Why a former Kentucky basketball standout decided to make a $1 million donation to UK
Last weekend was a special one for the University of Kentucky men’s basketball program.
Centered around its 105-96 victory over Georgia — which just happened to feature the stunning debut of Zvonimir Ivisic and one of the hottest Rupp Arena crowds in years — UK brought back members of its 1984 Final Four team to be honored at halftime Saturday evening.
The occasion was made even more special the night before, when UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart — during a private reception for the ’84 players and their families — announced that Jim Master and his wife, Sheila, had pledged a $1 million donation to the university.
“They have done something that is remarkably special,” Barnhart told the group when announcing the donation. Half of the money will go to UK’s Gatton College of Business, and the other half will go to the university’s athletics department.
The next night, a little while before the Kentucky-Georgia game tipped off, Master and a couple of his 1984 teammates — Sam Bowie and Kenny Walker — shared stories of that season and their college careers, reminiscing about their time as Wildcats. A few days later, the weekend in his rearview mirror, Master spoke with the Herald-Leader about the reunion and the reasoning behind his decision to donate such a generous amount to the university.
Master said his phone had “blown up” with calls in recent days, along with text messages and even emails from people he’d never met. One of those came from a former instructor at UK who thanked him for the donation.
“That’s when I think I knew I did the right thing,” he said. “That’s kind of what I envisioned — people feeling good about something.”
Master said he first met with Barnhart about a year ago and told him what he was thinking. The former UK basketball standout wasn’t yet ready to make the $1 million commitment at that time, but he wanted to pick the AD’s brain about it as he continued to wrestle with the idea.
“I had some more good fortune and good luck this past year, so I met with him and said I thought I was ready,” Master said. “... Do other people need money more than the University of Kentucky basketball team? Yes. That was the wrestle. But connecting it to the student-athlete, because I’m all about education. Connecting it to the business school — all that made me feel good.”
Master said there were several factors that led him to take this step.
Obviously, he was one of UK’s top players during his time on campus, a four-year career that saw him score 1,283 points — a total that would have been higher if the 3-pointer had been around — and ended with that still-hard-to-stomach loss to Georgetown in the 1984 Final Four.
“A very small part of a massive tradition of UK basketball,” Master said of himself.
But there were other, more important factors.
Master isn’t from Kentucky — he was an Indiana Mr. Basketball and McDonald’s All-American out of Fort Wayne before college — but he’s made Lexington his home for the past four-plus decades. He graduated from UK in four years with a business degree, and his brother, Randy Master, earned his MBA from the Gatton College of Business.
With his donation, Master wanted to send a message to other UK student-athletes that you don’t have to be a first-round draft pick or go on to have a prolonged career in professional sports to find financial prosperity. There is much more to life after athletics. That idea was a big part of Master’s thinking as he came to his decision.
“Maybe the biggest part,” he said. “It’s a lot of money for me and my family. I know Mr. (Joe) Craft and other people can give more, and that’s beautiful. I hope someday I get to give a lot more. My point is, it’s a lot, it’s a commitment. And I want to show back to the student-athlete, back to the business school graduate … you can accomplish other things in life by being part of a crazy great program, going on and graduating — doing the right things — and be very successful in life. And give back. That’s it. That’s a huge part of it. And I’ll be honest, I’m very proud of that part of it.”
‘A special weekend’
Following his standout career in college, Master was selected in the sixth round of the 1984 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks, and — while he tried out for a couple of teams in the league — he never played a game at that level.
Master said he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do once his playing days were finished. He spent some time on a couple of different career paths but hadn’t found anything he was passionate about until his close friend and former UK teammate, the late Bret Bearup, talked him into taking a chance in the financial industry. Bearup convinced Master to join him at Hilliard Lyons, and that’s where he found his calling.
“Praise God he pushed me — because he was smarter than heck — into this career,” Master said. “And, for me, it’s exploded. I love my clients. They’re like family. I manage money for individual clients. And, like me playing basketball, I’ve just massively enjoyed it.”
Hilliard Lyons was acquired by R.W. Baird a few years ago, and Master is still active as a financial consultant in the company. He also recently returned to the basketball court.
Master said his son, Leo, never showed much interest in sports as a younger kid, even with his father’s decorated history as a basketball player.
“He didn’t care about any sports,” he said. “And I’m not that dad. I don’t push him.”
But Master did tell his son that he wanted him to try different things and make sure he was staying active. He took his son to one UK basketball game per season, he said, but it never really registered. Last season, something clicked, and Leo signed up to play for the eighth-grade team at Sayre. His dad signed on as one of the coaches.
“I have a blast,” the former basketball star said. “It is so much fun.”
Master said his son was “on cloud nine” last weekend, which included a trip inside the UK locker room and an opportunity to meet most of the current players. They were obviously in the crowd for Ivisic’s amazing debut — a sight that still had Master in awe a few days later — and the 61-year-old Wildcat was brought onto the Rupp Arena court as the “Y” during the game, receiving a rousing ovation of his own from the Kentucky fans.
“For how UK treated my teammates and myself … I was just blown away,” he said. “So were all my teammates. It was beautiful. It was almost like we were back in school again, laughing about this or that. We all had a good time.
“They made us all feel respected, special. No request was a bad request. It was a special weekend for me and my family.”
Master told Barnhart afterward that he couldn’t have asked for anything more out of the reunion. He also told the Herald-Leader that the $1 million donation might not have come together without the veteran AD’s presence.
“I doubt if I would be doing this — even with all those other things — if it wasn’t for Mitch Barnhart being the athletic director,” Master said. He acknowledged that Barnhart has his detractors among the UK fan base, even joked that some of his own friends don’t like the guy. “But I do. I trust him, and I like him.”
He said he trusted him to do the right thing with the half of the donation that would go to UK Athletics, taking his word that the money would be used to support the university’s student-athletes.
Master, a UK alumnus and a Lexingtonian for 40-plus years, wanted to talk about the current Wildcats as much as his own playing days. He marveled at the size and athleticism of this Kentucky team, and wondered how John Calipari would find the right amount of minutes with all the talent and depth on this squad. He said he was “amazed” at the energy in Rupp Arena last weekend and looked forward to seeing how this season would unfold for the Wildcats.
“I think people are starting to realize how crazy talented this team is,” he said. “‘Wow,’ I thought.”
He also shared stories of his own playing days. He paid tribute to Bearup, who passed away in 2018, and former teammate Melvin Turpin, who died in 2010, and recalled the special times they shared. He said that — while the sting of that Georgetown loss in 1984 would never fully go away — his teams had a lot to be proud of, and he fondly recalled his time on campus.
Being back in Rupp with so many of his teammates one more time was a special feeling.
“A lot of great memories,” Master said. “Seeing all the guys — and not all of them could make it — but just seeing them, a lot of fun for me. It’s a camaraderie. It’s like a fraternity. … Also, as you get older, being a very small part of an unbelievable tradition in Kentucky basketball, you get more and more pride of, ‘That’s what I did.’ So, a lot of pride. A lot of great friends. A lot of great memories. A couple bad ones. But, all in all, it’s been beautiful, I think for all of us — and for our families — to come back. Beautiful.”
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