The Most Impactful Kentucky Wildcat Basketball Players (1981-82 – present): #23 Melvin Turpin

#23 MELVIN TURPIN
1980-1984
BRYAN STATION, LEXINGTON KY

With Sam Bowie, Melvin Turpin brought excitement and a Final Four to Lexington.  Perhaps because of Bowie, he was a bit overshadowed but Turpin was a hometown Wildcat that came to play for the Wildcats and earned himself a spot in Wildcat lore.  Unfortunately, the story of Melvin Turpin has a tragic ending, but his role in Wildcat history can not be diminished.  Turpin was a colorful player and due to his size, earned the nickname “Dinner Bell Mel” and the legend goes that Joe B Hall had to assign a student manager to be on guard to prevent late night McDonald’s runs.

Turpin would become part of Kentucky’s “Twin Towers” in the early 1980’s. Turpin arrived a year after Bowie and not with the same fanfare.  While Bowie was a McDonald’s and Parade All American coming into Lexington, Turpin was not honored as such.  Despite starting his his school career at Bryan Station in Lexington, Turpin finished at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia.   Turpin did not pick up basketball until late and went to Fork Union to refine his skills.   Turpin was not that much of a factor in his freshman year, playing less than 15 minutes a game and averaging 4.68 points and 3.8 rebounds a game.  That was soon to change.

Sam Bowie missed the 1981-82 season with an injury and Turpin answered the call.  Melvin averaged 13 points and 7 rebounds a game as Kentucky finished with a 22-8 record.  Turpin was named to the ALL SEC team but for the second straight season, Kentucky’s NCAA season ended in flames with a shocking first round upset.  The previous year, Kentucky lost to UAB.  This year, they fell to Middle Tennessee.  With the heat on the team in Lexington, perhaps it was for the best that Kentucky embarked on a eight game exhibition tour of  Japan and China in which the team went 8-0.  Such trips tend to act as team builders and Turpin took advantage of the extra games.