For me history has been important. I enjoyed it in school as an elective subject. One of the best teachers I ever had was Dr. Carlton Jackson in an American His-tory class at Western Kentucky University in 1961, when it was known as Western Kentucky State Teachers College. For...

Signs, advertising signs that is, can be somewhat misleading. I learned my lesson fairly early in life while on a spring break trip to  Fort Lauderdale back in 1965. I had been there before, but this time it was different. This time I was driving my own car… a 1964 white...

I’m not saying I’m old, but I am saying I’m old enough. If I had my choice I’d stop aging right now. When I look in the mirror I realize I’m old enough… don’t need anymore. Heck, I can remember when automobiles were advertised as having a radio and heater. Although I never...

There might not be another man in America more focused and disciplined than Jim Morris. Let me explain. The name may not immediately resonate with you, but for those who followed high school basketball back in the late 60s and early 70s, Jim Morris was a 6-5 prolific record...

Over the years I’ve experienced some interesting, and sometimes funny happenings I have encountered all the way back to my college days, first at Western Kentucky University and then the University of Kentucky. Anyone who has ever written anything probably has a story to tell of...

Bobby Knight’s recent passing brought up memories of my encounter with the former Indiana basketball coach. It was like a volcano erupting in my ear when Coach Bobby Knight picked up the phone to answer my phone call back in 2014. I was in the middle of writing a book, Better...

His life was the stuff movies are made of. You’ve probably seen such a movie where the Kentucky farm boy was the sixth of eight kids destined to make it big in something someday. He knew he wanted more than pitching bales of hay on his farm and for nearby neighbors in Greenup...

It’s a time of year when many of us reflect on what has transpired over the past months. I for one have developed a philosophy when it comes to writing, and it is really quite simple. I want to write about what I think readers will enjoy. This column marks the twenty-first year....

Roy Kidd was a football coach. Was he ever! I got to know the former Eastern Kentucky coach a few years back while I was writing a book, “The Boys From Corbin, America’s Greatest Little Sports Town.” Roy Kidd was one of those boys. He died at 91 years of age on September 12. I...

I’ve always enjoyed chasing a story. By this I mean writing something where the facts don’t jump up and smack you in the face. When I found out Coach John Burr of Adair County was going in the Kentucky Basketball Hall of Fame this year, I immediately set out on a chase. It tested...

If you are a high school basketball historian and even followed some of the stars into their collegiate careers, mark your calendar for August 12. The Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame will be inducting 14 former prep greats and coaches at the Historic State Theater in...

Long before Buc-ees there was Stuckey’s. As Kentucky prepares for a second Buc-ees in Smiths Grove, Kentucky in the northern part of Warren County on I-65, the nostalgia of days gone by when a national chain of strategically located convenience stores dotted 12 major highways...

Jim Brown died a couple of weeks ago. He was the Jim Brown many, even today, consider the greatest football player to ever play the game. He was 87. There was a day when he brushed against Warren County and Bowling Green. There is no real sports fan from Corbin to Paducah and...

Road Trip! For more than twenty years I have been signing off my columns with the encouraging words of “get up, get out and get going!” I’ve always tried to take my own advice, as my wife and I will occasionally hop in the car and motor someplace not too far away for lunch. And...

Who hasn’t heard about all of the college athletes that are jumping from one school to another just because the rules now say they can? Before, an athlete would have to sit out a year after transferring to another school. Over the years even high schools have been impacted by...

The Cadillac pulled into the circle drive that fronted the stately Athens Country Club in Athens, Georgia. The driver was Leonard Postero. You may not recognize the name, but if you are over 40 you might recall the football prognostication radio show “Leonard’s Losers” who went...

A friend of mine, sometime back assured me he was an expert on bourbon. Assuming that he had read books, experienced the bourbon trail and talked to master distillers, he quickly said, “None of that.” Then how do you know so much, I asked. “Heck, I ought to know, I’ve been...

Anytime an athlete or former athlete becomes part of a story in Sports Illustrated Magazine it’s sort of a big deal. For 89-year-old Forest “Frosty” Able it was a long time coming, and a complete surprise regarding several basketball players who had underwhelming careers in the...

I slowly, methodically backed my way into the foul lane dribbling the basketball low to the ground. The defender with hands held high, would be no match in preventing me from scoring. Thousands were watching as I positioned my 10-year-old body for a hook shot I had practiced at...

As crazy as college athletics seems to be today, they will still have to go some to top a zany period at Western Kentucky University back in 1992. Because of drastic budget cuts at the University, the board of regents was pre-paring to vote on eliminating the schools football...