Déjà Blue: A Sportswriter Reflects on 41 Seasons of Kentucky Basketball

During a Hall of Fame career that spanned nearly 50 years, veteran sportswriter Jerry Tipton was best known for his no nonsense coverage of University of Kentucky men’s basketball, challenging questions, catchy leads, and legendary exchanges with Coach John Calipari. In Déjà Blue--A Sportswriter Reflects on 41 Seasons of Kentucky Basketball, Tipton shares a behind-the-scenes look at his career in sportswriting, from his early years at the Huntington Herald-Dispatch (W.Va.) through over four decades covering the highs, and lows, of the Wildcats for the Lexington Herald-Leader including three national championships (’96, ’98, ’12), nine Final Fours, and six head coaches. More than just a memoir, Déjà Blue presents a journalistic reflection on Tipton’s award-winning career in which he recalls the stories, the games, the personalities, and his relationships with coaches, players, and members of Big Blue Nation. Déjà Blue gives insight into Tipton’s skill as a beat reporter--interviewing, writing, and old-fashioned hard work--that led to his induction into not just one, but three sportswriting hall of fame associations, a fitting tribute to his storied career.

Beginning with the 1981-82 season, sportswriter Jerry Tipton covered the University of Kentucky men’s basketball program for 41 years. This included nine Final Four appearances (1984, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015) and three national championships (1996, 1998 and 2012). He cherished the many chances to feel like he was writing the first draft of history. This included the 1983 ＂Dream Game＂ against Louisville, the so-called Christian Laettner game and Kentucky’s 38-0 start to the 2014-15 season. Memorable ＂lows＂ in his time included the tornado that hit the 2008 Southeastern Conference Tournament, the historic loss to 15-seed Saint Peter’s in his last game on the beat and the NCAA investigation that led to Eddie Sutton’s firing. Besides reporting on six basketball coaches (Joe B. Hall, Eddie Sutton, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith, Billy Gillispie and John Calipari), Tipton’s 41 years in the sports department of the Lexington Herald-Leader included covering UK’s football team from 1981 through the 1986 season. Before coming to Lexington, Tipton worked 10 years for the daily newspaper in Huntington, W.Va., The Herald-Dispatch. This time included two years as a part-timer while attending Marshall University and eight years full-time after graduating with a degree in journalism in 1973. During this time, he covered high school sports, bowling and then Marshall’s men’s basketball. He was inducted into the Marshall University Journalism Hall of Fame in 2018, the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 2020 and the United States Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame in 2005. Tipton grew up in Hamtramck, Mich., which is one of two independent towns inside the Detroit city limits. He and his wife, Paula Anderson, live in Lexington. They have two sons, Stephen and Jackson.