Guest article by Christina Jones
With the move to the Big 12 fast approaching, it is a time of great excitement for the Cincinnati
Bearcats. Although basketball and football are the two most successful sports programs at the
school, the athletics department competes in a number of others and the Bearcats are always a
fearsome opponent.
Many of our athletes have gone on to enjoy long and successful careers in professional sports
after leaving the University of Cincinnati. As we look forward to watching the stars of tomorrow
in Bearcat colors this year, we thought we would take a look back to celebrate some of the
finest athletes that started making headlines while at Cincinnati – and would definitely have
been heavily featured on betting sites profiled by mytopsportsbooks.com.
Sandy Koufax
A Baseball Hall of Famer, Sandy Koufax had originally split his sporting time between basketball
and baseball, originally earning a partial hoops scholarship. But it was when he tried out for the
baseball team, which had the same coach, that he started attracting Major League scouts.
After only a year of intercollegiate baseball, Koufax signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. It took
him a while to get to grips with the game completely and the club had moved to Los Angeles by the time he became a bona fide pitching star. He finished his career as a seven-time All-Star, an NL MVP and a three-time winner of the Cy Young Award.
Jack Twyman
Twyman’s No. 27 is now retired at the University of Cincinnati and he was able to follow an
exemplary college career into the professional game. He set Bearcat records for both points and
rebounds and led his team to the 1955 National Invitation Tournament in his final year at the
school.
Twyman was taken 8th overall in the second round of the NBA Draft by the Rochester Royals.
After two years the team relocated to Cincinnati, something of a homecoming for Twyman. He
was a six-time NBA All-Star, is a Basketball Hall of Famer and had his No. 27 number retired by
the Sacramento Kings as well (the franchise the Royals eventually became).
