Cats' Pause staff writer Mark Wiedmer goes one-on-one with UK Basketball Museum Director Van Florence:

MW: If UK equipment manager Bill Keightley is Mr. Wildcat, you’re at least Mr. Cat 1-A. How did you become so involved in Kentucky basketball?

VF: I started at IBM in April of 1966. The Committee of 101 was formed in March of ‘66. I think I joined in June and started ushering at UK games the next season.

MW: And just what is the Committee of 101?

VF: During the 1966 season, the year of Rupp’s Runts, 101 guys who worked in the purchasing department at IBM each put a quarter in a pot and used the money to send Coach Rupp "Good Luck" telegrams when the Runts were on the road that year. Coach Rupp really appreciated it, and the next year the group formed the Committee of 101 and began ushering at basketball games.

MW: And what about today?

VF: We have 300 members. It’s no big secret to get in. Two active members have to sponsor you. We have a waiting list of about 100. Anytime someone leaves, someone new gets in. And we now do both football and basketball.

MW: And everyone wears a navy blazer and tie, white shirt and gray slacks?

VF: Almost. If you work the parking lots at football games, directing traffic, you can dress casual. Everyone else, anyone who would have direct contact with the public taking up tickets, ushering or selling programs, something like that, has to wear the blazer and tie. I’ll let you in on a little secret, though. Beginning in basketball season, we’re all going to switch from navy blazers to royal blue blazers, and from gray slacks to black slacks.

MW: Speaking of black, as the new head of the UK Basketball Museum, how close are you to getting it in the black?

VF: When I took over a year ago, we owed roughly $2.2 million on the bond issue and more than $210,000 on accounts payable. I was the interim president of United Way at that point – about to become president – and Larry Ivy came to me and told me he was considering closing the museum. He asked me to give it two years, and see see if we couldn’t save it. After a year, we owe a little less than $2 million on the bonds and the accounts payable are zero. Depending on how the backside of Wildcat Madness does – when we auction off the cats at the end of the season – we could raise up to $750,000 on that project. Then there’s a fundraiser with Keeneland and Maker’s Mark in the spring, where we could raise between $250,000 and $500,000. If we could do that, I think we’d have a great chance of staying in business.

MW: Do you think there is a chance that the museum could close?

VF: I hope not, but as I told a group the other day, it would really be sad if UK won its eighth national championship in April, then closed the doors to the Museum in June. And if that happens, I really think it puts us at a recruiting disadvantage. I think schools will use that against us.

MW: I’ve heard some people say that maybe the Museum should ask some of UK’s multi-millionaire players – guys like Jamal Mashburn, Ron Mercer, Derek Anderson, guys like that – to chip in and retire the debt. Has that been explored?

VF: We’ve thought about asking 10 of these guys to donate $100,000 each, then show them where it wouldn’t affect their bottom line. The problem is, until they’ve been away for awhile, they really don’t understand what UK has meant to them. We’d love them for them to help us, but it’s their money. We can’t make them give.

MW: If you were asked a site to move the museum to other than the Civic Center, what your personal choice be?

VF: I’m not saying it should be moved. I think it needs to be next to Rupp Arena, the way it is now. But if you were going to move it, I’d consider the Horse Park. They get roughly 350,000 visitors a year, and if we could just get 50,000 of those, we’d be in great shape.

MW: For anyone who’s been to the Museum, it’s as good or better as anything you’ll find like it anywhere in the country. But for those who have been once, why should they go back?

VF: We’re changing it some. We put some UK football stuff in it for football season last year. We’d like to do a baseball exhibit next year. Doug Flynn has agreed to display his Gold Glove and two World Series rings. We can get some other Cincinnati Reds stuff. That’s one of the big goals for the next year, is add special exhibits from time to time. Keep it fresh.

MW: Are there still plenty of Rick Pitino pictures in the museum?

VF: Rick’s presence is still here. Whatever you or I may think of him going to Louisville, he had eight great years here at Kentucky and his time here will always remain an important part of UK’s tradition. Rick and I have kind of mended fences. He’s given a big check to the museum, as has Tubby, so they haven’t just provided people plenty of reasons to visit here, they’ve helped make all of this possible. I just hope Tubby sticks around long enough to challenge Coach Rupp’s four titles.

MW: What is the best change you think you’ve made since you took over the museum?

VF: Probably the tours of Rupp Arena. We charge the same as the museum tour ($5), and we’ve averaged about 150 people a month since we started. And it’s amazing to see people’s reactions. When we open the door to UK’s locker room, you’ll see grown men get tears in their eyes.