Nintendo 64 turns 25 today. Remember when Jeff Sheppard was on the cover of a game?

DrewFranklinKSR

Long before Anthony Davis was on the cover of NBA 2K21, and before Antoine Walker was in a Boston Celtics uniform on the cover of NBA Live 99, Jeff Sheppard represented the University of Kentucky on the cover of Fox Sports College Hoops ’99, the first college basketball game on the Nintendo 64 console.

Today the Nintendo 64 turns 25 years old, and with Jeff Sheppard’s baby boy being a hot topic around here, it felt right to revisit Shep’s cover boy status on the greatest gaming console ever created.

Fox Sports College Hoops ’99 was released for Nintendo 64 play in October of 1998, months after Sheppard won the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player award during Kentucky’s national championship run, which is how he earned the spot over other marketable college stars of that season, guys like Paul Pierce, Raef Lafrentz, Antawn Jameson, Mike Bibby or Vince Carter. Sheppard was a hot name in the sport and a five-year player at the college level so he got the nod, and this Nintendo 64 enthusiast (me) can vividly remember the game’s commercial and the excitement of seeing his favorite player on the cover.

Turns out, someone uploaded the commercial to YouTube just a few months ago:

https://youtu.be/6qUgaelMC3E

Then over on the video game’s Wikipedia page, the only screen shot from the game shows generic Kentucky player No. 34 (purely a coincidence it looks like Scott Padgett from that ’98 team, I’m sure) shooting a baseline jumper in a 64-bit Rupp Arena.

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And the gameplay? We can look back on that too thanks to whoever uploaded Kentucky vs. Utah:

Again, what a coincidence on these jersey numbers because college players were not licensed, and still aren’t licensed, to be on video games. Check out Kentucky’s starting five on the game and how they didn’t even try to hide creating the 1998-99 team with fake names.

#5 | Point Guard | 6-2, 190 | “Brooks” (but definitely Wayne Turner)

#22 | Shooting Guard | 6-3, 188 | “Rector” (but definitely Ryan Hogan)

#14 | Small Forward | 6-6, 215 | “Blean” (but definitely Heshimu Evans)

#34 | Power Forward | 6-9, 240 | “Tran” (but definitely Scott Padgett)

#42 | Center | 6-10, 260 | “Gardiner” (but definitely Jamaal Magloire)

Unfortunately the game itself wasn’t all that great and it never returned for another year, but now you’ll know the answer if anyone ever asks you the first Kentucky player to be on the cover of a video game. It’s Jeff Sheppard on the one-and-done Fox Sports College Hoops.

Happy 25 years to the Nintendo 64!