LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Former University of Kentucky basketball player Tom Payne has been paroled after serving decades in prison on a rape conviction.
According to a report from WKYT, Payne, 68, had already spent five years in prison for rape in Georgia before he was extradited to Kentucky where he was indicted on a rape charge in the Commonwealth.
He spent five years in prison in Kentucky before being paroled in 1983. He was arrested again in California in 1986 for rape. He would spend more than a decade in prison in California before being transferred back to Kentucky for a parole violation, where he has been serving a life sentence at the Kentucky State Reformatory near La Grange.
Payne was the first black player to ever play for the University of Kentucky, and he also played with the Atlanta Hawks during the 1971-72 season. Payne also was a professional boxer in California before his 1986 arrest.
Payne was the third-leading scorer during the Wildcats' 1970-71 season, averaging a double-double.
Copyright 2018 by WDRB Media and WKYT. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
