Going down memory lane with Roy Bullock

Many of you know Roy Bullock. He ran Bullock’s Cycle Shop on the Fifth Street Road just out of Corbin for many years. I have known him for many years also, but what I didn’t know about was the “Bullock All-Star” basketball team he ran back in the late 50’s and early 60’s.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

Roy came by my office and shared with me a scorebook from the games that alumni of area high schools participated in.

For one thing, Roy, a product of Woodbine High School, was a very good basketball player. After graduation, and before he was drafted into the Army, Bullock Grocery, which his parents turned over to him, sponsored the team. That team played alumni from Corbin, Woodbine, Rockhold, Pleasant View, Jellico, Bush, St. Camillus and Williamsburg.

As I looked through the scorebook I saw the names of many of my friends. My good buddy Bill Crook was one of them. There was Ralph Centers who played for Bullock’s team and the names of C.D. Vermillion, Bobby Cathers, Zeke Perkins, Don Karr, Keith Hutson, Joe Giesel, Paul Pietrowski, Dork White, George LeForce and Stan Lovitt are among several I recognized.

At that period of time we had an active community. I remember the many church and city league softball teams that played during the summer. I broadcast on WCTT radio station several softball games made up of members of our community.

Back in the 50’s and early 60’s basketball and softball leagues were formed in most towns. When Bill and Sharon Crook moved to northern Kentucky, Bill had a basketball team that had players from the Cincinnati Reds on it. He has told me about playing against Pete Rose and how the short stock Rose could dunk the basketball.

We refer to that time as “the good old days” primarily because we were young and could participate in community activities.

Thanks to Roy for taking me down memory lane and the good times we had.

• A change of subject to the bad times we are facing now due to the coronavirus. One of the reasons for the increase in those affected is because many are not afraid of the virus. This is opposed to the thinking of our president who said to not be afraid of it.

It is a fact that there is a percentage of our population that has not taken the advice of doctors and scientists and heeded the warnings these knowledgable people have given.

I am not out often and I do not mix in crowded places, but I do know from reports that there are many who do not wear masks and keep social distancing.

I am out only when I must be and last week I observed the thinking of a couple of individuals while I was getting my vehicle repaired.

The two characters entered the sales area of the dealership and said to the employees behind the plexiglass barrier, “Why are you wearing those masks and why don’t you tear down the signs that say a mask must be worn? You know there ain’t nothing to this, they are just trying to scare you.”

The only way people like that are going to be scared is when they are put in a ventilator. People are wearing masks to prevent you from being infected. Instead of showing an appreciation some mock people.

It is a shame. Thousands of lives could have been saved by those simple gestures. Instead our lives are in chaos. Ours is a red county now. We can turn this around. Act like you’re afraid and wear a mask!