Fields Notes

Bob Tucker retiring, leaving a lasting legacy at Somerset

BY MIKE FIELDS (April 23, 2021) If Bob Tucker ever delves into his genealogy by signing up with one of those ancestry dot coms, he’ll no doubt discover a purple & gold strand in his DNA. Somerset High School purple & gold. Tucker’s grandmother, Mabel Muse, graduated from Somerset in the early 1900s. His parents, Ralph and Christine, also attended the small school in Pulaski County....

Highlands’ Sweet 16 title is ‘mountaintop’ for Listermans

BY MIKE FIELDS (April 6, 2021) It was an especially festive Easter for the Listerman clan when it got together on Sunday at the family home in California, Ky., a tiny dot on the map in rural Campbell County. “There were a lot of smiles and giggles,” Kevin Listerman said. “And feeling blessed and amazed.” Mike Listerman, Kevin’s dad, called it “a good celebration. And, of course, there was a...

Wayne Gaunce’s heart had sweet spot for Sweet 16

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 30, 2021) When Wayne Gaunce passed away three months ago, at age 87, Kentucky high school basketball lost one of its most ardent, devoted, and generous fans. Gaunce, a Nicholas County native who moved to Glasgow when he was 30 and became a successful restaurateur and entrepreneur, attended every Boys’ Sweet 16 since 1950. “The state tournament was a way of life for him,” s...

RIP, LexCath basketball coach Tommy Starns

BY MIKE FIELDS (Aug. 14, 2020) Tommy Starns, who made Lexington Catholic basketball competitive with the city's powerhouse public schools more than 50 years ago, died last night. He was 86. Mark Starns said his dad had suffered a heart attack. Tommy Starns never got enough credit for being an outstanding coach. Competing in the 11th Region against coaching icons such as Al Prewitt at Henry Clay...

‘X’ marks a special place in Alan Donhoff’s heart

BY MIKE FIELDS (May 11, 2020) This has always been Alan Donhoff’s favorite time of year in his job as athletic director at St. Xavier. “In the spring, every kid who plays sports at St. X is either getting ready for games or getting ready for next year,” Donhoff said. “Some days there might be 600 or 700 kids outside after school. It’s so great to see. I just love it.” This spring is differe...

Remembering Bryan Station coach Bobby Barlow

BY MIKE FIELDS (April 20, 2020) Bobby Barlow, best known for his success as Bryan Station’s basketball coach in the 1970s and early ‘80s, and whose teams won 528 games in his 25-year career, died Sunday. He was 94. Jack Givens, Barlow’s brightest star at Bryan Station, remembered his high school coach as more than just a teacher of X’s and O’s. “He was a great man, no doubt about it,” Given...

Remembering Bourbon County Coach Russ Day

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 30, 2020) Russ Day, who coached Bourbon County boys' basketball for 25 years and led the Colonels through a Magical March in 1984 that culminated in the Sweet Sixteen finals, died Monday from natural causes. He was 85. Day, whose upbeat demeanor made him a delight to be around, won more than 400 games on the high school and college levels. Besides Bourbon County, his co...

Maddie Scherr got early start on journey to basketball stardom

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 12, 2020) One of the first steps Maddie Scherr took on the road to becoming a basketball star was, of course, a Euro step. She was just a fourth-grader when she learned the deft offensive move from her older brother Cooper and his buddies. “I played with him and all his friends in our backyard, and they taught me all the cool stuff, like the Euro step,” Maddie said. When ...

Breckinridge County’s oh-so-sweet state title 25 years ago

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 26, 2020) HARNED – The specks of gray in Patrick Critchelow’s beard stubble are the first reminder on this visit to Breckinridge County that it has been 25 years – a quarter century! -- since the undersized and underrated Fighting Tigers, led by their unflappable point guard, rolled into Rupp Arena, won the hearts of fans with a dazzling display of team basketball, and ea...

Father & sons & their LexCath basketball legacy

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 20, 2020) After Lexington Catholic junior star Ben Johnson poured in 42 points to power the Knights past Madison Central 78-75 in overtime last week, Indians Coach Allen Feldhaus Jr. confessed to having seen just about enough of Ben and his brothers, Tanner and Luke. “I think every one of them has had a game against us where they’ve had at least 30-something,” Feldhaus s...

Greg Buckner goes from underappreciated to KHSAA Hall of Fame

BY MIKE FIELDS (Jan. 29, 2020) Who is the most underappreciated Kentucky high school basketball star of the last 30 years? I’d go with a guy who as a sophomore helped his team win a state title, and as a senior averaged 21 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and got back to the Sweet Sixteen; who went on to start 122 consecutive college games for a Power Five conference school; and who played in t...

Stan Steidel’s All ‘A’ legacy lives on and prospers

BY MIKE FIELDS (Jan. 26, 2020) RICHMOND -- Stan Steidel, the founding father of the All "A" Classic, passed away a few months ago, but his legacy is very much alive, and still providing athletic and educational opportunities for high school athletes across Kentucky. The state-wide small-school basketball tournament celebrated its 30th anniversary this week, capped by the girls' and boys' fin...

Ashland Tomcats basketball ‘is our community’

BY MIKE FIELDS (Jan. 8, 2020) ASHLAND – The bounce is back in Ashland basketball. For Tomcat fans of all ages, that means all is right in the world of high school hoops. We’re talking about a symbiotic relationship here. The city and its hardwood heroes feed off one another. There’s a livelier vibe around this northeast Kentucky town when the Tomcats are winning, and the team seems to step u...

New coaches, old hands take reins at pressure-packed programs PRP & Scott County

BY MIKE FIELDS (Dec. 19, 2019) When Billy Hicks and Dale Mabrey – the two winningest coaches in the history of Kentucky high school basketball – retired after last season, they left high-profile but pressure-packed positions to fill at Scott County and Pleasure Ridge Park. In 25 years at Scott County, Hicks guided the Cardinals to two state championships, five state runners-up, and 13 region...

Mountain football battle hymn has championship ring(s)

BY MIKE FIELDS (Dec. 6, 2019) Mine eyes have seen the glory of mountain football over the past few decades, including Pikeville’s three consecutive state titles under Hillard Howard, Tim Couch’s national record-setting career at Leslie County, and the blossoming of Belfry, Bell County, Breathitt County and Johnson Central into championship programs. But mine eyes witnessed the zenith of moun...

Stan Steidel’s legacy: a champion for smaller schools

BY MIKE FIELDS (Nov. 6, 2019) Stan Steidel, who tirelessly championed athletic opportunities for smaller high schools, and established the All “A” Classic as his hallmark, died this week in an automobile accident near his home in Northern Kentucky. He was 78. “Stan’s driving force was he just wanted to do for kids,” said Gary Munsie, Steidel’s friend for more than 40 years and an All “A” b...

‘Cotton’ & Corbin & Redhounds football

BY MIKE FIELDS (Oct. 28, 2019) CORBIN – On a clear, crisp October morning recently, Larry “Cotton” Adams sat in the concrete stands at Denes Stadium and recalled the first time he ever saw the Corbin Redhounds play football. It was 1955. He was 9 years old. And the magic unfolded on this very field in front of him. “I remember the opening kickoff. Calvin Bird took it to the house. I rememb...

Not even his dad could have predicted Justin Thomas’ rapid rise to stardom

BY MIKE FIELDS (Sept. 30, 2019) When Justin Thomas won the KHSAA state golf title in 2009, could anyone have predicted that just 10 years later he would be regarded as one the best players on the planet? He's already won 10 times on the PGA TOUR, including a PGA Championship, a FedEx Cup title and a WGC event, and has spent time ranked No. 1 in the world. He's also earned more than $30 mill...

Ma-ma & football shaped Donnell Gordon’s character & career

BY MIKE FIELDS (Sept. 9, 2019) Sgt. Donnell Gordon gets a lot of TV time in Central Kentucky these days as a spokesman for the Lexington Police Department. If the name sounds familiar, yes, it’s the same Donnell Gordon who was the best high school football player in the state 27 years ago. He won the Paul Hornung Award as the top player in Kentucky in 1992 after rushing for more than 6,300 ...

David Cornelius loved to whistle while he worked as football official

BY MIKE FIELDS (Aug. 19, 2019) STANFORD – David Cornelius doesn’t know what he’ll be doing the first Friday night of this high school football season, but for the first time in decades he won’t be pulling on a striped shirt, slipping a whistle around his neck and taking the field for the game he loves. Cornelius, 65, decided a few months ago that because of failing eyesight he had to give up...

Hall of Famer Mary Custard-Austin: “If you tell me ‘no,’ I’m going after it even harder”

BY MIKE FIELDS (April 19, 2019) Mary Custard-Austin was an incredible athlete at Harrison County High School -- a 2,000-point scorer in basketball and a five-time state champion in track – who readily admits she was “blessed with natural talent” that allowed her “to go out and do things that other people struggled to do. “I was humbled I had that gift,” she added. But talent alone is like a...

Eric Shelton says KHSAA Hall of Fame honor was a team effort

BY MIKE FIELDS (April 2, 2019) When Eric Shelton looks back on his high school days at Bryan Station, he doesn’t focus on football, or the touchdowns he scored, the headlines he earned, the victories he celebrated, the awards he received. “What I remember most was just living life without a care in the world, and appreciating my friends and my fellowship with them,” he said by phone from his...

Kelly Coleman still the ‘King’ of Kentucky high school basketball

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 22, 2019) WAYLAND – They came from all over the state, finding their way from Ashland, Bowling Green, Frankfort, Lexington, Louisville, Monticello, Paintsville and Pikeville, winding their way through the mountains of eastern Kentucky on the first full day of spring, so they could be here to welcome Kelly Coleman home from the hospital and to make sure he knew he will fo...

Surefire: Scherr-fired Ryle rolls to Girls’ Sweet Sixteen title

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 17, 2019) Orange and black – not green -- were the winning colors on St. Patrick’s Day as the Ryle Lady Raiders rolled to the championship of the 58th KHSAA Girls’ Sweet Sixteen before 5,607 fans in Rupp Arena. Ryle, whose school colors are orange and black, dominated Southwestern 63-48 in Sunday afternoon’s finals to become only the second Northern Kentucky gir...

Boyd County’s loss can’t dim the shine on Savannah Wheeler’s career

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 14, 2019) Savannah Wheeler has what her parents call “Savannah moments.” Like when she was a third-grader and tagged along with older sister Taylor to a basketball camp at Transylvania. Savannah liked that she got to play in a game, but what she really, really liked was the camp’s soft-serve ice cream. “The next year when they went back to camp the ice-cream machine wa...

Robin Harmon & Irene Moore would’ve loved to play in Rupp Arena

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 13, 2019) Robin Harmon-Newsome was a high-scoring basketball star who led Sheldon Clark to four consecutive appearances in the KHSAA Girls’ Sweet Sixteen from 1975-78. Irene Moore Strong was a 5-foot-3, 108-pound dynamo who sparked Breathitt County to the state tournament as a junior and senior. After she led the Bobcats to a runner-up finish in 1978, she was named Miss...

Hall of Famer Kandi Brown-Parker recalls her sweetest Sweet Sixteen

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 12, 2019) There have been a lot of sweet moments in the history of the KHSAA Girls’ Sweet Sixteen, but the sweetest of all may have been the one shared by a coach and his daughter in the glow of a championship almost 20 years ago. During a timeout in the closing seconds of West Carter’s 58-50 victory over Shelby County in the 2000 state finals, Lady Comets Coach John “H...

Billy Hicks: “This was my last game”

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 10, 2019) Nobody has coached basketball harder than Billy Hicks has coached basketball over the last four decades. If he wore a blood-pressure cup on the sidelines, the numbers would scare the bejeebers out of his doctor, not to mention his wife Betsy. He has coached almost 1,300 high school games and won 1,013 of them. His winning percentage is a stunning 79%. He has ...

Trinity wins state title behind humble hero David Johnson

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 10, 2019) David Johnson has to be one the most self-effacing, ego-averse MVPs in the history of the Sweet Sixteen. After the gifted 6-foot-5 senior had 22 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocked shots and 2 assists to spark Trinity past Scott County 50-40 in the finals of the 102nd Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys’ State Basketball Tournament in Rupp Arena on Sunday afternoon, he steadfastl...

Twin brothers having a Jolly good time in Rupp

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 8, 2019) The Jolly twins – Grant and Reid – are having a ball in the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys' Sweet Sixteen this week, but then they’ve been having a ball playing ball – be it basketball, football, baseball or golf -- whether as teammates or sibling rivals, all their lives. The Campbell County seniors have helped the Camels win two games in the state tournament for the...

CovCath’s near-miracle comeback, play-by-play

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 7, 2019) Take your pick. It was almost the greatest comeback in Sweet Sixteen history, or almost the greatest collapse in Sweet Sixteen history. Scott County led defending champion Covington Catholic 48-26 with 5:47 left and was cruising down easy street in their first-round showdown in the 102nd Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys' State Tournament Thursday afternoon. The top-r...

Billy Hicks, through the eyes of his wife Betsy

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 7, 2019) Betsy Hicks has been watching her husband coach basketball for more than four decades, from Evarts to Harlan to Corbin to Scott County, and in that time she’s missed only a handful of his games. In late January, when Billy Hicks became the first high school basketball coach in Kentucky to reach 1,000 victories, Betsy figured she had witnessed 990 of them. A co...

Brewers’ basketball perfection secure in history for another year

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 6, 2019) Only a few minutes after John Hardin lost in the first round of the 102nd KHSAA Sweet Sixteen Wednesday night, a phone call was placed to Barney Thweatt, who lives in Benton in the far reaches of western Kentucky. Had Thweatt heard that Campbell County had knocked off previously undefeated John Hardin 61-60? Thweatt, who'll turn 89 later this month, couldn't...

A special basketball day for the Brannen family

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 6, 2019) Debbie and John Brannen didn’t stick around Rupp Arena for long after watching their son Grant coach Walton-Verona to a 76-54 victory over Knox Central in the opening game of the 102nd KHSAA Sweet Sixteen Wednesday afternoon. The Brannens had to book it back up I-75 so they could watch their son John coach Northern Kentucky University against Detroit Mercy at B...

The last six unbeaten teams that got beat in the Sweet Sixteen

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 6, 2019) Since Brewers was crowned Boys' Sweet Sixteen champion with a 36-0 record in 1948, six teams have entered the state tournament undefeated, but none have left holding the big trophy. This year another unbeaten team will give it a try. John Hardin, out of the 5th Region, is 35-0. The Bulldogs will face 10th Region champ Campbell County in the first round of the 1...

Reggie Warford’s Hall of Fame credentials go beyond basketball

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 27, 2019) Remember Reggie Warford? He was a basketball star at Drakesboro High in the early 1970s, a skinny, leaping left-hander who became the first recruit Joe B. Hall signed after Hall succeeded Adolph Rupp as Kentucky’s head coach. Warford helped the Cats win the National Invitational Tournament in 1976, and was the first African-American basketball player to graduat...

Rick Bolus: still scouting, still loving it, after all these years

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 20, 2019) Rick Bolus estimates that he’s driven more than a half-a-million miles to scout more than 10,000 high school basketball games over the last 46 years. He’s in remarkably good health considering he’s consumed several thousand concession-stand hot dogs and boxes of popcorn along the way. Shela Bolus, Rick’s wife, is into horses and loves trail riding. A few years ...

Guy Strong’s remarkable life in sports: ‘I’ve done it all and seen it all.’

BY MIKE FIELDS (Jan. 24, 2019) WINCHESTER -- The tapestry of Guy Strong’s life in sports, intricately woven over seven decades, is made up of his many accomplishments as a player and coach, and all the notable people he influenced and befriended along the way. It's difficult to quantify, and impossible to fully appreciate, everything Strong experienced from the time he was a star athlete at ...

Thanks to its defense, South Warren survives, beats CovCath

BY MIKE FIELDS (Dec. 2, 2018) When South Warren took a 20-0 lead on defending champion Covington Catholic early in the third quarter of Sunday's Class 5A title game, Spartans' quarterback Gavin Spurrier and his coach Brandon Smith had entirely different takes on the situation. Spurrier said he thought he and his teammates "had it in cruise control" and were well on their way to a championshi...

Dennis a real menace as Male wins 6A state title

BY MIKE FIELDS (Dec. 2, 2018) Male High School has been playing football for 125 years, and in that time it has won almost 900 games, had 9 undefeated seasons, and since the playoffs were instituted about 60 years ago, the Bulldogs have claimed 8 state titles. Male has produced its share of big-name stars, including in the last 25 years a trio of Mr. Football winners (Michael Bush, Montrell ...

Doug Preston’s winding journey to a dream destination

BY MIKE FIELDS (Nov. 29, 2018) Doug Preston has arrived at a special place in his football coaching career. He's at Franklin-Simpson, where he has guided the Wildcats to the state finals for the third year in a row, and his son Collin, a senior linebacker, has been along for the ride. What makes Doug Preston’s story even more interesting is the winding road he took to reach this destination...

In this football family, raising Cain means raising quarterbacks

BY MIKE FIELDS (Nov. 20, 2018) Wiley Cain believes he was destined to be a quarterback, that it's in his DNA to play the most demanding position in football (and maybe in all of sports), and to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather and father. “I’ve had football in my veins since I was born,” he said, “and I’ve been a quarterback since I first picked up the ball.” His granddad, John Wi...

William Warfield puts positive PrepSpin on high school sports

BY MIKE FIELDS (Nov. 15, 2018) It’s hard to believe there was a time when William Warfield didn’t know anything about computers, didn’t know about bytes or bandwidths, didn’t know the difference between algorithms and algae. When he started working at RadioShack as a high school senior 22 years ago, Warfield remembers he was “afraid to sell a computer because I didn’t know anything about it....

Paul Hornung’s winning senior year at Flaget

BY MIKE FIELDS (Oct. 30, 2018) Before he earned the nickname “Golden Boy,” before he won the Heisman Trophy at Notre Dame, before he was the first overall pick in the NFL draft, before he helped the Green Bay Packers win four NFL championships (including the first Super Bowl), before he was voted NFL MVP, before he was inducted into the college and pro football halls of fame, Paul Hornung was...

Walker Buehler: the pride of Ecton Park and Henry Clay

BY MIKE FIELDS (Oct. 3, 2018) Walker Buehler threw 6 2/3 innings of one-hit, shutout baseball, and along the way collected his first RBI in the majors, to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers past the Colorado Rockies 5-2 on Monday and to their sixth consecutive National League West Division title. The heartiest cheers for Buehler’s performance didn’t come from the sellout crowd at Chavez Ravine, th...

Hall of Famer Brian Brohm: Multi-sport athlete cover boy

BY MIKE FIELDS (June 12, 2018) When Brian Brohm was inducted into the Dawahares/KHSAA Hall of Fame a couple months ago, most people remembered him as a mega-star quarterback who led Trinity to three consecutive state football championships. But he was much more than that. Brohm was a multi-sport cover boy, an athlete for all seasons, whose last go-around at Trinity was nothing short of spec...

‘Triple Threat’ Danville twins Jenna & Lara Akers ‘just like being Admirals’

BY MIKE FIELDS (May 30, 2018) DANVILLE – If the KHSAA is looking for somebody to promote its “Triple Threat Award”, which recognizes multi-sport athletes who compete in the fall, winter and spring, Jenna and Lara Akers would be perfect ambassadors. The Danville High School identical twins just finished their freshman year, during which they were actually quadruple threats: they competed in s...

Recalling Randy Wyatt’s sprint to glory for Paducah Tilghman

BY MIKE FIELDS (May 17, 2018) Lyman Brown still laughs when he recalls his first encounter with Randy Wyatt. It was the spring of 1986 and Brown, who had coached Paducah Tilghman to seven consecutive state track and field championships (on his way to 11 in a row), was getting ready for another season. “Bill Bond was the head track coach at Paducah Middle School and he said, ‘I’ve go...

Shon Walker’s Hall of Fame game wasn’t just the long ball

BY MIKE FIELDS (April 17, 2018) CYNTHIANA -- Shon Walker still looks like he could step up to the plate and, with that sweet, smooth left-handed swing of his, send a baseball flying to the hinterlands. Except . . . "I tore a ligament in my leg playing kickball at our company picnic," he said with a laugh. Walker confessed his injury -- and his concession to age -- on a recent spring eveni...

Hall of Famer Angela Payne Starnes loves teaching as much as running

BY MIKE FIELDS (April 9, 2018) Angela Payne Starnes will be retiring at the end of this school year, giving up her duties as an elementary school physical education teacher. And her duties as a high school/middle school athletic director. And her duties as a track & field coach. And her duties as a cross country coach. And her duties as a school bus driver. With all the running she d...

CovCath celebrates another Sweet 16® title

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 18, 2018) A few years ago C.J. Fredrick couldn't even start for Covington Catholic's freshman basketball team because, in his own words, he was "a skinny little stand-still shooter." Sunday afternoon under the bright lights in Rupp Arena, Fredrick was the star of the show as CovCath claimed its second state championship in five years. The 6-foot-4 senior poured in 32 p...

It wasn’t a hero shot; it was a team being a team

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 16, 2018) Hero? Travis Henderson said no thanks to that label after he hit a three-pointer with :05 left to give Oldham County a 56-55 victory over Campbell County in the quarterfinals of the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Sweet 16 in Rupp Arena Friday night. Asked about the game-winning three that sent the Colonels to the state semifinals, Henderson deflected all personal ...

Brewers’ unbeaten Redmen have stood the test of time

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 15, 2018) Barney Thweatt, who will be 88 in a few weeks, is still feisty as all get-out when it comes to reveling in the fact that he played on the last undefeated boys' basketball team in Kentucky. That was 70 years ago. Thweatt started for Brewers (in Marshall County) when Coach McCoy Tarry's Redmen went 36-0 and won the Sweet 16 in 1948. "When it happened, we d...

Happy (or sad) Sweet 16® anniversary for Clem Haskins

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 15, 2018) Happy anniversary, Clem Haskins. Or maybe a not so happy anniversary. It was 55 years ago today (March 15, 1963) that Haskins played his last high school game for Taylor County. He and his Cardinals lost to Lexington Dunbar 65-64 in the Sweet 16® quarterfinals in front of 17,000 fans in Freedom Hall. "It was one of the saddest days of my life because it was ...

Pikeville’s never-say-die Panthers survive 3OT thriller

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 15, 2018) This is the 101st Boys' Sweet 16, which means there have been close to 1,500 state tournament games played over the last century. I'd argue that none have been any better than Pikeville's first-round, triple-overtime, heart-stopping 72-69 victory over John Hardin in Rupp Arena Wednesday night. Pity those fans among the 10,233 in attendance who trickled out of...

Travis Ford back in Rupp, scouting not shooting

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 14, 2018) Travis Ford has accomplished a lot in his basketball career, as a player and a coach. He was a deadly three-pointer shooter for Kentucky in the early 1990s. He's coached at EKU, Massachusetts, Oklahoma State and St. Louis, winning more than 300 games and taking 8 teams to the NCAA Tournament. But Ford still considers his high school days at Madisonville, when he ...

‘Cool Hand’ Cooper saves Scott County

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 14, 2018) Just call him "Cool Hand" Cooper. Scott County senior guard Cooper Robb nailed a three-pointer from the left corner with :09 left to give his Cardinals a 54-53 lead over Trinity in the first round of the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Sweet 16 Wednesday afternoon in Rupp Arena. Trinity called a timeout with :05.8, then got the ball to senior star Jay Scrubb, who made ...

These 5 guys played in Sweet 16®, now coaching in it

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 14, 2018) Steve Barker played for Apollo in the Sweet 16® in 1976 and 1978. Barker, now 58, is in his fourth year coaching Apollo and has the Eagles in the state tournament for the first time since 2012. Does it seem forever ago that he played in the Sweet 16®? "It was forever ago," Barker said with a laugh. "It's been 40 years . . . 40 years!" Barker would be ...

Scott County vs. Trinity reminiscent of past first-round showdowns

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 14, 2018) As the 101st Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Sweet 16 gets ready to tip off at high noon, much ado is being made of today's first-round matchup between Scott County and Trinity. The hype is justified. Scott County (34-1) and Trinity (30-3) are two of tournament favorites. They're both loaded with talent, both are led by coaches who've won state championships. Billy Hic...

Mercer County celebrates back-to-back state titles

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 11, 2018) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- Oh, to have been in the Mercer County locker room at halftime of the girls' state basketball finals at NKU's BB&T Arena on Sunday afternoon when the defending champion Titans led Mercy by the unfathomable score of 52-14. Instead of getting a lecture and X's and O's strategy from Coach Chris Souder, the Titans were surely high-fiving, gi...

RIP, Gene Rhodes, who won state titles as player and coach

Gene Rhodes, who coached Louisville St. Xavier to the Sweet 16 title 60 years ago, died early Friday morning. He was 90. This is the story of his 1958 champs. BY BILLY REED (March 10, 2018) They were a team without a home because the old gym at St. Xavier High School, then located at 118 West Broadway, had a running track above the court, making shots from the corner impossible. So Gene Rhod...

Nicholas County’s run to glory 25 years ago

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 9, 2018) Kim Denkins is a social worker at a nursing home in Nicholas County, and more than occasionally she’ll be reminded of her basketball celebrity. “It’s funny. Like when I’m doing orientation, somebody will say, ‘Are you Kim Denkins?’ And I’ll say, ‘Yes, I used to play ball.'" Denkins’ modesty keeps her from telling folks she did much more than just “play ball.” ...

Girls’ Sweet 16 champs by regions since 1975®

GIRLS’ SWEET SIXTEEN® CHAMPS BY REGIONS (SINCE 1975) 1st Region: Marshall County (1982, 1984) 2nd Region: Union County (1996) 3rd Region: None 4th Region: Warren Central (1983) 5th Region: Elizabethtown (1998); Marion County (2013) 6th Region: Butler (1975, 1980, 2008, 2014, 2016); Southern (1988); Iroquois (2009) 7th Region: Sacred Heart (1976, 2002, 2003, 2004); Mercy* (1992, 2010);...

Billy Miller’s strange 90-point night in Nancy

BY MIKE FIELDS (Jan. 17, 2018) Forty-two years ago this week, Billy Miller had 90 points in a high school basketball game, a scoring performance that still ranks second in the KHSAA record book, a scoring performance that, to some extent, he still regrets. “If I had it to do over again,” Miller said last week, “I probably would’ve went and sat down and finished with around 70 points. That’s ...

Christmas will have a championship ring to it for the Hellyers

BY MIKE FIELDS (Dec. 8, 2017) The Brothers Hellyer of Boyle County will have a big time talking smack and patting each other on the back when their family gathers for Christmas in a couple weeks. And the youngest of the Hellyer boys, Clete, will no doubt be in the middle of it all now that he’s joined his brothers’ championship club. When Boyle County beat Corbin in the Class 3A football fi...

Winning football titles is a family tradition at Danville

BY MIKE FIELDS (Dec. 2, 2017) Winning football is a family tradition spanning generations at Danville High School, and the Admirals' family is celebrating another championship today. Danville won its 11th state title by beating familiar foe Mayfield 35-21 in the Class 2A finals Saturday afternoon in front of 7,398 fans at Kroger Field. Thirty years ago, the Admirals beat Mayfield 24-2...

Boyle County & Chuck Smith a championship combo

BY MIKE FIELDS (Dec. 1, 2017) Reese Smith, one of the brightest stars in Boyle County's 40-21 victory over Corbin in the Class 3A football finals Friday night, is no relation to Rebels' coach Chuck Smith. But the sophomore wide receiver/free safety, who accounted for four touchdowns in Boyle County's rousing win in front of 11,234 at UK's Kroger Field, has known his coach for a long time. "...

Reflections on Bourbon County’s championship season, 20 years later

BY MIKE FIELDS (Nov. 29, 2017) When Bourbon County captured the Class 2A title in 1997, it was regarded as one of the most improbable football championships in state history. The Colonels hadn’t had a winning record in a decade, and had NEVER won a playoff game before Dudley Hilton took over as their coach in mid-summer 20 years ago. Bourbon County posted a 7-3 record in the regular season b...

Record-setting QB Bill Allen ‘amazed’ at numbers that passed him by

BY MIKE FIELDS (Nov. 10, 2017) When Bill Allen happened upon the lists of state football records on the KHSAA web site recently, he was stunned by some of the numbers he saw. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing," he said. "Some of the stats were just amazing." Allen was particularly interested in the passing records. After all, he was the Courier-Journal's first-team All-State quarterbac...

Allen Feldhaus Sr.’s wonderful basketball life

BY MIKE FIELDS (Nov. 2, 2017) Allen Feldhaus Sr., who died Saturday at age 77, had a wonderful basketball life. The Boone County native played for Adolph Rupp at Kentucky. He coached the high school game at Russell County and Mason County, and guided the Royals to four 10th Region titles, and a Sweet Sixteen runner-up in 1981. He coached his three sons – Allen Jr., Willie and Der...

RIP, Daniel Webb — Heath baseball star; major leaguer

BY MIKE FIELDS (Oct. 16, 2017) It was sad to hear that Daniel Webb, a star pitcher at Heath High School who went on to play in the major leagues, died over the weekend from injuries sustained in an ATV accident in Tennessee. He was 28. Webb pitched in relief for the Chicago White Sox from 2013-16, registering a 7-5 record, appearing in 94 games and posting a 4.50 ERA in 110 innings. He had T...

Justin Thomas’ elite company includes Hornung, Unseld, Cowens

BY MIKE FIELDS (Oct. 6, 2017) Justin Thomas was the best golfer on the planet this past season. He won 5 times, including his first major title (PGA Championship), led the money list with nearly $10 million (not counting the $10 million bonus that came with winning the Fed Ex Cup), and the St. Xavier graduate was named PGA Tour Player of the Year. Not many Kentucky high school athletes...

Bob White: A good guy gets a lift through a bad time

BY MIKE FIELDS (Sept. 28, 2017) LOUISVILLE – Bob White, like any newspaper reporter worth his salt, loved covering events that had dramatic twists or heartwarming endings. He delighted in being surprised by what he was chronicling during his half-century career as a sportswriter for the Courier-Journal. In the past year, White has experienced that emotional ebb-and-flow storyline himself. ...

Recalling the most remarkable comeback story in KHSAA history

BY MIKE FIELDS (Sept. 14, 2017) Justin Thomas, a St. Xavier graduate and former KHSAA state titlist, has written quite a story on the PGA Tour this season. He’s won five tournaments, including the PGA Championship, earned nearly $9 million, and has a shot at the $10 million Fed Ex Cup this weekend. But his story isn’t the best ever written over the course of a season by a St. Xavier grad/ KH...

Tom Larkey ready to join football’s 300-victory club

“It’s a story most people couldn’t tell – my football, my family.” -- Tom Larkey BY MIKE FIELDS (Sept. 7, 2017) If Perry County Central beats Clay County Friday night, Tom Larkey will become the 10th high school football coach in Kentucky history to win 300 games. One reason Larkey is on the cusp of that milestone is that he’s a tough ol' cuss. He’s proven that time and again in his 37 yea...

Sam Simpson’s long tenure at Henry Clay comes to an end

Sam Simpson is retiring as Henry Clay football coach after 27 years at the helm. He led the Blue Devils to a Class 4A state runner-up finish in 1995, and with 193 victories he is the school's all-time winningest football coach. “I guess everybody knows when it’s time,” Simpson said. “It’s been heavy on my mind the last week or so, and when you think about something this much, it must be time...

Haywood, Hilton faced off in their football coaching debuts

BY MIKE FIELDS (Aug. 29, 2017) Philip Haywood and Dudley Hilton, the two winningest high school football coaches in Kentucky history, have 780 victories between them. And to think that 42 years ago today, they squared off against each other in their head coaching debuts. On August 29, 1975, Prestonsburg and its 24-year-old rookie coach, Philip Haywood, played host to Breathitt C...

PRP reigns again as king of Kentucky baseball under Bill Miller

BY MIKE FIELDS (June 17, 2017) Thirty-five years ago Bill Miller coached Pleasure Ridge Park to a runner-up finish in the state baseball tournament. The Panthers lost to unbeaten Madison Central in the finals. In 1985 PRP made it back to the title game but lost to Owensboro Catholic. In 1993 the Panthers were one win away from a state championship again before falling to Harrison County. Tha...

High school baseball has changed a lot in 50 years. Just ask Bobby Lynch

BY MIKE FIELDS (June 15, 2017) Ashland’s 1967 state baseball champions were recognized during Saturday’s state finals at Whitaker Bank Ballpark to mark the 50th anniversary of their title. Bobby Lynch, who was a standout pitcher on the Tomcat teams that won three consecutive championships (1966, ’67, ’68), was there with a few of his former teammates. High school baseball is a whole ‘nother...

Geordon Blanton’s championship senior year

BY MIKE FIELDS (June 9, 2017) J.C. Blanton remembers last summer when his son Geordon told him he’d like to win three state championships his senior year at Johnson Central. “I told him if he got one he’d be lucky,” J.C. said. Geordon must be a lucky guy; it helps that he’s an exceptional athlete, too. After leading Johnson Central to its first state football title last fa...

Fast-pitch softball has given girls college opportunities

BY MIKE FIELDS (May 30, 2017) When Emily Gaines started playing fast-pitch softball as a 9-year-old, she was hooked: “I fell in love with it,” she said. As an eighth-grader, Gaines cracked the starting lineup for South Laurel. By the end of her high school career, she had written her name in the state record book as the all-time leader in hits (349), doubles (104) and consecutive games...

Put me in, coach! I’m ready to play baseball, basketball, football

BY MIKE FIELDS (May 11, 2017) Scott County junior Landon Easley loves playing baseball, but not enough to practice and play it year-round. "I couldn't do it. Baseball is such a mental sport that I'd have a headache all the time if I did that," Easley said with a laugh. Scott County junior Sam Sutton feels the same way. "I'd hate it because I'd get so burned out on it," he said. "If I had t...

Heflin’s success as tennis coach a net result of caring about kids

BY MIKE FIELDS (May 8, 2017) Just as Land Between the Lakes is wonder of nature in Western Kentucky, Larry Heflin is a force of nature when it comes to high school tennis in that part of the state. Thanks to his competitive fire, coaching acumen and dedication to young people, Heflin built Lone Oak's program from nothing into a powerhouse, and in the process made the Paducah area a hotbed fo...

Remembering Brent Arnold

BY MIKE FIELDS (May 3, 2017) Brent Arnold, who coached multiple sports at Lafayette for many years, died this weekend after a short battle with cancer. He was 72. Arnold was an assistant girls' basketball coach at Lafayette under Kathy Neal when the Lea Wise-led Generals were state runners-up in 1979. Arnold took over as the Lafayette girls' head coach in 1981 and guided them to the Sweet 1...

Gabby Karas: 12 state titles and a champion’s spirit

BY MIKE FIELDS (May 1, 2017) SHELBYVILLE -- Flashback to May 23, 2014, and the KHSAA Track and Field Championships. Collins' freshman Gabby Karas, who won the 800- and 1,600-meter races with record-setting times earlier in the day, finishes the afternoon by adding the 3,200 title to her haul. Karas remembers what happened next: "Everybody in the whole stadium (at UK) got quiet; everyone wa...

Danville’s Paul Morse still tops in baseball record book

BY MIKE FIELDS (April 20, 2017) DANVILLE – It’s been 25 years since Paul Morse smacked his last home run, struck out his last batter and chalked up his last pitching victory for Danville High School. Still, over the last quarter-century, nobody in the state has been able to match the career numbers posted by the former Admirals' baseball star. Morse still ranks No. 1 in the KHSAA record boo...

Harrison County baseball’s unimaginable loss

BY MIKE FIELDS (April 4, 2017) CYNTHIANA -- A few weeks into the high school baseball season, Harrison County has not lost a game. But the Thorobreds don't feel like an undefeated team. They feel like a team that has suffered an unimaginable loss -- the loss of a teammate. Harrison County senior Brett Persinger, who had started at shortstop for the Thorobreds since he was a seventh-grader,...

60 years ago: UK baseball, Stoll Field, Jim Host

Flipping through microfiche files of old newspapers is endlessly entertaining. Some story or photo always catches your eye, like the sports page (above) from the Lexington Herald 60 years ago today. It was about UK baseball. I didn't know Harry Lancaster, Adolph Rupp's basketball assistant, coached baseball, or that the baseball team played at Stoll Field, or that John Crigler and Jim Host wer...

Bowling Green basketball begins Purple reign

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 19, 2017) D.G. Sherrill never got to attend the Sweet 16 when he was a kid growing up in Caldwell County in far western Kentucky. “My daddy believed when my basketball season was over, it was time for me to go to work,” he said. “So I was in a welding shop when everybody else was coming to watch basketball.” Sherrill’s first trip to watch the state tournament was in 19...

Jake Ohmer’s legacy a winning one

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 18, 2017) When the KHSAA celebrates its 125th Sweet 16 in 2042, you can bet there will be high school basketball fans reminiscing about how a kid named Jake Ohmer made a name for himself in the 100th state tournament. They’ll talk about how he was a scoring machine, and a surprisingly strong rebounder; how he flew up and down the Rupp Arena court with controlled abandon...

Sweet 16’s top scorers in back-to-back games

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 17, 2017) Scott senior guard Jake Ohmer has put on a scoring show in his first two games in the 100th Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys' Sweet 16 this week. Ohmer created a buzz in Rupp Arena by pouring in 41 points in Scott's first-round victory over Harlan County, and following it up with 32 in a quarterfinal win over Perry County Central. That gives Ohmer 73 points in back-to-b...

Purples’ power: talent with experience

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 17, 2017) Bowling Green took out No. 1 Scott County 68-53 in the quarterfinals of the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys' Sweet 16 Friday afternoon. "That was the best basketball team we've played all year, bar none," Purples Coach D.G. Sherrill said after his team posted its 27th consecutive victory. Bowling Green played like Rupp Arena was its home floor, which is understandab...

Bobby Keith’s Sweet 16 legacy

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 17, 2017) The 100th Sweet 16 celebration this week in Rupp Arena is missing one of the most important figures in Kentucky high school basketball history. Legendary Clay County Coach Bobby Keith died last fall, leaving all those who knew him with heartache. He was a remarkable coach and remarkable man. Keith is best known for guiding Clay County to the 1987 state champi...

Collins basketball now has stories to tell

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 16, 2017) Collins' basketball program's seven-year itch to win a game in the state tournament finally got scratched. The Titans pulled away in overtime to beat Elliott County 65-57 in the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys' Sweet 16 in Rupp Arena Thursday night. It was the first state tournament victory for Collins, which was created when Shelby County was split in two high scho...

The ‘Worm’ turned in most dynamic dunk in Sweet 16

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 16, 2017) Perry County Central's Damon Tobler had an impressive dunk during the Commodores' win over Pikeville in the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys' Sweet 16 on Wednesday. It was just for show, though, because the slam was erased when Tobler was whistled for a foul on the play. Even if it had counted, however, it wouldn't have come close to matching the most dynamic and most...

Oh, my, Ohmer goes for 41 points, 17 rebounds

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 15, 2017) Jake Ohmer was Mr. Low Key after going for 41 points, 17 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists in Scott's 77-65 victory over Harlan County in the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys’ Sweet 16 Tuesday night. It was the highest scoring performance in the state tournament since Elizabethtown's Antwain Barbour had 42 against Russellville in 2000. Asked how it felt to be Jake Ohm...

Pikeville proud: Hillard Howard

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 15, 2017) Hillard Howard has been living in Florida the past seven years, but he’s back visiting his old Kentucky home this week for two good reasons. Howard’s beloved Pikeville Panthers made it to the Sweet 16 for the first time in almost 20 years. Jason Booher, Howard’s son-in-law, is athletic director, vice-principal AND assistant basketball coach at Pik...

Vogt votes for NKU over UK

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 15, 2017) When Kentucky plays Northern Kentucky University in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday night, there'll be at least one TV viewer in Lexington rooting for the Norsemen to pull off an upset for the ages. "I was a Kentucky fan growing up, but I've gotta cheer for NKU in this one," Chris Vogt said. Vogt, a 6-foot-11 senior who led Graves County to th...

Welcome back, Bobby Flynn

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 15, 2017) It was great to see Bobby Flynn back in Rupp Arena on Wednesday for the 100th Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys' Sweet 16. Flynn has been a fixture at state tournaments for more than 40 years as a volunteer, mostly working along press row. He was noticeably absent last year, however, due to health issues. He suffered broken ribs and broken collarbone in a fall...

Phil Cox and his ‘Loyall’ mentor, Billy Hicks

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 14, 2017) Before Phil Cox became Vanderbilt’s all-time leading scorer in 1985, before he starred at Cawood High School and became Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball in 1981, he first realized what the game might hold for him as an eighth-grader at Loyall Junior High in Harlan County. And he credits his eighth-grade coach, Billy Hicks, for opening his eyes to the future. Co...

Richie Farmer’s ‘Sweet’ memories

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 14, 2017) Richie Farmer clearly recalls how his record-setting Sweet Sixteen career began in Rupp Arena 33 years ago this week. Clay County had a big lead on Owensboro in their first-round game when Farmer, an eighth-grader, took the floor with 1:08 remaining. Then, with the clock ticking away, "I got the ball in the middle of the floor against their press, coming down...

Mercer County girls win Sweet Sixteen in style

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 12, 2017) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS – When Chris Souder took over as Mercer County girls’ basketball coach 18 years ago, he allowed himself to imagine the Titans winning a state title someday. “It’s always a dream, it's always a goal," he said. "But two years ago we talked about it actually being a realistic goal. If everybody would stay the course, buy into the way we wanted to...

Mercer County vs. Franklin County for girls’ state title

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 11, 2017) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- Mercer County will play Franklin County in the championship game of the St. Elizabeth Healthcare/KHSAA Girls’ Sweet Sixteen in BB&T Arena Sunday at 2 p.m. Mercer County (30-6) earned a spot in the finals for the first time by beating Murray 67-60 in Saturday’s semifinals. Franklin County (33-5) advanced to the title game by beating Holme...

Mercer County’s Seygan Robins’ long road to basketball success

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 11, 2017) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS – For high school basketball players, the road to success and scholarships isn’t a direct route. It’s not a dribble drive straight to the hoop for an easy score. The destination isn’t always the big stage of the Sweet Sixteen to compete for a big trophy, and glory for your team, school and community. It’s a long journey with detours and disa...

Murray coach and her husband on same basketball wavelength

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 10, 2017) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS – Travis Turner has been doing radio coverage of Murray High School girls’ basketball for a long time, but he had his first near-death experience Friday afternoon as he described the Tigers’ stunning 65-56 upset of defending champion and nationally ranked Butler in the quarterfinals of the St. Elizabeth Healthcare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen in BB&...

Donna Murphy’s Sweet 16 starburst

The St. Elizabeth Healthcare/KHSAA Girls’ Sweet Sixteen tips off today at NKU’s BB&T Arena. This is the 56th girls' state tournament, the 43nd since the KHSAA started sponsoring the event again in 1975. While everybody agrees that girls’ basketball has come a long way since then, it should be noted that the '75 Sweet Sixteen featured one of the state’s all-time greatest players. BY MIKE FIEL...

Remembering Douglass Demons basketball

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 27, 2017) Sixty years ago today, Henry Bell, John Burdette, Paul Price and their Douglass High School basketball teammates walked into UK's Memorial Coliseum and made history. On Feb. 27, 1957, Coach Charles Livisay's Demons became the first black school to compete in Lexington's 43rd District tournament, capping the first season of integration when black schools were al...

Dynasty of dynasties: St. X swimming & diving

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 22, 2017) LOUISVILLE -- St. Xavier's swimming and diving program is the greatest dynasty in the history of Kentucky high school sports. Its state championship numbers are as overwhelming as a tsunami: 52 team, 146 individual and 75 relay titles. The Tigers will be going for their 29th team title in a row when the KHSAA Swimming and Diving Championships are held at the ...

R.I.P., Mike Wainscott, multi-sport coach in Lexington

Mike Wainscott, who coached in Fayette County public schools for 38 years, passed away Feb. 17, 2017. He was 67. Here's what I wrote about him for the Lexington Herald-Leader upon his retirement in May, 2012. BY MIKE FIELDS Mike Wainscott has been a high school coach in Lexington for so long his career has spanned seven U.S. presidents. His longevity might be better appreciated by sports fans if...

Saluting Dominic Black, state’s most decorated wrestler

“It was such an amazing journey. The life lessons I learned from wrestling, I wish everybody could have those experiences. I mean, I filled up two passports traveling the world and having people cheer for me in languages I can’t even speak. That's a great thing. But that’s sports.” -- U.S. Army Major Dominic Black BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 14, 2017) FORT KNOX -- Dominic Black clearly remembers the fi...

State’s top scorer has game, fame, new name

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 9, 2017) When you’ve just put up a monster triple-double in a ridiculously high-scoring comeback victory, you have every right to request that people call you by any name you choose. After Lawrence County basketball star Timmy Dalton poured in a school-record 60 points to go with 15 rebounds and 10 assists in a 106-103 victory at Greenup County Monday night, the 6-foot-3...

‘Corn’ captured best of high school sports

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 3, 2017) Kentucky high school sports is losing a friend. Photographer Mark Cornelison is leaving the Herald-Leader for a job at the University of Kentucky. "Corn" worked at the newspaper for more than 20 years, and he brought a sharp eye, imagination and enthusiasm to illustrating the games, players and coaches in high school sports. He shot countless regular-season an...

Don Lane, aka Donnie Lane, sharpshooter

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 1, 2017) For all he's done for young people, Hall of Fame basketball coach Don Lane will receive the Jim Host Youth Sports Award at the Bluegrass Sports Commission's annual banquet tonight at the Lexington Convention Center. Lane led Transylvania to 509 victories in his 26 years as coach. He retired after leading the Pioneers to a No. 1 national ranking in 2001. His so...

Bowling Green’s swagger of success

BY MIKE FIELDS (Jan. 31, 2017) The Everly Brothers had a top-40 hit in 1967 in which they sang about how "a man in Kentucky sure is lucky to live down in Bowling Green." Fifty years later, Kevin Wallace and D.G. Sherrill admit they are lucky men as they oversee powerhouse sports programs at Bowling Green High School. Wallace, the Purples football coach, has had the winningest program in th...

Cliff Hagan played for Owensboro one week, UK the next

Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis wrote a column last week stating the case for high school (and prep school) basketball players getting the jump on their college careers by enrolling in college at midseason. It's hardly a new idea, as Cliff Hagan will attest. BY MIKE FIELDS (Jan. 26, 2017) Cliff Hagan made his debut as a University of Kentucky basketball player on this date 67 years ago. On J...

Kyle Moore: Mom had a mean hook shot

BY MIKE FIELDS (Jan. 23, 2017) Forty-two years ago today -- Jan. 23, 1975 -- Buckhorn basketball star Peggy Gay had 74 points in a 136-20 victory over Oneida Baptist. It was a historic performance for Gay – she set a state scoring record for girls that night, and her 74 points still rank No. 2 on the state’s all-time list for girls behind Geri Grigsby’s 81 points – but it was only a small sa...

Roy Bowling ushered girls’ basketball into modern era

BY MIKE FIELDS (Jan. 18, 2017) LONDON – The most influential coach in the history of girls’ high school basketball in Kentucky, whose early string of state championships prodded other schools to take the sport seriously, didn’t exactly jump at the chance to help usher the girls’ game into the modern era. Roy Bowling had coached boys’ basketball at Hazel Green, and boys’ basketball and baseba...

Fraley’s coaching career comes full circle at Powell County

BY MIKE FIELDS (Jan. 10, 2017) STANTON – A large black-and-white photograph hangs in Powell County's gym, forever preserving the Pirates in all their glory, moments after they won the 14th Region basketball title for the first time in 1974. Several players have arms raised in triumph, fingers jabbing No. 1 into the air. A few players look sweaty and exhausted, but delighted. The cheerleader...

Transy’s all Bluegrass-bred basketball roster

BY MIKE FIELDS (Jan. 6, 2017) When Transylvania men’s basketball coach Brian Lane gathered his team for their first preseason get-together last summer, there was really no need to introduce the new players to the holdovers. They were already pretty familiar with each because they are all graduates of Kentucky high school hoops. Two dozen colleges in Kentucky have men’s and women’s basketbal...

King of the Bluegrass still reigns as top holiday tourney

BY MIKE FIELDS (Dec. 19, 2016) LOUISVILLE – The King of the Bluegrass has reigned as the best high school holiday basketball tournament in Kentucky -- and one of the best in the nation -- for 36 years now. It was the brainchild of then-Fairdale Coach Stan Hardin and assistant Lloyd Gardner, who came up with the idea on the bus ride home after the Bulldogs played in a Christmastime tournament...

Johnson Central celebrates first football title

BY MIKE FIELDS (Dec. 4, 2016) BOWLING GREEN -- It ain't over till it's over, they say, but Johnson Central football coach Jim Matney seemed pretty sure his Golden Eagles were winging their way toward championship glory when he giddily jumped up and down along the sidelines after his team took a 36-0 lead over Franklin-Simpson late in the first half of Sunday's Russell Athletic/KHSAA Class 4A ...

Belfry vs. Central has a (championship) ring to it

BY MIKE FIELDS (Dec. 3, 2016) BOWLING GREEN -- When Belfry Coach Philip Haywood and Louisville Central Coach Ty Scroggins met at midfield before Saturday night's Russell Athletic/KHSAA Class 3A finals, they shook hands, exchanged warm smiles, and neither of them said, "We've got to stop meeting like this." On the contrary, this is why they and their players pour their hearts and souls into f...

50th anniversary of Dayton High’s football title

BY MIKE FIELDS (Nov. 26, 2016) It was 50 years ago today -- Nov. 26, 1966 -- that Dayton High School stunned Russellville 6-2 to win the Class A football title at UK's Stoll Field. Dayton hadn't been to the state finals before, and it hasn't been there since. Russellville came into the championship game undefeated (11-0) and a solid favorite to handle the Greendevils (9-3). One big reason: Russ...

Dennis Johnson and the good ol’ days of multi-sport athletes

BY MIKE FIELDS (Nov. 17, 2016) In this day of specialization among high school athletes, who are prodded by their parents and coaches to devote all their time and energy to one sport lest a college scholarship (or possibly a pro contract) eludes them, let us remember Dennis Johnson. Johnson excelled in football, basketball and track & field at Harrodsburg High School from 1994-98 because...

Jake Johnson catches, passes John Cole, keeps state receiving record local

BY MIKE FIELDS (Nov. 9, 2016) Former Somerset football star John Cole was visiting family in his hometown last week when he heard the news that current Pulaski County star Jake Johnson had broken his state record for career receiving yards the previous Friday night. Was Cole, a Briar Jumper for life, OK with having an arch-rival Maroon eclipse his numbers? “Yes, 100 percent,” he said. “It...

Jimmie Reed: a football lifer

BY MIKE FIELDS (Nov. 4, 2016) Jimmie Reed attended a powder-puff football game in Louisville a couple weeks ago. He wasn’t on the sidelines coaching, or on the field afterward handing out awards. He was there to cheer on one of his granddaughters. It goes to show how Jimmie Reed’s life is still infused with football. It's part of his make-up, and has been since he first put on a helmet an...

Justin Thomas latest Kentuckian to cash in on PGA Tour

BY MIKE FIELDS (Oct. 28. 2016) Justin Thomas won the CIMB Classic in Malaysia last week, successfully defending his title in Kuala Lumpur. Thomas is showing lots of early promise on the PGA Tour. When the Louisvillian won the CIMB Classic last year he was only 22 -- the youngest Kentuckian ever to win on tour. J.B. Holmes was 23 when he won for the first time. Thomas is the seventh former K...

Beth Bates got her foot in the door of football history

BY MIKE FIELDS (Oct. 26, 2016) It's been more than 30 years since Beth Bates kicked her way into Kentucky high school football's history books, but she's still occasionally reminded of her headline-grabbing days at Williamsburg High School. "People bring it up, so it comes back around every so often," Bates said recently. "And I have told my kids about it. They know the story." As a junio...

Todd Bretz the constant in Dunbar’s soccer success

BY MIKE FIELDS (Oct. 11, 2016) Todd Bretz was only 24 when he signed on to coach boys' soccer at Paul Laurence Dunbar when it opened in 1990. Jon Akers, Dunbar's first principal, had to find more than a dozen head coaches to staff the sports programs at the new high school, and he remembers that Bretz was "by far" his youngest and most inexperienced hire. But Akers saw something in him. ...

RIP, Bobby Keith: Clay County icon; basketball genius

Bobby Keith, who guided Clay County to the 1987 Sweet Sixteen championship and was regarded as one of the greatest basketball coaches in state history, passed away Oct. 5, 2016, after suffering a heart attack. He was 75. Keith was an absolute basketball genius. He guided his beloved Clay County Tigers for 27 seasons, leading them to 18 (!) 13th Region titles. His 767 career victories ar...

Jeff McGill has helped nuture state golf tradition

BY MIKE FIELDS (Oct. 4, 2016) BOWLING GREEN – An hour into a conversation with Jeff McGill about all things golf, including his views on the virtues the game teaches and his memories of winning the 1969 state title, he states the obvious: “I fall into the category of being a traditionalist.” McGill, the pro at Bowling Green County Club, has certainly done his part to nurture the tradition of...

Charles Hurt: a Shelby County Rocket to remember

BY MIKE FIELDS (Sept. 21, 2016) Charles Hurt, who died last week at age 55 after a long battle with leukemia, is being remembered for his basketball playing days at Kentucky. But Hurt played his best basketball at Shelby County, where he was a two-time all-stater and helped the Rockets win the 1978 state title. He hit one of the most memorable shots in Sweet Sixteen history in the championsh...

Rachel Sanford: for the love of running

BY MIKE FIELDS (Sept. 13, 2016) LOUISVILLE -- Rachel Sanford was never chasing glory or records or celebrity when she was winning an unprecedented five consecutive KHSAA state cross country titles, a remarkable streak of success that began in 1993 when she was only 10 years old. “I was just out there having fun, enjoying running and being with my family,” she said recently. “It was never rea...

Lynch East Main: once king of the hills and state

BY MIKE FIELDS (Sept. 6, 2016) LYNCH – Dig into the history of Kentucky high school football and one shiny nugget you’ll uncover is that the first official state champion hailed from this tiny coal town deep in the hills of Harlan County. It was a cold, snowy afternoon on November 28, 1959, when Lynch East Main, led by Johnny Powell’s 225 rushing yards and Adam “Bull” Hoiska’s three touchdow...

Under Beatty, Trinity is 15-0 against Lexington teams

BY MIKE FIELDS (Sept. 2, 2016) When Lafayette plays host to Trinity in high school football tonight, the Generals will try to end Lexington’s 16-year streak of futility against Bob Beatty’s Shamrocks. The last time a Lexington team beat Trinity was in 1999 when Eric Shelton ran roughshod through the Rocks’ defense in leading Bryan Station to a 31-21 playoff victory in Louisville. That was K...

Perfect match: Ron Kordes & Assumption volleyball

BY MIKE FIELDS (Aug. 29, 2016) LOUISVILLE – When Ron Kordes was hired to coach volleyball at Assumption in 1989, then-principal Karen Russ asked how long he thought he might lead the Rockets’ program. “I told her, ‘Let’s do it a year at a time, and as long as I’m enjoying it, we’ll continue on,’” Kordes recently remembered. “Now here I am 28 years later and I’m still enjoying it.”...

My, oh, Myra; Kentucky’s only 4-time golf champ

"What I like about golf, and the reason I think kids should play golf, is because it’s an individual sport that requires you to gain control over your emotions, develops your critical thinking skills, your conceptual thinking skills, and your discipline. "Golf is never the same. There’s no way ever to get bored with it, ever. It’s an elusive challenge you’re always chasing. To be able to gain con...

Jack and Joe Morris, football’s top father-son coaching duo

BY MIKE FIELDS (Aug. 22, 2016) MAYFIELD – The first family of Mayfield High School football includes the most successful father-son coaching duo in the history of Kentucky high school football. Between them, Jack and Joe Morris have been part of the Cardinals’ program for almost six decades – including a combined 42 years as head coach, during which time they’ve accumulated 454 victories, 18...

‘Granddaddy’ Rec Bowl has unmatched history

BY MIKE FIELDS (Aug. 19, 2016) The headline above tells you the result of the first Recreation Bowl played in Mount Sterling on Nov. 11, 1948. It was a Thursday night, and after Somerset, led by running backs Dickie Holmes and Dick Mitchell, thumped previously unbeaten Evarts 27-0 in front of 4,000 spectators, University of Kentucky football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant awarded Bill Clark’s Briar J...

Can McCracken County end 1st Region title drought

BY MIKE FIELDS (June 17, 2016) McCracken County will continue its quest to end a 56-year title drought for the 1st Region when the Rawlings/KHSAA State Baseball Tournament resumes tonight with the final four at Whitaker Bank Ballpark. The semifinal matchups have McCracken County (37-5) taking on St. Xavier (27-12) at 6 p.m., followed by Bullitt East (28-10) playing Campbell County (28-10). Th...

Old scorebooks, part 10 — Future big-leaguers in ’94 final four

Between them, Scott Downs and Brad Wilkerson played major league baseball for more than 20 years, which tells you something about the star power they brought to the high school baseball final four in 1994.Downs was an undefeated senior lefthanded pitcher for Pleasure Ridge Park. Wilkerson was an undefeated junior lefthanded pitcher and standout center fielder for Apollo.Before the semifinals, PRP ...

Old scorebooks, part 9 — PRP’s amazing comeback 20 years ago

Yogi Berra's quip that "It ain't over till it's over" resonated 20 years ago when Pleasure Ridge Park rallied to beat Harrison County in the state baseball semifinals, and went on to win its third consecutive state championship.PRP was on the brink of defeat when it trailed 5-2 in the top of the seventh with two outs and nobody. Then everything went haywire for Harrison County.PRP's Brad Williams ...

Old scorebooks, part 8: Little ol’ Paintsville beats the big boys

When Paintsville won the Sweet Sixteen championship in 1996, the Tigers showed that a Class A-size school could compete with the big boys in basketball and come out on top.Big deal.Paintsville had already proved that point in baseball six years earlier when it won the state title, knocking off big-city schools Pleasure Ridge Park and Tates Creek in the final four at UK's Shively Field.Coach Charli...

Old scorebooks, part 7: LexCath wins title with ace Michael dealing victories

Lexington Catholic, led by the standout pitching of Mark Michael, beat Pleasure Ridge Park 4-2 in nine innings to win its first state baseball championship in 1999.Michael had a sensational senior season, going 14-0 with a 1.30 ERA and exhibiting remarkable control -- he had 98 strikeouts and only 9 walks in 77 innings.In the title game against PRP, he surrendered two runs in the first but blanked...

Old scorebooks, part 6 — Eddie Brooks’ homer binge

Bryan Station baseball coach Eddie Brooks was a star in his playing days at Lafayette. He was a slick-fielding sophomore infielder who batted ninth on the Generals' 1989 state championship team.But Brooks wielded a dangerous bat at the bottom of the order, and he showed plenty of power at the plate in the playoffs that year. He smacked three home runs -- two in one inning! -- in Lafayette's 22-0 r...

Old scorebooks, part 5: Harrison County’s breakthrough state title

When Harrison County and Pleasure Ridge Park met in the 1993 baseball finals, both programs were looking for their first state championship after twice being bridesmaids.Harrison County was runner-up in 1984 and 1987; PRP was runner-up in 1982 and 1985.The 1993 championship game would mark the beginning of state domination by the two schools. They would combine to win the next 6 state titles -- Ha...

Old scorebooks, part 4: Franklin County’s upset for the ages

I've witnessed a lot of upsets over the last 40+ years, and my memory of most of them is blurry. One upset that is still clear -- and still shocking -- came in baseball 23 years ago this week.On May 25, 1993, defending state champion and No. 1-ranked Lafayette, boasting a star-studded lineup and a 33-5 record, lost to unranked Franklin County, sporting a 14-21 record, in the first round of the 11t...

Old scorebooks, part 3: Pelphrey, Lorenzen, Smith played baseball, too

They aren't remembered as baseball players, but John Pelphrey, Jared Lorenzen and Derek Smith were talented multi-sport athletes in high school.In his junior year at Paintsville, Pelphrey was a star pitcher who helped the Tigers reach the 1986 state baseball final four in Elizabethtown. The 6-foot-7 righthander had an 11-1 record before losing a 3-1 decision to eventual champion Tates Creek in the...

Old scorebooks, part 2: Poynter’s hot post-season for Tates Creek in 1990

Larry Poynter, in his first year as head baseball coach at Tates Creek, leads his alma mater into post-season play in the 43rd District tournament Tuesday night.In getting his players ready for the playoffs, Poynter can tell them about how he stepped up in the 1990 post-season and was a key factor in helping the Commodores reach the state finals. (They lost to Paintsville in the championship game...

Old scorebooks, part 1: Lafayette ace Curtis Whitney’s pitching prowess in 1992

I came across my old baseball scorebooks recently, some more than 30 years old, and flipping through the pages was like stepping back in time.Over the next few weeks I'll share some of the most memorable individual and team post-season performances.For example, I found the scorebook that documented Lafayette's post-season run to the 1992 state championship. I had forgotten just how dominant Genera...

Greenup County’s pursuit of perfection is over, but not its pursuit of state title

BY MIKE FIELDS (May 16, 2016) Greenup County’s hopes of becoming Kentucky’s first undefeated state baseball champion in 34 years are dead, but the Musketeers’ hopes of winning the state title are still very much alive. Greenup County suffered its first loss of the season Saturday, falling to East Jessamine 2-1 in the Fayette County Invitational Tournament. Coach Greg Logan said his players were ...

Austin Kearns part of South Lexington ‘reunion’

BY MIKE FIELDS (April 26, 2016) Austin Kearns was throwing batting practice in one of the cages at the South Lexington baseball complex in Shillito Park on a rainy evening last week, and nobody took a second glance at the former major league outfielder working with a group of 9- to 12-year-olds. Kearns was just another South Lexington alum back home again. Shillito Park was where Kearns’ baseba...

PRP’s Bill Miller feels ‘blessed’ in fight against cancer

BY MIKE FIELDS (April 15, 2016) LOUISVILLE -- The feel-good story of this high school baseball season is that legendary Pleasure Ridge Park Coach Bill Miller feels good. Upgrade that: "I feel great!" Miller said before a Panthers' practice this week. That's a remarkable statement coming from a guy who, even though he has never smoked, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer six months ago. Mil...

Steve Wright steps down at Southwestern

BY MIKE FIELDS (April 11, 2016) Steve Wright marked his 59th birthday Monday by resigning as boys' basketball coach at Pulaski Southwestern. "I'm at a point in my life where I want to move on to other possibilities and opportunities," said Wright, who has an overall record of 697-247 in 30 years. "Each year I reevaluate if I want to continue in the same position . . . I'm 100% convinced t...

Is it time to end Kentucky-Indiana All-Star series?

BY MIKE FIELDS (April 8, 2016) Tradition is getting thumped by reality when it comes to the Kentucky-Indiana All-Stars basketball series, so maybe it’s time to invoke a mercy rule and pull the plug on the games. It’s sad to say goodbye to what was once a vital, rousing event, but it’s even sadder to watch it slowly wither away. My suggestion is to keep naming Mr. and Miss Basketball, keep n...

Hero shot for ‘Nova a personal thrill for LexCath alum

BY MIKE FIELDS (April 5, 2016) When Kris Jenkins hit his buzzer-beating three-pointer to give Villanova the NCAA title late Monday night in Houston, it was a shot heard 'round the nation. And Lexington Catholic alum Cory Heitz's reaction to Jenkins' heroics was probably heard 'round Kendallville, Ind. Heitz coached Jenkins at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., so he was pulli...

Dodgers’ A.J. Ellis caught news of Dunbar’s title

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 28, 2016) GLENDALE, AZ -- Even though he was in spring training in Arizona, 1,800 miles from Rupp Arena, Los Angeles Dodgers catcher (and former Paul Laurence Dunbar basketball player) A.J. Ellis followed Dunbar's march to the Sweet Sixteen championship. "I had friends on Facebook who kept me up on how Dunbar was doing," Ellis said. "I was following them closely. I had a ga...

Dunbar celebrates long-sought title

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 20, 2016) Paul Laurence Dunbar hoisted the big trophy and cut down the nets after winning the 99th Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys' Sweet Sixteen championship in Rupp Arena Sunday afternoon, and its celebration echoed through history. Dunbar was battle-scarred as it survived a brutal post-season schedule. It beat Henry Clay in the 11th Region semifinals and Scott County in the f...

Lexington vs. Louisville for 7th time in finals

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 19, 2016) For the seventh time in state tournament history, a Lexington team will play a Louisville team in the title game. Paul Laurence Dunbar (32-6) will go against Doss (30-5) in the finals of the 99th Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen in Rupp Arena Sunday at 2 p.m. Louisville holds the upper hand in the big-city championship rivalry. It has won 4 of the previous 6 sho...

Dunbar, Doss squeeze into title game

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 19, 2016) When Doss and Paul Laurence Dunbar got together for a pre-season scrimmage at Taylor County last fall, a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, little did they know they would end the season in Rupp Arena playing for the state championship. "Funny how things happen," Doss Coach Tony Williams said. To get to Sunday afternoon's title game, Doss and Dunbar had to ...

Sweet Sixteen now a Final Four

The final four of the 99th Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen is all set. Saturday night's semifinal matchups in Rupp Arena look like this:Newport Central Catholic (30-4) vs. Paul Laurence Dunbar (31-6), 6:30Doss (29-5) vs. South Laurel (29-6), 8:15.NewCath is in the semifinals for the first time since 1953 when it lost to eventual champ Lafayette. Coach Ron Dawn's Thoroughbreds have been led by 6-...

NewCath’s Big Ben clocking big numbers

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 18, 2016) Newport Central Catholic star Ben Weyer is making more noise in Rupp Arena this week than the Monster Jam trucks did when they rolled in here for a show last month. In two games in the 99th Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen, the 6-foot-6 senior has put up staggering numbers -- 46 points, 25 rebounds, 7 assists and 7 blocked shots -- while leading NewCath to th...

Grab bag of contenders in Sweet quarterfinals

The 99th Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen was hyped as a wide-open shootout with any number of title contenders. Friday's quarterfinal matchups seem to bear that out. It's hard to pick any sure-fire winners coming out of the elite eight.Murray (30-5) vs. Newport Central Catholic (29-4), noonDunbar (30-6) vs. Bowling Green (31-2), 1:30Doss (28-5) vs. Taylor County (25-8), 6:30South Laurel (28-6) v...

Braden Miller has a ‘Ty’ to South Laurel champs

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 17, 2016) When South Laurel's Braden Miller hit a three-pointer midway through the first quarter of the Cardinals' game against Christian County Thursday afternoon, he glanced into the Rupp Arena stands and spotted his family celebrating. "It was a surreal feeling when I hit that shot," Braden said. "To hear the noise of the crowd and to look up and see my family. My (o...

Fairdale’s back-to-back feat has aged well

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 17, 2016) Today is the 25th anniversary of Fairdale's completing its back-to-back Sweet Sixteen championships. Stan Hardin's Bulldogs beat Tates Creek 67-63 in the finals of the 74th Boys' State Tournament in Rupp Arena on March 16, 1991 to become the first team to win consecutive state titles since Male did it in 1970 and '71. Fairdale's terrific trio of Jermaine Brow...

Sweet memories 70 years in the making

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 17, 2016) Reginald Rice saw his first Sweet Sixteen 70 years ago at the Louisville Armory when he was a student at Garrett High School in Floyd County. Since 1946, Rice has missed only a handful of state tournaments -- usually when flooding causes havoc back home. The 87-year-old basketball fan was in his customary lower-arena, front-row seat Wednesday for the 99th ren...

Hollingsworth shines, Dunbar survives

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 16, 2016) Cool, calm and clutch. That's Taveion Hollingsworth, a 6-foot-2 junior who plays basketball for Paul Laurence Dunbar with such remarkable ease and efficiency that it makes you wonder if he's immune to pressure. Hollingsworth was at this best in the biggest game of his life Wednesday night. He led Dunbar to a heart-racing (although his own heart apparently nev...

Sweet Sixteen: different kinds of bricks

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 16, 2016) The 99th Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys' Sweet Sixteen opened Wednesday, and bricks were the topic du jour in the first session as Murray blasted Buckhorn 62-35, and Newport Central Catholic whipped Trinity 48-33 in front of 9,733 fans in Rupp Arena. It was a good-brick kind of day for Murray, a bad-brick kind of day for Trinity. The Shamrocks suffered through a ni...

Sweet Sixteen a NewCath family tradition

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 16, 2016) Newport Central Catholic sophomore guard Stephen Pangallo will carry on a family tradition by playing in the Sweet Sixteen today. Pangallo is the grandson of NewCath Coach Ron Dawn, who played in the state tournament for the Thoroughbreds in 1973 and 1974. Ron coached his son Ronny, who was an all-state guard for NewCath's 2000 Sweet Sixteen team. "It's neat...

Butler flattens Flyers to claim 5th title

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 13, 2016) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- Butler cemented its place as one of the preeminent girls' basketball programs in Kentucky history by blasting Franklin County 62-36 to win the St. Elizabeth Healthcare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen championship Sunday afternoon. The Bearettes claimed their fifth state title (2016, 2014, 2008, 1980, 1975) to join Laurel County...

Butler gets shot at record-tying 5th title

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 12, 2016) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- Butler will be chasing history when it goes up against a once-upon-a-time opponent in the girls' state basketball finals Sunday night. Butler outlasted All "A" champion Murray 68-58 in the semifinals of the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen Saturday night in BB&T Arena. The victory earned the Bearettes a chance to tie Laurel...

Flyers in finals for first time in 36 years.

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 12, 2016) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- It took 36 years, but Franklin County has made it back to the state championship game in girls' basketball. The Flyers held on to beat Mercer County 55-51 in the semifinals of the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen Saturday night at BB&T Arena. The victory puts Franklin County (31-4) in Sunday afternoon's title game against B...

Butler buzzer-beat beats E-town

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 11, 2016) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- Janna Lewis wasn't supposed to take the last shot for Butler, but she did, and her buzzer-beater gave the Bearettes a dramatic 61-59 victory over Elizabethtown in the quarterfinals of the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen Friday night. Butler (29-5), a four-time state champion, will play All "A" state titlist Murray (35-1) in Sat...

Murray rolls into state final four

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 11, 2016) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- The dynamic duo of Macey Turley and Maddie Waldrop led Murray past Owensboro Catholic 60-43 in the quarterfinals of the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen Friday night in BB&T Arena. It was Murray's third win over the Aces this season, including a victory in the championship game of the All "A" Classic. Murray will take a 29-...

Mercer County makes final four

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 11, 2016) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- When the heat was on, Mercer County kept its cool and played its way into the final four of the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen. The Titans withstood a pressure-packed fourth quarter to beat Holmes 59-55 in Friday afternoon's quarterfinals at BB&T Arena. Mercer County (31-5) will play Franklin County (30-4) in Saturday nigh...

Scott Hundley getting out of coaching

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 11, 2016) Scott Hundley is stepping down as boys' basketball coach at Woodford County to pursue a job in school administration, or maybe something in the private sector. "It was a tough decision because I'll miss the bonds and relationships you develop with the young men you coach," said Hundley, who was at the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Girls' Sweet Sixteen on Friday t...

Flyers escape Campbell’s upset bid

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 11, 2016) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- It wasn't anything like early December when Franklin County crushed Campbell County 68-47 in the season opener. In a rematch in the quarterfinals of the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen Friday afternoon, Franklin County narrowly escaped with a 41-38 victory over the Camels in BB&T Arena. "I don’t care if we win 3-2, as long...

Aces deal Harlan a repeat defeat

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 10, 2016) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- Forty days after Owensboro Catholic beat Harlan by 30 points in the All "A" semifinals, the Aces won their rematch 69-49 in the first round of the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen at BB&T Arena Thursday night. Owensboro Catholic (31-5) has another rematch in Friday night's quarterfinals when it faces Murray (34-1), which dea...

Boley leads E-town past Henderson County

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 10, 2016) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- Elizabethtown, rated the tournament favorite, looked the part in rolling by Henderson County 63-36 in the first round of the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen Thursday night in BB&T Arena. Erin Boley, a Notre Dame signee and finalist for Naismith's national player of the year, led the Panthers. The 6-foot-2 senior had 27 poin...

Butler bounces Bowling Green

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 10, 2016) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- Four-time state champion Butler, which seems to always look comfortable on the big stage, turned in another winning performance in the first round of the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen Thursday afternoon. The Bearettes, getting a big boost from their bench, notched their 11th victory in a row by beating Bowling Green 64-52 in ...

Murray beats Manual for 28th win in a row

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 10, 2016) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- Murray, trying to duplicate Covington Holy Cross's grand achievement as a small school last year, beat Manual 58-41 in the first round of the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen Thursday afternoon in BB&T Arena. It was Murray's 28th consecutive victory, a streak that includes the All "A" Classic title. Covington Holy Cross swep...

Thursday’s Sweet Sixteen matchups

The first round of the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen continues Thursday at BB&T Arena:Murray (33-1) vs. Manual (21-7), noonButler (27-5) vs. Bowling Green (29-4), 1:30 p.m.Elizabethtown (29-4) vs. Henderson County (18-9), 6:30 p.m.Owensboro Catholic (30-5) vs. Harlan (27-4), 8 p.m.The Murray-Manual winner will face the Owensboro Catholic-Harlan winner in Friday night's quarterfi...

Holmes ‘D’ does in the Red Devils

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 9, 2016) HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- Holmes relied on unrelenting defense to get to the state tournament for the first time in 14 years, so it was no surprise that its defense was the difference in a 49-35 victory over Russell in the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen Wednesday night in BB&T Arena. The Bulldogs earned their 10th win in a row and a date with Mercer...

Campbell County gets its first ‘Sweet’ win

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- It was Wednesday -- hump day -- and the Campbell County Camels got over the proverbial hump and won their first-ever Sweet Sixteen game.Campbell County beat Trimble County 48-33 in the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen at BB&T Arena Wednesday night.The Camels, who lost in the opening round in three previous state tournament appearances, were led by Taylor Jolly ...

Cook leads Franklin County by Shelby Valley

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- Franklin County has four 1,000-point career scorers in its lineup, so it's rare when the Flyers go starving for offense. So it didn't matter that Princess Stewart, Franklin County's top scorer this season, went 0-for-9 from the field and had only 2 points (on 2 free throws in the final minutes) in the first round of the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen Wednesday ...

Chris Souder’s ‘best year’ of his coaching life

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 9, 2016) Mercer County Coach Chris Souder is having a ball during March Madness, and it keeps getting better. Tuesday night, Souder watched Mercer County's boys beat Casey County to win the 12th Region title. His son Conner, a senior, plays for the Titans. Wednesday afternoon, Souder guided Mercer County's girls to a 68-39 victory over Leslie County in the opening game...

Mercer County rolls by Leslie County

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- Mercer County began the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Girls' Sweet Sixteen by erasing all memory of last year's lopsided loss in the state tournament.The Titans, who were buried by Elizabethtown 79-38 in the first round in Bowling Green last year, leveled Leslie County 68-39 in Wednesday afternoon's opener at BB&T Arena."What a difference a year makes," Mercer County Coach...

Mason County ends Augusta’s run in 10th

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 8, 2016) MOUNT STERLING – Everything that is good and clean and competitive and entertaining and heartening about Kentucky high school basketball played out in a rousing 10th Region championship game at Montgomery County Tuesday night. In a classic big school vs. small school matchup, traditional power Mason County outlasted tiny Augusta 48-41 in front of a packed house...

Boys’ Sweet Sixteen field taking shape

The Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys' Sweet Sixteen is taking shape. Five region champions have been crowned, and 11 more will be determined tonight to complete the field. Christian County (2nd Region), Doss (6th), Newport Central Catholic (9th), Paul Laurence Dunbar (11th) and South Laurel (13th) have locked up spots in the 99th state tournament, which will be played March 16-20 in Rupp Arena. Here's a...

Remembering kicking guru George Barber

lCondolences to the family of George Barber, who passed away March 7, 2016, after becoming ill on a trip to Florida. Barber was involved in Lexington high school football for more than four decades and was best known for coaching kickers, including his son Collin at Lexington Catholic. Here's a story I wrote about him for the Lexington Herald-Leader in November, 2010. BY MIKE FIELDS Georg...

Creech’s 48 points lift Jenkins to region finals

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 4, 2016) STANTON – Whitney Creech, whose prodigious scoring has raised the roofs of gyms throughout the mountains this basketball season, has lifted Jenkins’ girls into the 14th Region finals for the first time since 1997 and given them a shot at their first region title in 40 years. Creech, a 5-foot-9 senior, poured in 48 points Friday night to lead Jenkins past host P...

Recalling Tim Couch’s basketball glory days

BY MIKE FIELDS (March 4, 2016) Tim Couch, arguably the most accomplished quarterback in the history of Kentucky high school football, grew up thinking of himself as a basketball player first. “I honestly didn’t like football at all until, I think, my sophomore year (at Leslie County),” he said. “I just played it because my older brother (Greg) did. My first love was basketball. I always co...

Justice latest Kentuckian to play hoops at Vandy

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 29, 2016) Vanderbilt freshman Camron Justice was in the middle of the celebratory swarm on the Memorial Gym court after the Commodores beat Kentucky 74-62 in Nashville Saturday. "I never was a huge fan of UK, but I was a Kentucky kid and I grew up watching their basketball team, so beating them was a big deal," Justice said. "A bunch of people back home called and text...

Faulkner twins leaving quite a legacy at Caverna

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 25, 2016) Madison and Mason Faulkner, the highest scoring twins in the history of Kentucky high school basketball, aren’t ready for their careers at Caverna to end just yet. Madison, a 5-foot-8 senior, poured in 42 points to lead Caverna’s girls to a 68-52 victory over LaRue County in the 18th District semifinals Tuesday night. They will play host Green County for the ...

LexCath will miss region for only second time in 30 years

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 24, 2016) A history of post-season success and a current top 25 ranking won’t get a basketball coach a cup of coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts, much less guarantee his team victory at tournament time. Just ask Lexington Catholic Coach Brandon Salsman. His Knights, rated No. 13 in Dave Cantrall’s Rating the State, lost to No. 18 Lafayette 55-48 in the boys’ 43rd District semif...

State wrestling championship matchups

Here are the matchups for tonight's title matches at the KHSAA State Wrestling Championships at the Kentucky Horse Park's Alltech Arena. Opening ceremonies for the finals are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.106: Cagen Wallace (Wayne Co.) vs. Chase Yost (Woodford Co.)113: Tanner Yenter (Campbell Co.) vs. Konner Kraeszig (St. Xavier)120: Saul Ervin (Union Co.) vs. Dallas Ochsenbein (North Oldham)126: Co...

Mr. and Miss Basketball finalists

The Kentucky Lions Eye Foundation and the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches have released the lists of finalists for Mr. and Miss Basketball -- 18 boys and 17 girls, who earned Player of the Year honors in their respective regions.Voting by coaches and media will be conducted until Feb. 26. Mr. and Miss Basketball be announced March 15 in Lexington, the night before the Boys' Sweet Sixtee...

Daymeon Fishback’s perfect night 20 years ago

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 19, 2016) When I saw Daymeon Fishback working as a college basketball analyst on the SEC Network the other night, I remembered him not from his playing days at Auburn, but as Kentucky's Mr. Basketball in 1996. Fishback's career totals at Greenwood High School: 2,214 points, 916 rebounds, 470 assists, 168 blocked shots and 163 steals. While looking up those numbers, I cam...

Football coaching giant Owen Hauck dies

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 17, 2016) Owen Hauck, whose Boone County football Rebels were the scourge of Lexington teams from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s, died this morning. He was 88. Hauck coached Highlands to the state championship in 1964, and the Bluebirds were state runners-up under him in 1963 and 1966. He guided Boone County to state runner-up finishes in 1986, 1987, 1992 and 1994. The Rebe...

Anderson Co.’s Glen Drury true to his Bearcats

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 17, 2016) Glen Drury is an Anderson County institution. Like those famous Lawrenceburg distilleries, Four Roses and Wild Turkey, Drury has been turning out a successful, Kentucky-specialty product for decades. The proof: Drury, in his 31st season as a head basketball coach in his home county, earned his 500th victory when Anderson County beat Simon Kenton last week. Dru...

Basketball a passion play for E-town’s Erin Boley

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 16, 2016) Life is good for Erin Boley. The Elizabethtown basketball star is the first 3,000-point scorer in school history, already a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year in Kentucky, a Notre Dame signee, a McDonald's All-American, one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy that goes to the top girls' player in the nation, a straight-A student, and newly crowned homecom...

Jock Sutherland: Lafayette was ‘utopia’

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 11, 2016) Jock Sutherland made a brief appearance at the event named his honor -- the Jock Sutherland Classic -- at Lafayette this past Saturday. He found time to shake hands, chat up a few fans and reminisce about his good ol’ days in basketball. Sutherland, who will turn 88 next month, was one of the most colorful coaches in the history of Kentucky high school hoops. ...

Carson Williams: Owen County Rebel with a cause

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 9, 2016) Carson Williams always puts his team first, so he’s not distracted by speculation about his Mr. Basketball candidacy. The Owen County senior’s single-minded purpose is to lead the Rebels to their first-ever Sweet Sixteen. “Mr. Basketball is a nice idea, but my ultimate goal is taking my team to Rupp Arena,” Williams said matter-of-factly. Williams was speakin...

No. 1 Mercer Co. risks spotless record at Lafayette

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 5, 2016) No. 1 Mercer County will put its perfect record (24-0) on the line against host Lafayette in the Jock Sutherland Classic Saturday night. The Titans are the only unbeaten team in the state. No. 3 Paul Laurence Dunbar plays Louisville Central in the event. And Owen County, led by senior star Carson Williams, faces North Laurel, led by junior standout Peyton Broughton....

Creech has been scoring machine for years

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 3, 2016) Whitney Creech became Kentucky high school basketball's all-time leading scorer when she poured in 71 points to lead Jenkins past Paintsville 90-87 in overtime Tuesday night. Her career-high performance gave her 4,957 points, eclipsing Jaime Walz's 19-year-old record of 4,948. Creech is averaging 50.3 points this season, but she's been a scoring machine for year...

Signing day a year away for Lafayette star

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 3, 2016) National signing day has arrived for high school football players across America. One of the highest rated recruits in Kentucky, however, will have to wait until next year to put his signature on a college letter of intent. Jedrick Wills, a 6-foot-5 1/2, 300-pound five-star offensive lineman at Lafayette, is just a junior. Rated the third best OL prospect in the...

Edmonson County’s 40th anniversary of Cinderella title

BY MIKE FIELDS (Feb. 2, 2016) BROWNSVILLE – They're on the shady side of middle age now. Most of them have gray hair, or gray-flecked goatees or mustaches. Their knees don’t always treat them kindly. Some are retired. One has three grandsons. It's hard to believe that it's been 40 years since the Edmonson County Wildcats, coached by the feisty Bo Davenport, manufactured March magic, won the ...

Mercer Co. focuses on winning games, not winning streak

BY MIKE FIELDS (Jan. 28, 2016) NICHOLASVILLE -- Mercer County isn’t trying to go undefeated in boys’ basketball this season, but the Titans are trying to win every game. There is a difference. No. 1 Mercer County ran its record to 22-0 with an 83-79 victory over host West Jessamine Thursday night. The Titans trailed 74-71 with 1:20 left, but led by Trevon Faulkner, they rallied to remain t...

BY MIKE FIELDS (Jan. 25, 2016) Ervin Stepp is ready to welcome Whitney Creech into his exclusive club. Stepp is the only player in the history of Kentucky high school basketball to average more than 50 points a game for an entire season. Thirty-six years ago as a senior at Phelps, Stepp averaged 53.7 points. (And that was before the three-point shot was introduced.) He topped 60 points six ...

It’s good to be back

BY MIKE FIELDS (Jan. 24, 2016) So, did I miss anything? It’s been eight months since I retired from the Herald-Leader after covering high school sports for 41 years. After giving up the gig cold turkey, I filled my time with travel (the British Open at St. Andrews was a bucket-list highlight), grandkids (Candy Land, anyone?), a long honey-do list (I racked up big numbers on my Fitbit while pain...

About Mike

After working as a sports writer for 41 years, I needed a break from the daily demands and deadlines of the newspaper business. So in June 2015, I retired from the Lexington Herald-Leader after covering approximately 4,000 high school sports events in my career. In January 2016, I took on the role of freelance writer for the KHSAA. To reintroduce myself: I was born in Pikeville, grew up in Bardsto...