LOOKING BACK

 The Running Redhounds are struggling to find some offense early in this round ball season.

That is the bad news, the good news is the effort is still strong and the defense is excellent. I feel this Redhound squad will right itself in the Cumberland Falls Invitational and will have another successful season.

I was very disappointed when the Lexington Herald-Leader released its Class of the Commonwealth Sunday for the top 22 senior football players of the 2010 season and did not have Matthew Taylor as a selection.

There are simply not 22 better senior football players in Kentucky than Matthew Taylor in any respect.

In this column last week I mentioned the four Whitley County high schools from the past that consolidated to form what we now know as Whitley County High School.

I have referred to those schools in the past and it always conjures up names from the past associated with the Woodbine Trojans, The Rockhold Hornets, the Poplar Creek Bulldogs and the Pleasant View Panthers.

Woodbine players that are always mentioned of course are Ralph Centers, Enoch Gibbs, Roy Bullock, Charley Moore and the Harris brothers, Larry and Kenneth.

In the late forties there was a young man who transferred from Black Star in Harlan County to lead Rockhold to prominence and he has become my all time favorite Hornet and that was no other than WCTT’s Johnny Reeves. The Brolyes brothers, Joe and Gray, and Bill Bryant and J.W. Carman were notable players from Rockhold as well.

Pleasant View had the Haynes brothers and Scotty Moses.

Poplar Creek had Delbert Mays, Bill Lambdin and a Ferguson boy,

Those were good days in those communities. As the holiday season unfolds let us be grateful for the memories we have been provided with of the sporting events, both on a large or even a not so large spectrum such as:

   1955 – The Corbin Redhounds defeat Newport Public 27-21 to capture the Kentucky High School football championship.

   1958 – Vernon Hatton and Johnny Cox lead the Kentucky Wildcats to the NCAA championship over Seattle.

   1992 – Bo Roaden scores 41 points against Knott County Central in a state basketball tournament win.

   2009-2010 – The Redhounds win back-to-back 13^th Region titles behind Coach Tony Pietrowski and such players as Josh Crawford, Lee Crawford, Madison Johnson, Isaac Wilson, Aaron Manns, Josh and Travis Smith.

Many good memories – Everyone have a Merry Christmas and a safe holiday season.