Looking Back

I listened to Dave Cox and Dave King on the radio on my way home from the Corbin-Clay County game Friday evening. I had not quite come to the same conclusion as the two Daves. They expressed how wide open the 13th region is and how they felt maybe as many as five or six teams have a shot at reaching the Sweet Sixteen.
I had felt much the same way until the last week or two, and now I feel Clay County must be the clear cut favorite. The Tigers have now won ten games in a row with wins over Rockcastle both home and away, and now a win over the Redhounds on the ‘Hounds home court.
This is not saying that all the other teams can pack it in, but it certainly does establish Clay County as the favorite I would think.
Taking up tickets for the sixth grade tournament a little over a week ago was one of the all-time great Redhound players, Bo Roaden of the 1992 Redhounds. Bo was a shooting machine and he was always at his best in big games. Bo scored 42 in one state tournament game, and I believe 27 in another.
He was a terrific free throw shooter. With the game on the line I would just as soon have Bo Roaden shooting as any Redhound, whoever wore the colors.
Throughout Redhound football history, there have been eras that have been unbelievably successful. The decade of the thirties included the ’31 upset victory over the reigning mythical nation high school champion, Stivers High School of Dayton, Ohio.
The great 1935 team with All-State tackles Alfred Keck and Sam Brasel, the 1939 undefeated squad led by a host of great players like Rusty Peace, Jimmy Cummins, Bitsy Holman and on and on.
The decade from 1955 to 1965 when the Redhounds counted a state championship in ’55 and produced some of the state’s all-time great players in the Bird brothers, Calvin, Billy and Rodger and went 10 years without a loss to teams from the mountains.
The decade from 1976 through 1985 had the Redhound football teams winning 92 games while losing 18.
This decade of gridiron produced three state champions and one runner-up. The first half of this decade, the ‘Hounds were coached by Archie Powers and the second half of the decade was coached by Larry “Cotton” Adams. The Taylor brothers, Roy and Greg, were outstanding linemen. R.C. Thomas, the Franchioni brothers, Richie and John, big Jim Hicks, Steve Bird, Rusty Onkst and Steve Jewell were among the best.
The amazing thing about the era from ’76 through ’85 was that the record of the teams that did not win a state championship was always better than the teams that did.
The Redhounds of ’76 through ’85 also dusted some pretty good teams quite regularly, beating Danville and Boyle County quite handily, winning over the title town duo four of six games in the decade. The Redhounds were eight wins and two losses against their old rivals, the Yellow Jackets of Middlesboro.
Last week, I wrote about the outstanding sixth grade under coach Paul Pietrowski where it referred to coach Pietrowski’s bad luck. That was a typo, it should have referred to the coaches bad back. After playing golf with coach Pietrowski, I can assure you all his luck is good.
Another youngster to look forward to watching in the future is Isaac Wilson, a seventh grade point guard who handles the ball like it is on a string. Isaac has good blood lines, his grandfather, Nolan Ferral, was an outstanding point guard for the Lynn Camp Wildcats in the late fifties. Isaac, as described by several fans close to the seventh grade team, is silky smooth and an outstanding shooter.
Things are looking very good for the future of basketball at Corbin High School.