# 19
Hometown: Lawrenceburg, KY (Kavanaugh)
Position: C-F Playing Height: 6-4 Playing Weight: 186
Date of Birth: June 25, 1911
Date of Death: December 4, 1985
Nickname: Forest "Aggie" Sale (More)
Additional Photos: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
Action Photos: (1)
Game by Game Statistics
Kentucky Career Notes:
Retired Jersey #19
Season Notes:
1931-32: All-American [Consensus (1st), Converse (1st), Helms, College Humor (1st)]
1932-33: National Player of the Year [Helms]; All-American [Consensus (1st), Converse (1st), College Humor (1st), Helms]; All-SEC [First Team]; All-SEC Tournament
Post-UK Career Notes:
Served in the Military
State of Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame
University of Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame
| Season | Games Played | FG | FT | FTA | % | F | Total Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1930-31 | 9 | 29 | 4 | 4 | 100 | 13 | 62 |
| 1931-32 | 17 | 100 | 35 | 55 | 63.64 | 24 | 235 |
| 1932-33 | 24 | 137 | 58 | 107 | 54.21 | 37 | 332 |
| Total | 50 | 266 | 97 | 166 | 58.43 | 74 | 629 |
Obituary - FORMER BASKETBALL STAR AND LEGISLATOR 'AGGIE' SALE DIES, Lexington Herald-Leader (December 5, 1985) by Jennifer Hewlett
Sale played basketball at UK from 1931 to 1933 and was one of the late Coach Adolph Rupp's first All-American players. Sale was named All-American in 1932 and 1933. Rupp considered Sale one of the best players he ever coached.
"Whenever he (Rupp) mentioned his best players, Aggie Sale was the first player he mentioned," UK sports information director Russell Rice said.
"In his day and time, Aggie Sale was a giant."
Sale, who played forward and center for UK, went to UK after graduatingfrom the old Kavanaugh High School in Anderson County, a school from which several UK All-American players graduated.
Fellow players and friends called him "Aggie" because he was in the UKCollege of Agriculture as a freshman student, Sale's wife said last night.
Sale was an All-Southeastern Conference player in the 1932-33 season, and in 1933, he was named to the Helms Athletic Foundation as the outstandingcollege player of the year.
Cecil D. Bell of Lexington, a former teammate of Sale, recalled: "He was a real close friend of mine, Aggie was. . . . Every day when we'd come out at practice . . . Aggie and I would play a game of 21. We'd come out to practice early. We'd shoot clear around the foul circle. I'd beat him most of the time. It made him so mad."
"I always thought an awful lot of him. . . . He was a real nice fellow," Bell said.
"He (Sale) was a tremendous rebounder, one of the best, I think, under the basket that Kentucky ever had, really," said Carey Spicer of Indianapolis, who was Rupp's first All-American player. "He was a tremendous player all the way around. His junior and senior years were just tremendous. But I only had the pleasure of playing with him his sophomore year."
Louis McGinnis of Lexington, who also played basketball at UK with Sale, said: "He was a great basketball player . . . He was just a good fellow along with it. He was a nice person."
Sale, a native of Anderson County, returned to his home county to teach and coach basketball at Kavanaugh High School after he graduated from UK. He coached at Kavanaugh from 1933 to 1937, and he went to Harrodsburg High School as a history teacher and basketball coach in 1937.
Sale entered the Navy during World War II and achieved the rank of chief specialist.
He returned to Harrodsburg after his military stint and resumed his teaching and basketball career at Harrodsburg High. He remained basketball coach there until 1960 and retired as a teacher in 1964.
After he quit coaching, Sale opened the Sale Sporting Goods Store in Harrodsburg, which he ran until about 1967. The store still bears his name. He also managed the family farm in Anderson County.
In 1971, Sale, a Democrat, was elected to the Kentucky General Assemblyfrom the 55th District. He was re-elected to the post four times. Sale served on several legislative committees, and education was one of his primary legislative interests.
In 1983, the Harrodsburg Rotary Club named Sale the Mercer County Citizen of the Year.
He was a Mason, a Shriner and a longtime member of the Harrodsburg Lions Club. Sale also had taught Sunday school at Harrodsburg Christian Church.
Surviving are his wife, Elizabeth Van Arsdall Sale, and a daughter, Betsy Sale, both of Harrodsburg.
Services will be at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Harrodsburg Christian Church. Visitation will be from 2 to 5 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. today, and from 10 a.m. to noon Friday at McClellan Funeral Home in Harrodsburg. The body will be taken to the church at noon Friday.
Contributions are suggested to the Harrodsburg Christian Church Foundation.
Article - SALE IS CALLED GREATEST STAR OF MEETS HERE, Atlanta Constitution (March 2, 1933)
Kentucky Star Class of Tourney; None Can Surpass Him on Court by Dillon Graham, Associated Press Sports Editor
Veteran observers of basketball tournaments for more than a decade looked back over the years yesterday and agreed Forest "Aggie" Sale, of Kentucky's 1933 quintet, was perhaps the greatest all-round player ever to perform here.
Equipped with a fine physical build, this six-foot four-inch star with 186 pounds of muscle and bone distributed over his lanky frame and long arms and legs, certainly was the class of the current tournament, which Kentucky won last night from Mississippi State.
The heroes of past years passed in review in the memories of sports writers and coaches who have seen all the tournaments here since 1921. Some were rated on par with Sale but none could displace him.
FORMER STARS
There was Carmichael, Cobb and McDonald, of North Carolina's great teams of 1924-25-26; Jim Stewart, of Vanderbilt's 1927 quintet; Mississippi's fine athletes of 1928; Lindy Hood, of Alabama, in 1930; Berger, of Maryland, in 1931; Werber and Councillor of Duke, and Strickland, of Georgia.
Berger perhaps was the smoothest player of the group, but he didn't possess the all-round brilliance of Sale.
Sale alternated between center and forward positions. He outjumped his centers, outscored his forward rivals, and generally surpassed every athlete in the tournament. On defense he employed his height and technique to great advantage as a goal protector.
And with his speed he retained his poise - a cool, polished athlete at all times, never ruffled by an opponent, rarely tricked into a hopeless shot and always a confident floor general and captain.
FOUR TOUGH FOES
He faced four fine centers - Berryhill, of Mississippi; Cherry, of Florida; Torrance, of Louisiana State, and Taylor, of Mississippi State - and wore them all out. They were big fellows, all were good shots and fine floormen. But before the effortless and finesse of Sale's play they were made to appear mediocre.
None could handle him and when he walked off the floor with the cheers of thousands of spectators ringing in his ears he carried a new tournament scoring record of 71 points - almost 18 points a game.
Sam McAllister, the Auburn coach, who comes from the midwest where many say the best basketball in the country is played, called Sale the finest player he had seen. "He's even better than Stretch Murphy, of Purdue." he said. H.J. Stegeman, of Georgia, who has directed the tournaments here for years, regards Sale as one of the best, if not the best, player ever to enter the title meets.
"Sparky" Wade, of Louisiana State, an all-star selection as guard, and perhaps the most colorful little athlete in the tourney, said Sale was the greatest player he had ever seen.
