Mike Pratt, a Kentucky Basketball Hall of Famer, dies at 73

A few weeks ago, a call was put out to the Big Blue Nation to help Mike Pratt in his recurring fight against cancer. Pratt’s three-year battle intensified in May as the cancer returned and spread even further beyond past diagnoses. With a new fight ahead, a fundraising effort was established to assist Kentucky Basketball’s veteran radio analyst and former all-conference player with the overbearing medical expenses for his new treatments. His first treatment was scheduled to begin yesterday, June 16.

Sadly, Mike’s condition took a turn for the worse earlier this week and today, we share the heartbreaking news that Mike Pratt passed away late Thursday night. He was 73 years old.

For the last two decades, Pratt was heard around the Bluegrass and beyond as Kentucky Basketball’s color analyst for the UK Sports Network, alongside his radio teammate and play-by-play broadcaster, Tom Leach. 

Leach said of his friend and radio colleague, “Everybody gravitated to MP for his bball knowledge and his friendship. I loved him like a brother. My heart is broken. RIP.”

Snapped this picture of Mike with Chuck Hayes at UK shootaround ay Vandy in 2020. Everybody gravitated to MP for his bball knowledge and his friendship. I loved him like a brother. My heart is broken. RIP pic.twitter.com/BkdkqWqp41

— Tom Leach (@tomleachKY) June 17, 2022

The longtime duo released a book last year with stories from their time around the program. For Pratt, his Kentucky Basketball story dates back to the mid-1960s when Adolph Rupp and UK’s coaching staff, which included Joe B. Hall, began recruiting him as a sophomore at Meadowdale High School in Dayton, Ohio. A high-scoring guard with lots of interest, Pratt considered Indiana, Duke, and his hometown Dayton Flyers for college, but ultimately picked Rupp’s Wildcats for the team’s style of play and to be close, but not too close, to home. He moved to Lexington in 1966.

Pratt’s first year at Kentucky, he sat out due to NCAA rules prohibiting freshmen from varsity competition; although, he would have contributed if freshmen had been eligible in his era. Fellow freshmen (and roommates) Dan Issel and Mike Casey could have helped, too. Kentucky went 13-13 that year, Rupp’s only season without a winning record.

When Pratt took the court his sophomore season in 1967-68, he made an immediate impact as one of the three varsity newcomers who cracked Rupp’s starting five, along with Issel and Casey. The trio did more than earn starting roles their debut seasons; they were Kentucky’s three leading scorers at a combined 50 points per game on a team that went 22-5 and came up one tournament win shy of a Final Four berth. They also won a competitive Southeastern Conference.

In 1968-69, Pratt earned individual All-SEC recognition with averages of 17 points and nine rebounds per game as a junior. Kentucky again won the conference but was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament via a Sweet 16 loss to Marquette in a rematch from the 1968 tournament.

The summer before Pratt’s one last try at a championship, fellow senior Mike Casey suffered serious injuries in an automobile accident and missed the entire 1969-70 season. But even without their star teammate, Pratt and Issel guided Kentucky to another championship season in the conference and a No. 1 ranking in the country, only to come up short in the NCAA’s Mideast regional final once more.

Though short of the team’s ultimate goal, Pratt was again named All-SEC as a senior in addition to All-American recognition by Converse. Collectively, he and Issel led the Wildcats to a three-year record of 71-12 with three SEC championships and two regional final appearances.

When Pratt graduated in 1970, he had a final tally of 1,359 total points scored with a 16.7 points per game average, still one of the best in school history for a career. His nine rebounds per game rank among the best of all time, too.

After college, Pratt and Issel signed with the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association, where Pratt played two seasons of pro ball before retiring his playing career in 1972.

In 1975, he got into coaching as an assistant on the bench at UNC Charlotte, then took over as head coach in 1978 following the school’s first and only Final Four appearance. He moved into NBA scouting after coaching the 49ers for four years.

Pratt was called back home to Kentucky in October of 2001 when Host Communications hired the former two-time All-SEC selection to provide analysis for the radio broadcasts of Kentucky games. Pratt’s second Kentucky Basketball career strengthened his connection to the program—he was inducted into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009—and created new generations of Mike Pratt fans for his commentary and other contributions to Kentucky Basketball, including his role in the hiring of John Calipari.

Calipari, who matched $50K in donations to Pratt’s fundraiser, recently tweeted, “Mike was part of a group, which included Mitch Barnhart, Lee Todd, Martin Newton and Rob Mullens, who flew to Chicago and meet with me about leaving Memphis for Kentucky – my dream job! I will always be grateful.”

Here at Kentucky Sports Radio, we too are grateful for Mike Pratt for his kindness to the KSR operation and the people behind it. No surprise to anyone who knew him, Mike was one of the first welcoming voices when we began covering Kentucky Basketball events and there was never a time we would be in a room with Mike without him making a point to say hi.

He was a wonderful person, a friend to many, and forever a Kentucky Basketball legend for what he accomplished as a player, broadcaster, and ambassador of the program.

Condolences to Mike’s family, his basketball family, radio colleagues, friends, and fans.