Interview with Robert "Bob" Guyette, March 25, 2017

Interview Summary

Robert Guyette talks about his childhood in the Midwest in Ottawa, Illinois. He talks about how influential his father was in his passion for sports. He talks about being named Illinois' Mr. Basketball and how popular basketball was in his small town. He talks about the college recruitment process and the decision to leave his state and move to Kentucky. He talks about his first game playing for the varsity team and the label of "Super Kittens." He talks about knowing that Coach Rupp would be retiring and getting to know Coach Joe B. Hall. He talks about different experiences bonding with his teammates and watching Coach Rupp retire. He describes his freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior seasons on the University of Kentucky basketball team, including his teammates, memorable wins and losses, and various tournament games. Guyette talks about a game they lost at Indiana University Bloomington during his senior season and an altercation between the two head coaches, Bobby Knight and Joe B. Hall. He talks about the Final Four tournament in San Diego, California and meeting University of California Los Angeles in the finals.

Guyette talks about being drafted by American basketball teams and negotiating with a team in Spain. He talks about playing professional basketball in Spain for five years. Guyette talks about attending dental school at the University of Kentucky before deciding to specialize in oral-maxillofacial surgery and attending medical school at the University of Alabama. He talks about playing basketball during his time in dental school at UK. He talks about his career, including developing inventions and patents, real estate development, chair of the finance department of a physicians' insurance company, and as a member of the board of a chain of community banks. He talks about his three sons, their educations, and their careers.

Interview Keyword

Coach Adolph Rupp Coach Joe B. Hall Super Kittens Southeastern Conference (SEC) Indiana University Bloomington University of California Los Angeles National championships University of Kentucky. College of Dentistry Barcelona (Spain) Phoenix (Ariz.) Oral surgery Oral-maxillofacial surgery

Interview LC Subject

Basketball. University of Kentucky Southeastern Conference. Basketball Basketball coaches--Kentucky Basketball players--Kentucky Basketball--Coaching College athletes College sports--Coaching College sports--Kentucky College sports. Hall, Joe B. (Joe Beasman) Kentucky Wildcats (Basketball team) University of Kentucky--Basketball Rupp, Adolph, 1901-1977 Dentists. Oral surgeons Physicians

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.