Sat Feb 11 2012
A longtime basketball coach at Lexington Dunbar who was at the forefront of integrating the high school game in the 1950s died on Thursday. S.T. Roach was 94.
Sanford Thomas Roach was born in Frankfort in 1916.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that he was a standout athlete at the old Danville Bate High School, and went on to star in basketball at what was then Kentucky State College, now Kentucky State University.
“Though he was short in stature, he was tall in character,” KSU President Mary Sias told The State Journal this morning. “We pause to remember one of our true gems, a real Thorobred.”
Sias said she was saddened and surprised by Roach’s death. She saw him just last week at a reception for UK football coach Joker Phillips, and “his mind was sharp.”
“He was an intelligent man, who had strength of character, and I admired his vision and his foresight,” she said this morning.
“He is someone who truly entered KSU to learn, and he went out and served the community – not only in athletics. He continued to have a positive influence on all the people he came in contact with, and he never forgot his alma mater.”
He began his coaching career at Danville, but three seasons later was hired at Dunbar. Roach coached Dunbar to 512 victories in 22 years, including six Sweet Sixteen appearances.
Before integration, the Bearcats played in the old Kentucky High School Athletic League. Roach led them to two “black” state championships.
In 1956, Dunbar was the first black school to join the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. His teams were state runners-up in 1961 and ’63.
Roach was active in civic affairs, and became the first black board member of the University of Kentucky Athletics Association in 1974.
When UK named Tubby Smith it’s first black men’s basketball coach in 1997, Roach made the motion to hire him. Smith remembered Roach as “a pioneer in coaching.”
“I knew he took a lot of pride in that,” Smith said, “and I was proud that he was the guy who did that.”
Roach said at the time that he was “just thankful the good Lord let me live long enough to see this happen. I never thought this day would come.”
UK basketball coach John Calipari expressed sympathy to Roach’s family and friends Thursday night on Twitter.
“Coach Roach was very instrumental in making change in our community and was supportive of our Athletics program,” Calipari said. “He’ll be missed by us all.”
Smith & Smith Funeral Home in Lexington is in charge of funeral arrangements.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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