Carey Alvin Spicer Jr. (April 23, 1909 – December 5, 1996) was a two-time All-American basketball player at the University of Kentucky. He captained

Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. He is ranked seventh in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching at the Univ ...

's first team in 1930–31, and became Rupp's first All-American. He was also an All-Conference Quarterback for the football team who played varsity tennis and ran track. Rupp called him "one of the greatest athletes in University of Kentucky history."

Early life

Spicer, was born in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

, on April 23, 1909. His father was a grocer. He, his brother William and his sister Stella were natural athletes who went on to play college basketball. William and Carey at Kentucky, and Stella at Georgetown College, one of the few schools with a women's college basketball program. Spicer was one of the top football and basketball players ever at the old Lexington High School. He made the All-State team in basketball, and 1926 All-State Tournament team and was president of his senior class.

Basketball

Spicer was a two-time All-American and three-time All-Conference forward for the University of Kentucky basketball team. He won All-American honors under two different coaches, first

John Mauer John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

in 1929 and then Adolph Rupp in 1931. He was captain of Adolph Rupp's first basketball team in 1930-31 and was the team's leading scorer. That season, he scored 27 points in a 42–37 victory over Vanderbilt. He also set the then Southern Conference record for most points in a tournament game when he scored 22 points against Florida. In 1991, Spicer was in the second class of Kentucky basketball players to have his jersey retired, along with

Louie Dampier Louis Dampier (born November 20, 1944) is an American retired professional basketball player. A 6-foot-tall guard, Dampier is one of only a handful of men to play all nine seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) (1967–1976), all w ...

and

Jack Givens Jack "Goose" Givens (born September 21, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats, earning consensus second-team All-American honors. He led the team to the 1978 NCAA Men' ...

Records

* Southern Conference - Most points, tournament game (22), record surpassed by

Joe Holup Joseph J. Holup (February 26, 1934 – January 28, 1998) was an American basketball player. He played college basketball for George Washington University and later professionally in the National Basketball Association and the Eastern Professio ...

in 1954

Other sports

Spicer was an excellent all-around athlete. As a halfback, and

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

in football he set several records that stood for more than 40 years. He scored 11 touchdowns and 75 points for Kentucky to lead the Southern Conference in scoring in the 1930 season. He also played tennis and ran track at Kentucky.

Records

* Kentucky, most touchdowns, season (11), surpassed by

Babe Parilli Vito "Babe" Parilli (May 7, 1930 – July 15, 2017) was an American football quarterback and coach who played professionally for 18 seasons. Parilli spent five seasons in the National Football League (NFL), three in the Canadian Football League ( ...

in 1950 * Kentucky, most points, season (75), surpassed by Moe Williams in 1995

Later life

After graduating, Spicer coached basketball and football at

Georgetown College Georgetown College is a private Christian college in Georgetown, Kentucky. Chartered in 1829, Georgetown was the first Baptist college west of the Appalachian Mountains. The college offers 38 undergraduate degrees and a Master of Arts in educat ...

Georgetown, Kentucky Georgetown is a home rule-class city in Scott County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 37,086 at the 2020 census. It is the 6th-largest city by population in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is the seat of its county. It was originall ...

, from 1931 to 1935. The Tigers basketball program went 12–43, including 0–3 versus Kentucky, over four seasons of basketball and a 13–20–2 record over four seasons of football. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was a captain in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. After returning from the war, he went to work for Spalding Sporting Goods Company selling equipment for a sport that he was never very good at—golf. Later, in 1979, he opened his own business, Carey Spicer and Associates in Carmel, IN, which continued to sell golf and sporting equipment. He married Katherine Drury, his high school sweetheart, and they had two children. Spicer died December 5, 1996, from cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spicer, Carey 1909 births 1996 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American football halfbacks American football quarterbacks American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Kentucky Basketball players from Lexington, Kentucky College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Georgetown Tigers football coaches Georgetown Tigers men's basketball coaches Kentucky Wildcats football players Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players Players of American football from Lexington, Kentucky Power forwards Sportspeople from Lexington, Kentucky United States Army officers United States Army personnel of World War II