Pittsburg State [1930]
Date Born: January 6, 1908
Date Died: November 24, 1993
Overall Record: 248-208 [18 Seasons]
| Date | Matchup | UK Result | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/9/1950 | North Carolina at Kentucky | W | 83 - 44 | - |
Obituary - Charlotte (NC) Observer (November 25, 1993)
Ex-coach behind-the-scenes basketball builder Tom Scott dies
by Ron Green Jr. and Liz Clarke
Dr. Tom Scott, who quietly helped elevate college basketball from a game to a passion in North Carolina, died Wednesday. He was 85.
Dr. Scott's death came just months before the NCAA Final four will be played in Charlotte.
Though he was rarely publicly recognized for the accomplishment, it was Dr. Scott, who lived in Davidson, who brought NCAA tournament basketball to the area. I was his influence that laid the first brick in the road to the Final Four in Charlotte.
"Without his help, I don't know how backwoods we'd be," said former Wake Forest University basketball coach Bones McKinney, an acquaintance of Dr. Scott's through the years.
"Whatever we got from the NCAA, Tom Scott was instrumental in it."
Since Charlotte first hosted a round of the NCAA playoffs in 1958, more tournament games have been staged there than in any other city - a total of 56. Atlanta, which did not have an NCAA game until 1971, has hosted 55.
And thanks in great part to Dr. Scott's efforts, more NCAA tournament games have been played in North Carolina than in any other state - 140.
"Cities like Charlotte and Greensboro had something to do with it," McKinney said, "but if not for his position and influence, North Carolina would not have been graced with basketball nationally. Without him, we'd have been lost. We didn't have a leader without Tom Scott."
A 1930 graduate of Kansas Sate Teachers College, Dr. Scott coached basketball at Concordia (Minn.) and Central Missouri before taking the top job at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1947. His UNC teams posted a 100-65 record.
He came to Davidson College in 1955 as athletics director and took over as basketball coach until 1960, when he hired a high school coach, Lefty Driesell, to assume the job.
During the next decade, Davidson was among the nation's most successful basketball powers, ranking in the top 20 seven times.
"If it wasn't for him, I might still be coaching high school," said Driesell, now at James Madison University.
"I always was indebted to him for that. He was like a father to me. He was really a great guy."
From 1967 to 1975, Dr. Scott served on the NCAA men's basketball tournament committee and used his position to bring North Carolina, and Charlotte in particular, into the tournament business.
He was remembered Wednesday for that achievement, as well as his warmth and integrity.
"I had the highest respect for Tom and what he's done for the game of basketball, starting in Pittsburg, Kan., and more importantly the charge of the NCAA tournament committee," said UNC coach Dean Smith. "He was a man of integrity and certainly will be missed by all."
"Aside from being a great sportsman, he was a prince of a human being," said Christopher Morris, former athletics director at Davidson.
"You can't think of Tom Scott without thinking of an affable, open person who was friends with everyone with whom he came in contact," said Davidson President John Kuykendall. "He was just a good neighbor. We've lost a dear friend and colleague."
Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
