Brown: Denny Crum elevated Louisville basketball and made it OK for Cardinals to dream big

To say Denny Crum is Louisville basketball seems like it doesn't encompass just how important he was. He made it OK to dream big at Louisville.

Crum died Tuesday at the age of 86. During his 30 years leading the Cardinals, he single-handedly raised the level of expectations for how athletics could lift what was once primarily viewed as an urban, commuter university and little brother to the school in Lexington.

He was the source of pride for the Cardinals, taking a good program — at the age of 34 with no previous head coaching experience — and making it great. Often while wearing a red sport coat and clutching a rolled-up program on the sideline.

Denny Crum's recruiting style, Final Four appearances

Crum was unapologetic in his approach. He welcomed Black players at a time when some schools in the south — including Kentucky — were still slow to integrate.

Legendary coach: Denny Crum, former Louisville basketball coach and Hall of Fame member, dies at 86

He simply recruited to his style wherever that took him and played a disciplined, fast-paced brand of basketball that saw immediate success. Crum took the Cards to the Final Four his first season at the helm in 1972 and kept that bar high for two decades.

U of L made four Final Four appearances and won two national titles (1980, '86) during a seven-season span from 1980-86. That was the most dominant span by a coach in the past 43 years with the exception of Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (six Final Fours from 1988-94 including 1991-92 titles), who Crum beat in the '86 title game.

Crum stayed around for 30 seasons. Considering how his tenure ended, maybe that was too long. But he had a loyalty to Louisville, despite having ample opportunities to leave.

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Had he left after reaching his second Final Four in 1975, who knows if the Cardinals’ program would have developed the way it did. But he wanted to see it through, despite the desperate tugs from his alma mater.

UCLA was clamoring to find a John Wooden replica and thought Crum could be the one.

By the second time the Bruins approached him in 1977, the California native who played for Wooden and served as his assistant coach had already become a Louisvillian at heart. He owned a 55-acre farm and appreciated the laid-back lifestyle in the Commonwealth as opposed to the hustle of Hollywood.

When Crum's U of L faced UK in 1983 NCAA Tournament

The only thing U of L fans like more than a coach staying loyal is one that doesn't cower to Kentucky. Crum happened to have both traits.

His overall record against the Cats was just 7-13. But he won the one that mattered most, and that first meeting paved the way for everything else.

The U of L and UK series had big gaps — from 1922 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1983 — where they didn’t play each other. UK’s legendary coach Adolph Rupp had an unwritten policy of not scheduling the Cards, and that continued even after Joe B. Hall took over.

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It wasn’t just a preference for out of state opponents, there was the sense that the Wildcats were above playing Louisville. Like the Cards hadn’t been good enough for long enough to play the undisputed kings of the Bluegrass and one of the established bluebloods of college basketball.

So when the teams were set to meet in the 1983 NCAA Tournament in Knoxville, Tennessee, the hype was unprecedented. The fact that the winner earned a spot in the Final Four was almost an afterthought. It quickly took on the moniker of the “Dream Game” in the Commonwealth.

When Crum led U of L to an 80-68 win in overtime of the Mideast Region final, that dream created a new reality. The Cards weren’t going to stand for that ‘little brother’ talk any more. They were equals and should be treated as such.

It was arguably the biggest victory, certainly the most important one, that wasn't for a national championship in program history.

Because of that game, then Gov. John Y. Brown brokered a deal between the schools that led to renewing the series. And the teams have played annually ever since.

Crum’s impact at U of L went well beyond what he achieved on the basketball court.

There was a time at the height of his popularity in the 80s when Crum was asked to speak in Central City, essentially in the heart of UK country, to a rotary club to raise money for scholarships.

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He drove himself, stayed with the family that invited him to Muhlenberg County, and eventually helped establish an athletic scholarship to U of L. Those are the kinds of gestures Crum made that people remembered as they mourned his death Tuesday.

They don’t talk about the last part of his career, when the NCAA investigators rolled up on campus and he suffered his only three losing seasons in his final 11 years at the helm.

They remember how great the big wins and national titles felt. And how, thanks to Denny Crum, it was no longer just a dream.

Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @CLBrownHoops.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Denny Crum death: Hall of Fame coach elevated Louisville basketball