A Bird Tradition

During the past few weeks as we prepared for honoring the Bird family and the 1955 state champion Redhounds, I picked up in a few things. One area of interest was the way we may have overlooked the 1958 Redhound football team and just how good they were.
This was the team described by coach Bill Shannon of Dixie Heights as the best team he ever coached against. He was adamant about the physical play of the Redhounds offensive and defensive lines.
How good was this team? Who were these linemen? The team was very strong and talent laden and swept through the ’58 season, losing three games by a total of four points. The Hounds opened the season by playing on the best games any Redhound team ever played against Dixie Heights and blew the Colonels away 26-7. Line play by Lanny Myers, Amos Miller, Dallas Hart, Big Fred Rader, D. L. Lynch, Jim Terrell, Jess Grant, Keith Hutson and Rodney Barton was near perfection as they put a physical beating on the Colonels that would be commemorated in song by the Beetles who sang “The night they drove ole Dixie down”.
Billy Bird flashed his brilliance as he bolted through holes in the line and gave coach Shannon’s nightmares he would carry to his grave.
The Redhounds pounded the schedule with the exception of a one point loss to Somerset, a two point loss to Danville, and a one point loss to Louisville Manual.
Ron “Cruiser” Boone, who passed away a little over a year ago, quarterbacked this very strong team and was joined in the backfield by Bobby Croley, Duane Hart, James Turrentine, Lowell Wyatt, Bobby “Muncy” White and a young Rodger Bird.
Off of that 1958 team, Billy and Rodger Bird, Keith Hutson, Rodney Barton, Fred Rader and Jesse Grant, all received football scholarships from the University of Kentucky, while Bobby Croley went to Tennessee on a football scholarship.
That is seven players who went to division one schools off this Redhound team. Others on that team were capable of playing at the division one level but for one reason or the other chose not to play.
This 1958 team is worthy of strong consideration for the Redhound Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
The current Redhounds are getting off to a rocky start, as they were thoroughly beaten by a pretty good Pikeville team Friday night, 34-0. The Redhounds of course are very young and inexperienced and their numbers are down as they have only eight seniors and five juniors on a roster of 41. This leaves the squad with 28 underclassmen, and many of those thrust into key positions and pressure packed situations. I guess the question is where do our players go? Is it soccer, golf, tennis, or extra circular activities that draw from the gridiron interest? I guess those are possibilities, but for whatever reason, something must be done to rekindle the kids interest in a football program that is second to none.
The Pikeville team had a Corbin flavor to it, as Mike Jackson, a former Redhound quarterback is now the head man in the Panther football program. Mike is a former teammate and friend of my son Jeff and is a fine young man. Mike quarterback Centre College as a college player and will be very successful at Pikeville.
Coach Jackson’s nephews, Mitch Jackson and brother Chaz are former Redhounds who transferred to play under their uncle. Yet another Corbin connection with Pikeville’s team is 6-3, 229-pound sophomore Clay Elliott, who starts at center and handles punting chores for the Panthers is the grandson of a big Redhound fan, Dave Huff. Clay played very well as did the Jackson brothers in their win over the Hounds.
The weekend of celebration for the Bird family and the ’55 team are now deposited in our bank of memories.
I once again got an opportunity to visit with my heroes, the Howard brothers, the Chandler brothers, the Birds, David Miller, Bill Meadors, Ralph Wilder, “Chalk” Alsip, Moe Green and many others. It was a wonderful weekend. I think one conversation in particular that I got a kick out of wa with Bill “Yogi” Meadors and another former Redhound, Mayor Amos Miller.
“Yogi” said when he went away for his freshman year as a student and football player at Western Kentucky, he left his sweetheart behind wearing his football letter jacket. When he returned for the Christmas holidays his sweetheart had taken another boyfriend, no other than former teammate and friend Amos Miller. Yogi said it would not have been half as hard to swallow if Amos had not been wearing his (Yogi’s) letter jacket (you have to watch those polictians).
There was a very sincere letter of tribute written on behalf of the Bird family by Elmer Patrick of Williamsburg, who was an outstanding football player in his own right at Williamsburg High School before playing along side the Birds in Lexington at the University of Kentucky.