Fast and Loud Kentucky basketball connection

I was watching Monday night's edition of Fast and Loud when it was mentioned that Richard Rawlings was in Connecticut to see Chuck Aleksinas about the first two Firebirds ever built. My ears perked immediately. How many guys in the US could be named Chuck Aleksinas? Sure enough it was the Chuck Aleksinas that played for Kentucky before transferring home to UConn in December of the '78-'79 season.

Chuck mentioned playing at UK and playing pro ball, no mention of playing with UConn, had his UK hat on in the scene.

BTW, Chuck sold the Firebirds for $70k, they were in rough shape, but he sold them way too cheap.

I saw most of that but didn't know it was Aleksinas. I thought it was some UK fan selling his cars.

That's a name from the past…..when we signed him, he was hyped….the next George Mikan? the next Tom Boerwinkle?

Cool...watch that show..but missed that one...will have to find it and watch!

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Originally Posted by KeithKSR

.....Chuck Aleksinas that played for Kentucky before transferring home to UConn in December of the '78-'79 season.

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Funny story. Aleksinas was a true sleeper-maybe the biggest sleeper ever at UK. A guy close to the program was on a business trip, sitting in a bar late at night, and got into a conversation with the guy on the next stool about basketball and he mentioned Chuck. We're talking about the backwoods somewhere in New England and a tiny high school. Our guy called Joe B and passed the name along. They did a little checking and decided it was worth the time to go check him out. The kid's season was over so 5 or 6 of us accompanied Joe B to see the kid work out with a couple of his teammates in his gym. After the work out he invited us to his house to meet his parents, so we show up unannounced right at supper time. His mom had fixed spaghetti so we all gathered around the table and ate and there was enough food to feed all 10 people present. I was sitting next to the mom and asked her what she would have done with all the food had we not been there and she just laughed and said, "Chuck would have eaten it all."

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Originally Posted by ajp40505

Funny story. Aleksinas was a true sleeper-maybe the biggest sleeper ever at UK. A guy close to the program was on a business trip, sitting in a bar late at night, and got into a conversation with the guy on the next stool about basketball and he mentioned Chuck. We're talking about the backwoods somewhere in New England and a tiny high school. Our guy called Joe B and passed the name along. They did a little checking and decided it was worth the time to go check him out. The kid's season was over so 5 or 6 of us accompanied Joe B to see the kid work out with a couple of his teammates in his gym. After the work out he invited us to his house to meet his parents, so we show up unannounced right at supper time. His mom had fixed spaghetti so we all gathered around the table and ate and there was enough food to feed all 10 people present. I was sitting next to the mom and asked her what she would have done with all the food had we not been there and she just laughed and said, "Chuck would have eaten it all."

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This is awesome. More stories, please!

Great story ajp!

Aleksinas was a huge loss when he transferred to UConn. His departure left Joe B with a smallish lineup with Cowan and Williams playing the 4/5 spots.

Chuck Aleksinas wasn't the only big man that transferred off of the 1978 championship team. Scott Courts a 6'10" big man also left UK after winning the title. It was a big loss for the 1978-79 team as they were supposed to replace Robey and Phillips.

Man ajp that's a GREAT story. Thanks for sharing, I really enjoy those kinds of things.

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Originally Posted by KMSBball

Chuck Aleksinas wasn't the only big man that transferred off of the 1978 championship team. Scott Courts a 6'10" big man also left UK after winning the title. It was a big loss for the 1978-79 team as they were supposed to replace Robey and Phillips.

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The loss of Courts made the loss of Aleksinas that much bigger.

Just saw a promo for part 2 of the Firebird story on Fast and Loud, which airs next Monday. No mention of Aleksinas but who knows.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ajp40505

Funny story. Aleksinas was a true sleeper-maybe the biggest sleeper ever at UK. A guy close to the program was on a business trip, sitting in a bar late at night, and got into a conversation with the guy on the next stool about basketball and he mentioned Chuck. We're talking about the backwoods somewhere in New England and a tiny high school. Our guy called Joe B and passed the name along. They did a little checking and decided it was worth the time to go check him out. The kid's season was over so 5 or 6 of us accompanied Joe B to see the kid work out with a couple of his teammates in his gym. After the work out he invited us to his house to meet his parents, so we show up unannounced right at supper time. His mom had fixed spaghetti so we all gathered around the table and ate and there was enough food to feed all 10 people present. I was sitting next to the mom and asked her what she would have done with all the food had we not been there and she just laughed and said, "Chuck would have eaten it all."

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Great story!

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