1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

C.M. Newton

Transylvania men’s basketball to take on UK in preseason matchup

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LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Transylvania University men’s basketball team will tip off its 2018-19 campaign against the University of Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Friday, Oct. 26, in a preseason contest. This matchup between the NCAA Division III and Division I neighbors rekindles the crosstown “Battle on Broadway” rivalry for the first time since the 2013-14 season. Rupp Arena is just four blocks down Broadway from Transylvania’s campus. The exhibition game between the Pioneers and Wildcats marks the fourth meeting between the two squads during the 18-year tenure of Transylvania men’s basketball head coach Brian Lane. Transylvania and Kentucky are 7-7 against each other in the regular season dating back to 1903, although Kentucky has won all three of the preseason games. “It was a thrill for our fans, students and alumni to experience all the events surrounding the earlier matchups with UK, and I know this group of student-athletes will share in that excitement,” Lane said. “Coach Calipari’s generosity to the local community never ceases to amaze me, and I appreciate him allowing us to share in the national spotlight in such a historic venue.” This year’s game will also honor the late C.M. Newton, who passed away in June at age 88. A patriarch of the Transylvania men’s basketball program, Newton coached the Pioneers over three stints for 12 seasons and later went on to become athletics director at UK from 1989-2000, guiding Kentucky through one of the

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In Memoriam: Original Transylvania titan C.M. Newton passes away at age 88

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Lexington, Ky. – Legendary coach and administrator C.M. Newton, a Transylvania Athletics Hall-of-Famer, passed away on Monday at the age of 88. Revered as a pioneer and monolith in collegiate athletics, Newton’s career spanned over five decades and began at Transylvania University as the men’s basketball coach in 1951. While he was known by many as an athletic administrator at multiple institutions, including the University of Kentucky, and a fixture in NCAA basketball, Newton’s legacy transcended his title and location. “Newton’s influence as a coach and an administrator was undeniable,” said Transylvania Vice President for Enrollment and Student Life, Dr. Holly Sheilley. “He was instrumental in breaking down racial barriers for players and coaches.” “Coach Newton was one of the classiest men in college sports,” stated 17th-year Transylvania men’s basketball head coach Brian Lane on his predecessor’s passing. “Every day when I sit in my office, I have a picture of Coach Newton behind me on the wall to remind me how important the coach-player relationship is. He started his career at Transylvania but he never forgot his roots. I will always cherish the day he asked if he could come by to talk a little bit.” Newton’s legacy of leadership and service included the recruitment of the first African-American players at both Transylvania and the University of Alabama and later the hiring of the first African-American coaches at the University of Kentucky in Tubby Smith and Bernadette Mattox. In

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Former Transylvania coach C.M. Newton receives highest AD honor

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—C.M. Newton, who began his pioneering athletics career at Transylvania University, has been inducted into the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame.  The NACDA lauded Newton for his achievements as player, coach and administrator, saying he “enhanced the game’s integrity and helped ensure basketball’s success.” After playing under Coach Adolph Rupp at the University of Kentucky, Newton coached Transylvania’s men’s basketball team for 12 seasons. He led the Pioneers to their first postseason competition in 1963 and recruited the university’s first African-American player. Newton went on to coach at the University of Alabama and Vanderbilt before returning to UK as director of athletics, helping turn around the basketball program and hiring the school’s first African-American men’s and women’s basketball coaches. “C.M. Newton has made his mark on collegiate athletics both as a coach and an administrator,” said Holly Sheilley, Transylvania’s vice president for enrollment and student life. “He has never been afraid to lead the way, and one of the ways he did that was through racial integration,” Sheilley added. “His accomplishments at UK—from facility expansions to his hires—are to be commended. It is a rarity to see an individual with such a high degree of success as a player, coach and administrator. It is a great delight for Transylvania that he began his career here.” In 1992 Newton was inducted into Transylvania’s Pioneer Hall of Fame. His other accomplishments include serving as manager of

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Transylvania sponsors forum on desegregation of athletics

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NOTICE: This event has been POSTPONED due to inclement weather affecting travel schedules. Check back for a new date, possibly in April 2014. LEXINGTON, Ky.—One who helped make it happen; two who experienced it; and one who chronicled this pivotal moment in the American story. The panel assembled to discuss “Integrating Athletics at Transylvania and Beyond” will bring poignant personal accounts to the Feb. 13 installment of the year-long celebration of Transylvania’s 50th year of desegregation, titled Still Overcoming: Striving for Inclusiveness. It was in the racially charged 1960s when these men together and as courageous individuals broke down the barriers of segregation in collegiate sports.  With award-winning sportswriter Billy Reed moderating, hear the stories of former Transylvania and Alabama coach and former UK Athletics Director C.M. Newton; Transylvania basketball star Jim Hurley ’69; and Wendell Hudson, the first African American scholarship student-athlete at the University of Alabama and the 1973 SEC Player of the Year. “Every day there was a reason for me to quit,” Hudson said in the video documentary “Stepping Through: A look at the past 50 years of desegregation at The University of Alabama.” “Every day my freshman year here, every day there was a reason for me not to be successful or to give up and to let that defeat me. And when I talk to young people, like, that’s no excuse, because, you know, everybody’s going to have a story…and it’s going to be

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Transylvania kicks off “Still Overcoming: Striving for Inclusiveness,” a year-long celebration of racial and ethnic diversity

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—The year 1963 was a watershed for race relations—both nationally and at Transylvania University. Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C. Around the same time, Lula Morton Drewes ‘67 became the first African-American student to enroll in the regular B.A. degree program at Transylvania, an act that heralded the beginning of desegregation at the university.   Drewes will soon mark the 50th anniversary of her enrollment with a return to campus. She’ll speak at Transylvania’s fall convocation, which formally opens the academic year, at 7 p.m. Sept. 15 in Haggin Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public. The convocation will kick off a year-long celebration and discussion at Transylvania titled “Still Overcoming: Striving for Inclusiveness.” The program will focus on the advent of a more enlightened attitude toward racial and ethnic diversity, which Drewes’s arrival on campus has come to symbolize, and on other events that have furthered this purpose over the years. Additional speakers, scholarly presentations, panel discussions, film screenings, and music and artistic programs are among the other activities being considered for Still Overcoming. It will center not only on Transylvania’s experiences, but also on related issues in America both past and present. “Race is obviously still an issue in this country, and we want it to be the starting point for our conversation at Transylvania as we celebrate 50 years of desegregation,” said

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