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Ralph Beard, the point guard for the University of Kentucky’s “Fabulous Five” championship basketball teams and one of the greatest players to ever come out of the state, died early this morning. He was 79.

Scott Beard says his father died at his home in Louisville.

Beard, a Louisville native, was the 5-foot-10 spark plug on some of the most successful college basketball teams in history. Along with Alex Groza, Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones, Kenny Rollins and Cliff Barker, the “Fabulous Five” won the 1948 and 1949 NCAA titles and formed the core of the a U.S. gold medal team at the 1948 Olympics.

“To me he was far and away the best guard of his era, and that includes (Bob) Cousy and all of them,'' said C.M. Newton, a former teammate and athletic director at UK. "He could play in any era.

“He and Michael Jordan are two of the top competitors I’ve ever been around.”

Though his career scoring average of 10.9 points a game was pedestrian, Beard led the way on those fast-breaking teams with his high energy and aggressive defense. He was a consensus first team all-American three consecutive years.

But Beard and Groza were later implicated in a point-shaving scandal. The players told federal authorities that they had received money to fix the scores of games while they were at UK.

In 1951, Beard was banned for life from the NBA after his pro first season, in which he was named an all-star. He was also barred from playing baseball, a sport in which he could also have played professionally.

Beard admitted to taking $700 from gamblers but always insisted he never shaved points.

After being banned from basketball, Beard became a successful businessman, rising from salesman to general manager of Gould’s pharmaceuticals.
In 2005, he was diagnosed with polymyositis, a rare disease that attacks and weakens the muscle fibers.

He was a member of the inaugural class of inductees at UK’s athletic hall of fame in 2005. In 2006, he was honored as a legend of the game by the Southeastern Conference.

“I always have regretted, and am still regretful, that he’s not in the Basketball Hall of Fame," Newton said, "because as a player and a person of character, he deserves to be there.”

Survivors include his wife of 52 years, Bettye (Scott) Beard; his children, Jill Hubbuch, Mike and Scott Beard, their spouses and six grandchildren.

Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. Monday in the chapel of the Pearson-Ratterman Funeral Home, 12900 Shelbyville Rd. in Middletown. The family will receive visitors from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The family asks that expressions of sympathy be made to Hospice and Palliative Care of Louisville.

Ralph Beard of UK basketball's Fabulous Five dead