Former UK basketball player, longtime administrator Terry Mobley dies at age 74

Sophomore basketball Terry Mobley was featured in the Jan. 17, 1964 Kentucky Kernel. Mobley died Monday, Feb. 12. 

Bailey Vandiver

With just four seconds left, a shot from UK basketball player Terry Mobley gave UK the 81-79 victory over Duke.

This was in 1963—and though UK and Duke will play again later this year, Mobley will not be able to see it.

Mobley died early on the morning of Feb. 12, 2018, from a long illness, according to UKPR. He was 74 years old and survived by his wife of 40 years, along with their son, daughter and nephew. Mobley was preceded in death by one of his sons.

Mobley has been associated with UK for more than five decades, from a three-year starter coached by Adolph Rupp to “a groundbreaking leader” of UK fundraising efforts, according to UKPR.

Mobley was a Harrodsburg, Kentucky, native who played for three years for Rupp, which included his game-winning shot against Duke in his sophomore season.

But Mobley, who served six years on the Board of Trustees, did not talk much about his basketball-playing days, or at least not to UK President Eli Capilouto.

“I served with Terry on the Board of Trustees for some time before I ever knew he was one of Rupp’s players, and I never heard about it from Terry,” Capilouto told UKNow.

He said Mobley “was a source of great comfort and help” in Capilouto’s first years.

Mobley began working for the university in 1977, when he was named chief development officer. In 20 years, under Mobley, cash gifts to UK increased from $3.1 million to almost $61 million.

Jim Stuckert, Mobley’s friend and fellow trustee, called Mobley “the consummate gentleman and a true Kentuckian,” according to UKNow.

In addition to basketball player, trustee and CDO, Mobley served as director of development, interim athletic director, vice president for development and vice president for institutional advancement. He also served on the boards of the UK National Alumni group, Business Partnership Foundation, Gluck Equine Research Foundation, Center on Aging Foundation, Mining Engineering Foundation and UK Development Council.

The Terry B. Mobley Philanthropy Awards, which recognize staff who demonstrate outstanding performance and professional achievement in philanthropy, were founded in 2005.

The funeral services are being handled by Milward on Broadway in Lexington. Services, the times of which have not been determined yet, will be at Calvary Baptist Church, where Mobley was a member.