Coming together to make history: How consolidation made teammates out of heated rivals in Whitley County

Since the 1963-64 school year, student-athletes in the Whitley County School District have shared one common goal: to wear the red and black uniform of the Whitley County High School Colonels. However, prior to consolidation the county was home to several smaller high schools, each with its own unique identity and history.

Rockholds. Pleasant View. Woodbine. Poplar Creek. For years, these four schools battled against each other for bragging rights on the basketball court, but none were able to advance to regional tournament competition in their final year of existence. It wasn’t until the following season that the top athletes from each school were able to come together and achieve that goal.

The 1963 50th District tournament is recounted in the March 7 edition of the Whitley Republican from that same year, telling the story of how Knox Central bested Corbin, 66-48, in the championship game on a Saturday night inside the gymnasium at Cumberland College in Williamsburg.

Included in the All-Tournament team that year were John Davenport and Paul Haynes of Pleasant View, as well as J.W. Carman of Rockholds.

Pleasant View had eliminated Poplar Creek earlier in the tournament, with Davenport scoring a game-high 22 points, and Haynes chipping in 15 in the 60-38 victory. Ronnie Akins led the way for Poplar Creek, scoring 16 points, while teammates Walter Monhollen, Glen Peace and Dewey Siler scored 11, 4 and 2 points, respectively.

Corbin eliminated Rockholds, 55-39, en route to their district finals appearance, but Carman shined in the losing effort, scoring an impressive 31 points.

Woodbine was ousted by the eventual district champions from Knox Central, losing 82-32, but Doug Kersey and Eddie Teague combined for 14 of the losing squad’s total points in the contest.

Corbin later eliminated Pleasant View from the tournament, 53-38, with Davenport and Haynes combining for 17 points in the losing effort.

Fast forward one year, and the front page of the March 12, 1964 edition of the Whitley Republican offers details of that year’s 50th District championship tournament, played at Barbourville High School. The defending champions from Knox Central were able to successfully defend their crown, but they had to defeat the newly formed Colonels team from Whitley County High School in the championship game to get the job done.

Knox managed to best Whitley 93-58 in the finals of the ‘64 district tourney, but both teams would advance to regional tournament play, meaning the Colonels were able to compete at a high level right out of the gate in their very first year of existence.

Many familiar names showed up in the stat lines for Whitley County in the 1964 50th District championship tournament, including Eddie Teague, formerly of Woodbine, J.W. Carman, formerly of Rockholds, and Paul Haynes, formerly of Pleasant View, all of whom were named to the 1964 District All-Tournament Team for their efforts during the course of the competition.

Carman was the Colonels’ top scorer in the district finals, finishing with 23 points. Carman’s former foe from Poplar Creek, Ronnie Akins, finished the game with 12 points. Paul Haynes chipped in 8, Eddie Teague scored 7, Dewey Siler scored 4, and Glen Peace scored 2.

Knox and Whitley would meet up again in the regional tournament, with the Colonels faring a little better in the rematch. Still, they were not able to overcome the Panthers, ending their inaugural season with an 88-59 loss.

Akins scored 18 points for Whitley in the region tournament contest, and Teague wasn’t far behind with 16 points. Peace finished the game with 9 points, while Haynes scored 8, Carman scored 5 and Siler scored 2.

When considering the fact that just twelve months prior these players were fierce rivals, it is quite incredible to consider what they were able to accomplish as teammates on the first-ever Whitley County Colonel basketball team. Surely, the transition from the old community high schools to the much larger county school could not have been easy, but this team managed to overcome those obstacles to form a cohesive unit that would set the tone for all Colonel squads to come.

1963-64 Varsity Whitley County Colonels: Gary Paul, Doug Kersey, Paul Haynes, J.W. Carman, Ronnie Akins, Glen Peace, Walter Monhollen, Dewey Siler, Floyd Bunch, Doug Brown, Kenneth Vanderpool, Darrell Reed. Coach, Clyde Hill.