LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Jock Sutherland was both loved and despised by listeners of WHAS Radio.
They followed him loyally as he provided the color analysis through the 1980s of Louisville Cardinals basketball alongside the famed Van Vance.
Sutherland passed away Sunday night at the age of 95.
Ironically, he was a Lexington native and a University of Kentucky graduate who spent most of his life as a UK fan and a Hall of Fame Kentucky high school basketball coach.
His outspoken commentary on Lexington radio about then coach Joe B. Hall got him fired.
Vance visited WHAS-TV on Monday to discuss Sutherland’s legacy.
“He had that Kentucky drawl. One time I went [to] New York, we needed a piece of equipment. He’s [Sutherland] talking to the radio shack guy. He turns to me and says, ‘Van, I can’t understand a word they are saying.’ I said, ‘Jock, I got news for you, they can’t understand a word you are saying,’” Vance recalled.
In an earlier interview with the Lexington Herald Leader, Sutherland said his biggest regret is what he said on air about Joe B. Hall and that he apologized often to the coach.
Sutherland said Hall accepted his apology.
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