Former CHS football standout wins 2018 Secret Phrase Game

Corey Taylor, of Corbin, won the News Journal’s 2018 Secret Phrase Game contest last week … and the $500 cash prize that goes along with it.

A 22-year-old former Corbin High School football star is the winner of the News Journal’s fourth annual Secret Phrase Game contest.

Corey Taylor, a 2015 graduate of CHS, and currently an Education major at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, received the $500 cash prize that goes along with winning the contest.

“I need to give a shout out to my mamaw. She had a big part in the victory,” Taylor said, referring to his grandmother, Betty Callahan.

“She told us all about the contest and gave us the words. She kept up with all of it,” he added. “We put the words up on a board to try to figure it out. My dad is the one who recognized it.”

The game runs for 12 weeks, starting in early October and ending the Wednesday before Christmas. One word of a 12-word phrase is revealed each week, hidden in the newspaper. Readers must get all words, and then assemble them in the correct order to get the proper phrase. The first caller to the News Journal Offices, at the end of the game, able to provide the phrase wins the money.

The phrase this year: “All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.”

The quote is from the ending of the 1982 science fiction film masterpiece Blade Runner, but wasn’t exact. In the movie’s dialogue, the word “those” is used instead of “these.”

Taylor said he was initially confused by the small variation, but resisted the temptation to substitute any words for fear of getting it wrong.

“I haven’t seen the movie, but my dad recognized it,” Taylor said. “It took about 30 to 45 minutes to get it all lined out. It was fun.”

Shouts of excitement could be heard in the background when Taylor was informed he’d won the prize.

Taylor, who is home for the holidays, was the quarterback on the Corbin High School football team, guiding the squad to an appearance in the state semifinals in 2014. He said he has two semesters of studies at EKU remaining, and then hopes to return home to do his student teaching at his alma mater.

As for winning the money.

“I’m going to celebrate,” he said. “Might use it to pay next month’s rent on my apartment in Richmond.”