Inspired by Jasper Johnson, which family can claim to be the ‘First Family of UK Sports’?
When former Woodford County High School basketball star Jasper Johnson committed to Mark Pope and Kentucky last week, it gave his family three generations of connections to UK sports.
Johnson’s father, Dennis, is a former Wildcats’ football star. Jasper’s uncle, Derrick, was also a contributing football player for the Cats. Alvis Johnson, the father of Derrick and Dennis and Jasper’s grandfather, worked eight years in athletics administration for UK.
Jasper Johnson’s decision served as an entry way into an interesting topic: Which family has the strongest claim to be considered the “First Family of UK Sports”?
We will need to see how Jasper Johnson fares while wearing the UK uniform before we can fairly evaluate his family’s standing in this discussion.
In the meantime, I have tried to identify the families which have made the greatest impact on Big Blue sports.
In alphabetical order, here are five:
Bird family
The family impact on UK: From 1953 through 1965, four brothers from Corbin would play either football or men’s basketball for Kentucky. Three became stars.
Jerry Bird (varsity career 1953-56) was a men’s hoops reserve on Kentucky’s 25-0 team in 1953-54. The next two seasons, the 6-foot-6, 200-pound forward averaged a double-double for Adolph Rupp’s Wildcats. Bird went for 10.7 points and 10.9 rebounds a game in 1954-55, then averaged 16.2 ppg and 11.4 rpg in 1955-56.
Calvin Bird, a football running back (1958-60), is probably best remembered for scoring three touchdowns, the last a 63-yard punt return, in UK’s 20-0 win over Tennessee in 1959. For his three-year Wildcats career, Bird ran for 633 yards and three touchdowns and caught 52 passes for 746 yards and six TDs.
A third brother, running back Billy Bird, carried 17 times for 79 yards for Kentucky in 1961.
Rodger Bird (1963-65) was an AP All-SEC first-team running back in 1964 and 1965. For his UK career, he ran for 1,699 yards and 21 touchdowns and caught 41 passes for 352 yards and four TDs.
The Birds’ claim to be the First Family of UK Sports: From four brothers who played for the Wildcats, three — Jerry, Calvin and Rodger — have jerseys retired by the University of Kentucky.
Epps family
The family impact on UK: Anthony Epps (1993-97) was the starting point guard on UK men’s basketball’s 1996 NCAA championship team and started again at guard for Rick Pitino’s NCAA runner-up squad the following season.
Epps is second in Kentucky’s regal men’s hoops history in career assists (544) and sixth in steals (184). He also scored 881 points and claimed 325 rebounds.
Makayla Epps (2013-17), Anthony’s daughter, is Kentucky women’s basketball’s sixth all-time scorer (1,761 career points) and is eighth all-time in assists (408). She also grabbed 503 rebounds and made 130 steals as a Wildcat.
The Epps’ claim to be the First Family of UK Sports: Of all the father-child duos — and there have been several — in UK basketball history, the largest footprints were left by the father/daughter combination of Anthony and Makayla Epps.
Johnson family
(But not Jasper and his kin)
The family impact on UK: Carl Lampert, who came to the University of Kentucky in 1917 as head of the school’s music department, made an enduring contribution to Wildcats sports:
In 1922, he wrote the music for the song that became “On, On U of K.”
Bert Johnson, who would marry one of Carl Lampert’s daughters, was an All-SEC running back for Kentucky in 1934. His great moment in Wildcats blue came that season when he ran for 104 yards and scored two touchdowns against an Alabama team that went on to finish 10-0.
Phil Johnson, Bert’s son, played men’s hoops for Adolph Rupp (1955-59) and was a reserve forward on UK’s 1958 NCAA title team.
The Johnsons’ claim to be the First Family of UK Sports: When you have authorship of a school’s fight song in your lineage, your impact is eternal.
Sheppard family
The family impact on UK: Although Stacey Reed’s women’s basketball career (1991-95) at Kentucky ended three decades ago, the 5-foot-5 point guard is still UK’s 14th all-time scorer (1,482 career points), is second in school history in steals (309) and sixth all-time in assists (442).
For good measure, Reed also led Kentucky in rebounding in both 1993-94 and 1994-95 (6.8 rpg both years).
Jeff Sheppard, who Stacey Reed met at UK and subsequently married, played on two Kentucky men’s basketball national championship teams (1996 and 1998) and was the Most Outstanding Player of the 1998 Final Four.
For his UK career (1993-1998), Sheppard scored 1,091 points.
Reed Sheppard, Stacey and Jeff’s son, was national freshman of the year after averaging 12.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals for Kentucky in his one-and-done season (2023-24) with the Wildcats.
The Sheppards’ claim to be the First Family of UK Sports: Three family members who were all star-caliber players at Kentucky is strong.
Still family
The family impact on UK: In his four-season (1974 through 1977) Kentucky football career, Art Still was a dominant force on the Wildcats defensive line.
The 6-7, 247-pound defensive end made 327 career tackles. The Camden, New Jersey, product had a whopping 22 tackles for loss in 1977, the season when he was the defensive cornerstone of a UK team that finished 10-1.
In spite of playing women’s basketball rather early (1979-1983) in the sport’s development, Valerie Still, Art’s younger sister, set records at Kentucky almost certain to stand forever.
Valerie Still remains Kentucky women’s basketball’s all-time leading career scorer (2,763 points) and rebounder (1,525). For her UK career, Still averaged 23.2 points and 12.8 rebounds a game.
The Stills’ claim to be the First Family of UK Sports: When one family can claim to have produced, arguably, the best player ever in two different sports for a Southeastern Conference school, that’s a trump card that is hard for other families to top.
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