Forever Crazy About The Cats: An Improbable Journey of a Kentucky Sportswriter Overcoming Adversity

by Jamie H. Vaught

If you’re feeling nostalgic for the University of Kentucky’s glorious basketball past, this could be the book for you! Veteran sportswriter Jamie H. Vaught has penned another entertaining book primarily about UK basketball. The 408-page hardcover, which also contains UK football stories, features many fascinating and inside accounts about the Kentucky Wildcats. The featured individuals include Adolph Rupp, Joe B. Hall, Dan Issel, Mike Pratt, Cawood Ledford, Tubby Smith, John Calipari, Paul “Bear” Bryant, Ray Correll, Blanton Collier, Fran Curci, Jerry Claiborne, Vic Adams, Mark Stoops, Maci Morris, Oscar Tshiebwe (and his high school coach Rick Mancino), among others. The book begins with a chapter on legendary broadcaster Cawood Ledford and ends with a chapter on legendary coach Joe B. Hall.

In addition to numerous UK stories and interviews, the book is also part memoir about Vaught’s long, adventurous career of covering the Wildcats in basketball and football while overcoming personal adversity — a devastating hearing loss since birth. The author discusses his early personal struggles in dealing with his severe hearing impairment.

Also featured is a fascinating chapter about former prep basketball superstar J.R. VanHoose of Paintsville High School who once was recruited by UK. In addition, the book includes an enjoyable chapter about Vaught’s childhood friend Roberto Clemente and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

This is Vaught’s sixth book about UK basketball. Vaught, a two-time UK graduate who wrote columns for The Cats’ Pause for 13 years, is also a longtime college professor. He has taught at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro since 1991.

416 pages, Hardcover

Published November 25, 2022

About the author

Veteran sportswriter Jamie H. Vaught has covered University of Kentucky’s basketball program since his early college days, including the team’s Final Four appearances in 2012 and 2015. He is a longtime credentialed sports columnist in Kentucky, whose articles over several decades have appeared in many outlets, including Middlesboro Daily News, Harlan Enterprise, KyForward.com, NKyTribune.com, Somerset’s Commonwealth Journal and The Cats’ Pause magazine. Vaught, who is also a photographer, has written five books about UK basketball, including Crazy About the Cats: From Rupp to Pitino. He is the founder and editor of growing KySportsStyle.com Magazine.

While a college student at UK during the late 1970s, Vaught served as a sportswriter and sports editor of Kentucky Kernel, the campus daily newspaper, before graduating with two degrees – bachelor’s in accounting and MBA (master of business administration). During the 1980s and early ‘90s, he worked for The Cats’ Pause as a sports columnist where he wrote for 13 years.

Vaught, who grew up in Science Hill, Ky., is a graduate of Somerset High School where he began his future career in sportswriting. Vaught is also a full-time professor at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro, a position he has held since 1991.