| Wins against Kentucky - 1 | Losses against Kentucky - 2 |
Alma Mater: Westminster MO [1928]
Hometown: Easton, MO
Date Born: August 6, 1904
Date Died: January 15, 1993
Overall Record: 755-340 [41 Seasons]
[Coach of Future UK Coach Eddie Sutton]
| Date | Matchup | UK Result | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/26/1949 | Kentucky vs. Oklahoma A&M | W | 46 - 36 | NCAA Championship (at Seattle, WA) |
| 12/30/1946 | Kentucky vs. Oklahoma A&M | L | 31 - 37 | Sugar Bowl (at New Orleans, LA) |
| 3/26/1944 | Kentucky vs. Oklahoma A&M | W | 45 - 29 | NIT [Consolation] (at New York, NY) |
Obituary - Detroit Free Press (January 16, 1993)
Iba Dies; Won Gold for U.S.
STILLWATER, Okla. - Hank Iba began playing basketball on dirt courts in rural Missouri, wearing uniforms sewn by his mother. He became one of the great coaches in history, a man whose influence is still felt amid the glitz of today's multimillion-dollar game.
Iba died of heart failure early Friday. He was 88. He had been hospitalized since Wednesday.
"Of all the shadows that case over the game of basketball, his was the biggest," Indiana coach Bob Knight said in a statement.
Knight was one of the many coaches Iba influenced with his preaching of sound defense and a patient, ball-control offense. Iba won 767 games in 41 years, second most in history to Adolph Rupp of Kentucky (875), and led Oklahoma State - then called Oklahoma A&M - to national championships in 1945 and '46.
Iba coached the U.S. Olympic team three times. His teams won gold medals in 1964 (Tokyo) and '68 (Mexico City), then lost to the Soviet Union in 1972 (Munich) in one of the most controversial games ever.
It was ironic that Iba, one of the game's real winners, came to be so closely tied to a loss. The United States appeared to have won the game in regulation. But the clock was reset twice, giving the Soviets three chances to score the game-winning basket.
"We won the game, no question about it," Iba said in an interview with the Associated Press in February 1990. "That thing was over."
The loss was so bitter that no member of the U.S. team have accepted their silver medals.
Knight was especially close to Iba. IN 1984, when he coached the Olympic team, Knight asked Iba to serve as a special assistant coach and speak to the team each day at practice. After winning the gold meal, the players honored Iba by carrying him on their shoulders around the court.
"There weren't many of us who knew what was going on that didn't have tears in our eyes," said Bill Wall, former executive director of USA Basketball.
The coaching ranks are filled with Iba disciples, including current Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton.
Iba was born Aug. 6, 1904, in Easton, Mo. He began his coaching career in 1927 at Classen High School in Oklahoma City. After two seasons there, he went to Maryville Teachers College in Missouri.
He spent four seasons at Maryville and one year at the University of Colorado before taking over a Oklahoma A&M, where he coached 36 years and won 655 games.
Funeral services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.
